Chapter 12 - A House Is Not a Bargain
The rescue team dragged Mr. Ellis through the chute before the lower door blew inward. He was bruised, freezing, and furious about his garage, but he could speak. Claire heard his voice through the officer's radio.
"Tell the baby I kept my promise."
She sat down so suddenly the chair scraped the floor. "You tell her yourself," she whispered.
Nadia called from the county control room. "The upper gate is being forced shut. Somebody's operating machinery where the plans show an empty tunnel. We need to stop them and clear the east bypass."
"And the families?" Claire asked.
"I'm requesting a precautionary evacuation of Hawthorne Row."
Theo returned to the contract. "Pike doesn't need the final sale recorded tonight. He only needs your signature on a ratification that makes his private financing promise enforceable. He lied about everything else to make you rush."
"Then give him a reason to believe I'll sign," Claire said.
Ortiz raised an eyebrow. "You'd cooperate with a controlled meeting?"
"Only if nobody gets near Emma. I'll appear by video. He can come to the police station with a notary and show his original documents."
Theo made the call. Pike agreed too quickly.
At 10:43, Claire spoke to Vanessa again. Her sister sounded breathless, and there were footsteps on concrete behind her.
"Pike says you'll sign," Vanessa said.
"I said I'd read the papers. You could have asked me to read papers without touching my daughter."
"I knew she'd land on the canopy."
"You didn't know anything. You gambled her life for money."
Vanessa made a little choking noise. "I can't give the advance back. I moved it into accounts Pike gave me. The money's already gone."
Claire looked at Ortiz. "What if he was never going to let you keep it?"
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A door slammed on Vanessa's end. A man shouted her name.
Then she whispered, "He's sending a concrete truck to the east entrance."
