Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN AT THE WINDOW
Evelyn didn't sleep.
She called the police.
By the time officers arrived, the SUV was gone.
They took her statement.
Photographed the messages.
Asked whether she'd recently had trouble with anyone.
She almost laughed.
“I'm an emergency-room nurse. Trouble is practically my job description.”
One officer didn't smile.
“Do you know Daniel Mercer?”
“I treated him tonight.”
“Did he tell you anything?”
Evelyn hesitated.
Then repeated his words.
They'll call it a fall.
The officer wrote them down.
He asked her to preserve the messages and contact the department if she received anything else.
After they left, Margaret woke.
“Evelyn?”
Her daughter turned.
“Mom.”
Margaret looked at the clock.
“Why are you still awake?”
Evelyn forced a smile.
“Long shift.”
Her mother studied her.
“You look frightened.”
Evelyn sat beside her.
“Something happened at work.”
Margaret took her hand.
“Tell me.”
Evelyn did.
Not everything.
But enough.
The threatening messages.
The suspicious death.
The police.
Margaret listened quietly.
Then said:
“You need to stop trying to carry the whole world.”
Evelyn laughed bitterly.
“Someone has to.”
“No.”
Margaret squeezed her hand.
“Someone has to carry you sometimes.”
Evelyn looked away.
She didn't know how to answer.
Across the city, Adrian Vale stood in his private office overlooking the river.
Dante entered with a folder.
“Daniel Mercer was a structural engineer.”
Adrian nodded.
“I know.”
“He'd been investigating irregularities at the Halcyon Tower redevelopment.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
The project was one of his largest legitimate investments.
A luxury residential tower.
Forty-two stories.
Hundreds of millions of dollars.
And now a dead engineer.
Dante continued.
“Mercer believed someone falsified safety inspections.”
“Who?”
“We're still checking.”
Adrian looked toward the window.
“And the hospital?”
Dante hesitated.
“What about it?”
“The nurse.”
Dante's expression changed.
“Evelyn Hart?”
“Yes.”
“We checked her background.”
Adrian turned sharply.
“I didn't authorize that.”
Dante blinked.
“Boss, she got into your car.”
“And?”
“She heard a sensitive conversation.”
Adrian's voice became cold.
“That doesn't give you permission to invade her life.”
Dante went silent.
Adrian held out his hand.
“The file.”
Dante gave it to him.
Adrian opened it.
Inside was Evelyn's photograph.
Her address.
Her employment history.
Her mother's financial records.
And a copy of a threatening message.
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“Where did this come from?”
Dante swallowed.
“Our security monitoring intercepted it.”
Adrian looked up.
“Someone threatened her?”
“Yes.”
His jaw tightened.
“Why wasn't I told immediately?”
Dante hesitated.
May you like
Then said:
“Because the message was sent from a device registered to one of our own companies.”
