Chapter 12 - The Enemy at the Nursery Door
The man was Samuel Crane.
Gabriel’s supposedly dead former lieutenant.
The same man who appeared at Mass General.
Why had Isabella labeled his photograph Antonio?
They enlarged it.
The answer was hidden in the window behind Crane.
A reflection.
Antonio Holmes stood across the street.
Isabella had not labeled the man.
She had labeled the person she wanted someone to notice.
Antonio was secretly following Crane.
The photograph contained a location.
An abandoned children’s hospital.
Gabriel and federal investigators searched it.
They found a hidden archive.
Crane had been Victor’s operational commander.
Years of photographs.
Payments.
Surveillance.
Then Chalice found a folder with her own name.
Photographs covered ninety-one days.
Her apartment.
Grocery stores.
Hospital.
Parks.
Crane had known where she was almost from the beginning.
“Then why didn’t he take Douglas?” Gabriel asked.
Chalice turned pages.
The answer appeared.
Photographs of men following her.
Different men.
Victor’s men.
Crane had repeatedly diverted them.
“He was protecting us.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Crane doesn’t protect anyone.”
A recording proved otherwise.
Crane’s voice.
“Antonio gave me one job. If he died, protect the child.”
Crane had faked his death years earlier at Antonio’s request.
He infiltrated Victor’s organization.
Even Gabriel believed he was a traitor.
Especially Gabriel.
That made the deception convincing.
Crane had protected Chalice from the shadows.
The hospital confrontation had been deliberate.
He wanted Gabriel to find him.
Why?
Because Victor was watching.
Crane needed Victor focused on him while Shaw moved evidence.
Every apparent betrayal had another layer.
Gabriel sat down.
“My brother trusted everyone except me.”
Chalice shook her head.
“No.”
“That’s exactly what this looks like.”
“He trusted you with the end.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Everyone else kept pieces alive. He trusted you to decide what happened when the pieces came together.”
That landed differently.
Gabriel looked toward Douglas.
Maybe Antonio had known his brother better than Gabriel believed.
They returned home.
For the first time, there were no armed guards inside the nursery.
Gabriel had removed them.
He installed ordinary cameras.
Ordinary locks.
He was trying.
Chalice placed Douglas in the crib.
Gabriel stood beside her.
“What happens when this is over?”
“It isn’t?”
“You know what I mean.”
She did.
For ninety-one days her life had been Douglas.
Then Gabriel.
Then survival.
She had not imagined afterward.
“I go back to nursing.”
“And Douglas?”
Chalice’s heart tightened.
“You’re his family.”
“So are you.”
She looked at him.
Gabriel did not look away.
“I don’t know how to ask you to stay without making it sound like an order.”
“Try.”
“Stay.”
“That sounded like an order.”
He smiled.
“Please.”
Better.
Chalice touched his injured shoulder.
“I’ll think about it.”
Gabriel covered her hand with his.
A knock came from the nursery door.
Both froze.
Nobody was supposed to be upstairs.
Gabriel moved toward it.
“Who is it?”
No answer.
Another knock.
Then a woman whispered through the wood.
“Chalice.”
Her voice trembled.
“I was there when Isabella died.”
Chalice reached for the handle.
May you like
The door was already unlocking from the other side.
And someone had a key.
