Chapter 14 - His Name on the Page
Adrian met me in an empty conference room with two attorneys and a face that looked ten years older.
"I found the original agreement," he said. "Not the edited recording. The actual document."
He slid a folder across the table. Last month, he'd approved an initial draw from the First Light account before the final inspections were complete. Grant had told him contractors needed cash to reserve temporary housing.
"You signed early," I said.
"Yes. I shouldn't have."
"Did you know the families were still inside?"
"No. But I stopped asking questions when the answers got inconvenient."
There was no speech that could make that decent. I appreciated that he didn't try.
"Are you giving this to investigators?"
"All of it. Including my emails."
One attorney looked unhappy. "That may expose you to civil liability."
"Then it exposes me," Adrian said.
I wanted to believe him. I wasn't ready.
Outside, a reporter called my name. The edited video was spreading fast. I'd been called a thug, a liar, and a thief by strangers who'd never met me.
I remembered the last security job I'd lost. A supervisor ordered me to delete a recording of a guard striking a teenage boy. I refused. Within a week, the company accused me of misconduct. No one had needed to prove the accusation true; they only needed it to be loud.
I couldn't let that happen to Iris.
At the hospital, I found her sitting beside June and Ben. Ben had enough breath to complain about the food, which was the sweetest sound I'd heard all night.
Iris touched her collarbone twice, then caught herself.
"I keep doing that," she said.
"You don't have to stop."
She gave me a tired smile. "I thought getting proof would make them leave us alone."
"Proof gives people a chance to fight. It doesn't fight for us."
May you like
My phone rang. An unfamiliar number.
"Lena," Calder Pike said. "You want the file that proves who ordered your friend's kidnapping? Meet me alone."
