Chapter 4 - THE TICKET
“He’s at my neighbor’s apartment,” I gasped, struggling to breathe as panic tightened my throat. “Mrs. Gable. Three blocks away. She watches him when I work late.”
“We’re leaving,” Victor said.
He didn’t take the stairs. He dragged me toward the service elevator, bypassing the restaurant entirely. We emerged into the cold night air of the delivery alley.
A sleek, black SUV was idling near the dumpsters. A massive driver in a dark suit stood by the door.
“Thomas,” Victor barked. “The West 40s. Now. Run every red light.”
I practically dove into the backseat. Victor slid in beside me, pulling his phone from his pocket.
“I’m calling the police,” I sobbed, pulling my own cracked phone from my ruined purse.
Victor reached over and grabbed my wrist.
“Do not call the police, Anna,” Victor ordered gently but firmly.
“They broke into my locker! They threatened my son!”
“Richard Caldwell owns the police precinct in this district,” Victor said. “If you call 911, a cruiser driven by Caldwell’s men will arrive at Mrs. Gable’s apartment before we do. You will never see your son again.”
I dropped my phone. The reality of the power these men held crushed the air from my lungs. I was a waitress. I was nothing.
“I don’t have a ledger,” I cried, pressing my face into my hands. “I don’t even know what that is. What do they want from me?”
“David kept a physical ledger of Caldwell’s shipping routes,” Victor explained, his eyes scanning the dark streets as the SUV tore through Midtown traffic. “It’s the only piece of hard evidence that can put Richard Caldwell in federal prison for the rest of his life. Caldwell knows the FBI is closing in. He needs that ledger destroyed by midnight, or he loses his empire.”
“But I don’t have it!”
“David hid it,” Victor said. “And Caldwell believes David left you the map to find it.”
The SUV screeched to a halt outside my crumbling brick apartment building.
I didn’t wait for Thomas to open the door. I threw it open and sprinted up the concrete steps.
I bypassed my own floor and ran straight to apartment 4B.
I pounded on the door. “Mrs. Gable! Mary, open the door!”
Ten agonizing seconds passed.
The deadbolt clicked.
Mrs. Gable, a sweet woman in her seventies wearing a floral housecoat, opened the door. She looked surprised.
“Anna, dear, you’re home early—”
I shoved past her. “Leo!”
“Mommy!”
Leo came running out of the small living room. He was wearing his dinosaur pajamas, clutching a half-eaten graham cracker.
I fell to my knees and crushed him into my arms, burying my face in his soft, curly hair. He was safe. He was warm.
“Are you okay, baby? Are you hurt?” I frantically checked his arms and face.
“I’m fine, Mommy,” Leo giggled, squirming. “You’re squeezing me.”
Victor stepped into the apartment behind me, filling the small entryway. Mrs. Gable took one look at his imposing figure and took a nervous step back.
“Anna, what is going on?” Mrs. Gable asked.
I stood up, holding Leo’s hand in a death grip. “Mary, did anyone come here tonight? Anyone at all?”
Mrs. Gable frowned, wringing her hands. “Well… yes. About an hour ago. A very polite young man in a nice suit. He said he worked for your restaurant.”
My blood ran cold. Ethan.
“What did he do?” I demanded.
“He just dropped off a gift,” Mrs. Gable said defensively. “He said you won a raffle at work and wanted Leo to have it early.”
I dropped to my knees again, looking at Leo. “Baby, what did the man give you?”
Leo smiled proudly and reached into the pocket of his pajama pants.
He pulled out a heavy, thick piece of cardstock and handed it to me.
I unfolded it.
It was a train ticket.
A one-way, first-class ticket on the Amtrak sleeper train to Montreal.
The departure time was 11:30 PM. Tonight.
“He’s giving us a way out,” I whispered, staring at the ticket. “He’s telling us to run.”
“Caldwell doesn’t leave loose ends,” Victor said, his voice hard. “If you get on that train, it will derail before it crosses the border. He wants you in an enclosed space where you can’t run.”
Leo tugged on my torn sleeve.
“He gave me something else, too, Mommy,” Leo said softly.
My heart hammered. “What is it, sweetie?”
Leo reached into his other pocket.
He pulled out a heavy, tarnished gold object.
It was a pocket watch.
I gasped. I recognized it instantly. It was David’s grandfather’s watch. He used to keep it on his nightstand. It had gone missing the week he died. I thought it was lost in the crash.
“The nice man said Daddy wanted me to have it,” Leo said innocently.
I took the watch from his small hands. It was heavy and cold.
“Why would Ethan give this back to us?” I asked, looking up at Victor.
Victor stepped closer, staring at the watch.
“Open it,” Victor commanded softly.
My trembling fingers found the clasp. I pressed it.
May you like
The gold lid popped open.
The clock face was shattered. But tucked inside the hollow space behind the broken glass was a small, intricately carved brass key.
