Chapter 4 - The Price of Twenty-Two Years
Harriet was already moving toward the door.
Dominic blocked her.
“No.”
“She has nothing to do with this.”
“Which is why Pike brought her.”
Harriet glared.
“Move.”
“He wants you emotional.”
“He got lucky.”
Dominic didn’t move.
Henry stared at the video feed.
“Cynthia knows you?”
Harriet nodded.
“My manager.”
“Family?”
“No.”
“Then why her?”
Harriet looked at her father.
“Because they came to my apartment and found nothing. Then they probably went to work.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“They’re tracing your life.”
Henry looked sick.
“This is what I was trying to prevent.”
Harriet snapped toward him.
“Please don’t make this about your sacrifice right now.”
Henry went quiet.
Pike remained outside.
Calm.
Patient.
Like a man accustomed to forcing doors open without touching them.
Dominic spoke into an earpiece.
“Perimeter?”
A voice answered.
“Two vehicles on the road. Possibly more beyond visual range.”
“Snipers?”
“Unknown.”
Dominic looked toward Harriet.
“We do not open that door.”
Harriet folded her arms.
“Then what?”
“We make him come inside.”
Henry shook his head.
“He won’t.”
Dominic looked at him.
“You knew Pike twenty-two years ago. I know him now.”
“You think he’s changed?”
“No. That’s why I know he’ll come in.”
Harriet studied Dominic.
“You have a plan?”
“Yes.”
“Is it a stupid rich-man plan?”
“Probably.”
“Great.”
Dominic gave instructions to his security team.
Lights off in the front hall.
Two men upstairs.
One in the kitchen.
Another at the service corridor.
Harriet watched the house shift around them.
She had been in kitchens during Saturday dinner rushes less organized than this.
Dominic opened a drawer.
Inside were handguns.
Harriet looked away.
He offered one to Henry.
Henry took it.
Dominic offered one to Harriet.
She stared at him.
“I don’t like guns.”
“You like tire irons?”
“They’re more honest.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“Stay behind me.”
“No.”
“Harriet.”
“You met me six hours ago.”
“And in those six hours, you ignored every sensible instruction I gave you.”
“So you’re learning.”
Dominic exhaled.
“Fine. Stay where I can see you.”
“Also no.”
Henry suddenly laughed.
Both looked at him.
“What?”
Henry wiped his eyes.
“Your mother used to make that exact face when someone told her what to do.”
Harriet’s expression softened despite herself.
Then the doorbell rang.
Pike.
Dominic looked toward the monitor.
Pike held up one finger.
Then spoke loudly through the door.
“I know Henry’s inside.”
No one answered.
“I know Dominic is wounded.”
Silence.
“I know Harriet Lawson is standing somewhere behind that door wondering whether she caused an innocent woman to be dragged into this.”
Harriet’s jaw tightened.
Pike smiled.
“That part is your fault, Harriet.”
Dominic whispered, “Don’t react.”
Harriet whispered back, “I know.”
Pike continued.
“Your father could have ended this twenty-two years ago.”
Henry stared at the floor.
“All he had to do was give Victor the key.”
Harriet looked toward the tire iron.
Pike knew.
Dominic saw her reaction.
“So does Pike.”
Henry whispered, “Then they know about Milwaukee.”
Pike’s voice came again.
“Open the door, Henry.”
Henry stepped forward.
Harriet caught his sleeve.
“No.”
“I started this.”
“That doesn’t mean you get to end it stupidly.”
“Harry—”
“No.”
The old nickname nearly broke her.
She tightened her grip.
“You disappeared once. You do not get to disappear again.”
Henry looked at her.
Something settled between them.
Not forgiveness.
Not yet.
But a promise.
Pike waited another ten seconds.
Then turned.
He began walking back toward his car.
Dominic whispered, “Now.”
The exterior lights exploded on.
A steel gate slammed shut behind Pike’s sedan.
Two of Dominic’s vehicles emerged from concealed side garages.
Pike stopped.
Dominic opened the door.
Harriet stayed behind him.
Henry to her right.
Pike turned slowly.
He did not look surprised.
“Dominic.”
“Commissioner.”
“Former.”
“I was being polite.”
Pike smiled.
“You always had Carlo’s humor.”
“You always had Victor’s leash.”
Pike’s smile disappeared.
Henry stepped into view.
Pike’s eyes moved to him.
“Well.”
Henry said nothing.
Pike looked at Harriet.
“And there she is.”
Harriet stared back.
“You kidnapped my manager.”
“She’s alive.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
“You didn’t ask one.”
Harriet stepped past Dominic.
He caught her elbow lightly.
She stopped.
Pike noticed.
His eyes moved between them.
“How interesting.”
Dominic’s voice cooled.
“Choose your next words carefully.”
Pike laughed.
“You always did collect strays, Dominic.”
Harriet smiled.
Pike frowned.
“What?”
Harriet shrugged.
“I was just thinking the last man who called me harmless ended up apologizing to a sedan.”
Dominic’s mouth twitched.
Pike did not find it funny.
“Henry,” he said, “give me the key.”
“No.”
“Then Cynthia dies.”
Harriet’s expression hardened.
“Where is she?”
“Safe for now.”
“Proof.”
Pike held up the phone.
Live feed.
Cynthia looked frightened but alert.
Harriet examined the background.
Concrete wall.
Green utility cabinet.
A yellow pipe.
She knew that wall.
Marlowe’s loading dock.
They had never moved Cynthia far.
Harriet looked at Dominic.
He saw something in her face.
“What?”
Harriet whispered, “She’s at work.”
Dominic nodded once.
Barely visible.
Then spoke into his earpiece.
“Team Three. Marlowe’s loading dock.”
Pike’s face changed.
Only slightly.
Enough.
Harriet smiled.
“Thank you.”
Pike’s eyes narrowed.
“For what?”
“For confirming it.”
He realized too late.
His hand moved toward his coat.
Dominic’s men raised weapons.
“Don’t,” Dominic said.
Pike froze.
Henry stepped forward.
“Where’s Victor?”
Pike laughed softly.
“You still don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
“Victor is not hiding from you.”
“Where is he?”
“He’s waiting.”
“For what?”
“For Harriet.”
Harriet felt Dominic look at her.
“Why me?”
Pike’s smile returned.
“Because Henry never had the full ledger.”
Henry went still.
Dominic’s eyes sharpened.
“What?”
Pike looked delighted.
“You thought the key opened the evidence box.”
Henry said, “It does.”
“No.”
Pike shook his head.
“It opens half.”
Harriet looked at her father.
“What does that mean?”
Henry looked genuinely confused.
Pike continued.
“Carlo had the other half.”
Dominic’s face changed.
“My father?”
“Your father was smarter than Henry ever realized.”
Henry stepped toward Pike.
“What did Carlo have?”
“The account codes.”
Harriet frowned.
“What account codes?”
Pike ignored her.
“Without Carlo’s codes, the documents in Henry’s box are just names and numbers.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Where are the codes?”
Pike looked directly at Harriet.
“That’s the beautiful part.”
Henry whispered, “No.”
Pike smiled.
“Yes.”
Harriet looked between them.
“What?”
Henry seemed suddenly afraid to answer.
Pike did it for him.
“Your mother had them.”
Harriet’s stomach dropped.
“My mother?”
Pike nodded.
“Margaret Lawson carried the other half of the evidence for eleven years without knowing what it was.”
Henry looked horrified.
“No.”
“You thought Carlo kept it?”
“Yes.”
“He gave it to Margaret.”
Harriet stepped closer.
“How?”
Pike’s eyes gleamed.
“In a cookbook.”
Harriet stopped.
Her mother’s cookbook.
Red cloth cover.
Handwritten recipes.
Grease stains.
Birthday cakes.
Christmas stuffing.
Peach cobbler.
Harriet had it.
It was in her apartment.
Pike saw understanding cross her face.
“There it is.”
Dominic swore.
Pike smiled wider.
“You have it.”
Harriet said nothing.
Pike lifted the phone.
“Victor wants the cookbook and Henry’s key.”
Dominic’s earpiece crackled.
“Boss. Team Three found the loading dock.”
Dominic’s gaze stayed on Pike.
“And Cynthia?”
A pause.
“Gone.”
Harriet’s heart sank.
Pike smirked.
Dominic continued listening.
“Boss, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“Blood.”
Harriet’s face went cold.
Pike’s smile faded.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Harriet lunged.
Dominic caught her around the waist.
“Harriet.”
“You said she was alive!”
“She was!”
Pike backed away.
Dominic’s men closed in.
Then gunfire erupted from the road.
Glass shattered.
Everyone dropped.
Pike ran toward the side wall.
Dominic dragged Harriet behind a stone column.
Henry returned fire.
Vehicles outside roared.
The steel gate shook as a truck slammed it.
Once.
Twice.
A third impact tore the gate from its track.
Dominic shouted orders.
Harriet looked toward her father.
He was gone.
“Dad?”
No answer.
She looked around.
“Dad!”
Dominic followed her gaze.
Henry’s gun lay on the ground.
Beside it was the old tire iron.
And beyond the broken gate, a black sedan was disappearing into the night.
Harriet ran toward the driveway.
Dominic caught her.
“Harriet!”
She fought him.
“My father!”
Dominic pointed toward the ground.
A phone lay where Henry had been standing.
The screen was lit.
A new video had arrived.
Harriet grabbed it.
Henry sat in the back seat of a moving car.
Pike beside him.
Victor Marano leaned forward from the front passenger seat.
Older now.
Silver hair.
Perfect suit.
Same empty eyes Harriet remembered from Marlowe’s.
Victor smiled into the camera.
Then he spoke.
“Bring me your mother’s cookbook, Harriet.”
He paused.
May you like
“Or this time, we bury the right man.”
The video ended.
