Chapter 10 - THE THIRD PLAYER
Emma threw herself behind a row of seats.
Victoria screamed.
Sophie ducked as far as the chair allowed.
Dominic rolled onto his side, clutching his shoulder.
A second shot shattered a stage light.
Then Marco's team stormed the theater from both entrances.
Vincent reached Emma and pulled her behind cover.
"Are you hit?"
"No. Sophie!"
Marco cut Sophie loose.
Victoria tried to run backstage but was intercepted by two officers Vincent had quietly brought into the operation.
The shooter escaped across the roof.
Dominic was taken to the hospital under guard.
Victoria kept repeating one sentence.
"That wasn't part of the plan."
At the police station, she refused to explain.
Vincent sat across from Emma in a private interview room.
"There's someone else."
Emma nodded.
"Someone who wants Dominic dead."
"Or wants him quiet."
Marco entered with news.
The bullet recovered from the stage had been fired from a weapon registered to Carl Dempsey.
Emma's former manager.
Police went to Carl's apartment.
He was gone.
His laptop was still there.
On it were wire transfers from a company called Halcyon Civic Partners.
Vincent recognized the name immediately.
"That's the advisory firm handling the Lakefront Meridian permits."
Emma frowned. "Who owns it?"
Marco turned the laptop around.
The controlling partner was Alderman Richard Keene, one of the most powerful politicians in Chicago.
Emma remembered him from the ballroom.
He had been sitting ten feet away when Victoria raised her hand to Isabella.
He had watched everything.
And done nothing.
Then Marco opened a second file.
A scanned contract appeared.
At the bottom was Isabella's signature.
May you like
Beside it was Emma Carter's name.
Listed as a witness.
