Chapter 2 - What the Laboratory Found
Marlo stared at her mother's name until the letters stopped looking real.
“That’s impossible.”
Nico locked the laboratory door behind them.
“It isn't a partial match,” the technician said.
Marlo turned on him.
“My mother is dead.”
“I’m telling you what the database returned.”
“You’re telling me a dead woman touched that cup this morning?”
“No. Fingerprints don’t provide timestamps.”
Dr. Pell studied the report.
“The cup could have been stored for years.”
“Then why is it being used now?” Nico asked.
Nobody answered.
Cassian had been stabilized upstairs after Pell suspended two medications and began correcting the dangerous imbalance in his blood.
For the first time in days, his heart rhythm was improving.
That should have made Marlo feel relieved.
Instead, she stood inside the Black Lantern's restricted laboratory wondering how her mother's fingerprint had traveled thirteen years into the future.
Nico placed the saucer under a bright examination lamp.
“M.B.V.”
Marlo nodded.
“She used those initials before my father disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“When I was twelve.”
“Police?”
“Nothing came from it.”
“Name?”
“Tomás Vargas.”
Nico’s expression changed.
Marlo caught it.
“You know that name too.”
“No.”
“You lie worse than Cassian.”
That almost earned a smile.
Almost.
Nico picked up his phone.
“Pull everything on Tomás Vargas.”
Marlo stared.
“You can just do that?”
“I can do many things.”
“I noticed.”
The laboratory door opened.
Cassian stood there.
He should not have been walking.
Dr. Pell immediately protested from behind him.
Cassian ignored him.
His face remained pale, but his eyes were clear.
“Leave us.”
The technician left.
Pell refused.
“I said leave.”
“You nearly died.”
“And you nearly missed why.”
That landed hard.
Pell's jaw tightened.
Then he left.
Cassian looked at Marlo.
“Your mother saved my life once.”
Marlo felt her pulse in her throat.
“When?”
“Thirteen years ago.”
“The year she died.”
“Yes.”
Cassian moved toward a chair.
For the first time, Marlo saw not the frightening owner of the Black Lantern but a sick man conserving every ounce of strength.
“Maria discovered someone stealing from my family,” he said.
“Money?”
“No.”
“What?”
“Medication.”
Marlo frowned.
Cassian continued.
“My father had a heart condition. Someone altered his prescriptions slowly enough that everyone believed his health was failing naturally.”
The room seemed colder.
“My mother found out?”
“She noticed the pills looked different.”
Marlo almost laughed.
Of course she had.
A cleaning woman had noticed.
Again.
“She told you.”
“She told me.”
“And?”
“My father died before I could prove it.”
Marlo stared at him.
“Then my mother died.”
Cassian said nothing.
Understanding arrived like a blade.
“You don't think her death was an accident.”
“No.”
Marlo backed away.
For thirteen years she had blamed an herbal remedy.
Blamed her mother.
Blamed herself for not insisting harder.
“What happened?”
“I tried to investigate.”
“You were what, twenty-three?”
“Twenty-three and stupid.”
“And now?”
“Thirty-six and more expensive.”
Despite everything, Marlo let out one startled breath of laughter.
Cassian's expression softened.
Only briefly.
“Maria left something with me before she died.”
“What?”
“I never opened it.”
Marlo stared at him.
“You had something from my mother for thirteen years and never gave it to me?”
“She specifically told me not to.”
“Why?”
“She said I'd know when.”
“When what?”
“When her daughter noticed the tea.”
Marlo went completely still.
Cassian reached inside his jacket.
Nico stepped forward.
“You brought it here?”
“I don't trust the safe anymore.”
He produced a small brass key.
Marlo stared at it.
A strip of faded masking tape circled its head.
Her mother's handwriting remained visible.
MARLO.
Her eyes filled.
She hated that.
She hated crying in front of these men.
“What does it open?”
Cassian looked toward Nico.
“Room 3107.”
Nico's face changed.
“I thought that room was sealed.”
“It was.”
“By whom?”
“My father.”
Marlo wiped her cheek.
“What's inside?”
Cassian held the key toward her.
“I don't know.”
She did not take it.
“You've had thirteen years.”
“And your mother made me promise that only you would open it.”
“Why would she trust you?”
Cassian's answer came quietly.
“She didn't.”
That was the first answer Marlo believed completely.
“She trusted that guilt would keep me obedient.”
Marlo took the key.
An alarm suddenly sounded from Nico's phone.
He checked the screen.
Security alert.
Thirty-first floor.
May you like
Room 3107.
Someone was trying to get inside.
