Chapter 10 - A Price for Silence
At 10:02, Graham Pike appeared in the hospital lobby with a lawyer and a leather document case. He asked to speak privately to Claire. Ortiz allowed a supervised meeting behind a security desk, well away from Emma.
Pike was tall, spotless, and smiling as if he had arrived to buy a used car.
"I heard what happened to the child," he said. "A terrible family misunderstanding."
"My sister threw my baby out a window," Claire replied. "Say it correctly."
His smile faded. "Your sister has behaved recklessly. I can help with her legal expenses. And yours. Five million dollars, if you ratify the contract and withdraw your allegations about my company."
"You can't buy what happened to Emma."
"No one is asking you to forget. I'm offering you a future."
Claire looked at the neat pages in his case. "You offered Vanessa two point four million before you even had my permission."
"An advance against performance. Her arrangement, not yours."
"And it has to be done before midnight?"
"That's a private deadline in the financing agreement. At twelve, the escrow instruction expires. My partners will demand repayment, and Vanessa will face consequences."
"She should."
He leaned closer. "Your mother wasn't a hero, Claire. She knew the gate was defective. If the neighborhood floods, somebody might ask why your family kept the only entrance locked."
For one instant, she felt the old family shame rising. Then she remembered the photographs under the stair.
"My mother tried to stop you."
"Your mother kept things she shouldn't have kept."
Pike walked away before Ortiz could ask another question. She sent an officer after him.
Almost at once, Theo's phone buzzed. The message came from Claire's own stolen number and contained a live image from the cellar camera: Mr. Ellis, wrists tied, sitting beside a rising pool of water.
May you like
Below it were four words.
SIGN, OR HE DROWNS.
