Chapter 5

I had already pressed the silent alarm under the desk with my thumb. I had installed it after a stalker sent me a dead bird in a box. The gala’s security contractor had wired it straight to the main office, the police, and every exit door in the rotunda.

The moment Elias lunged, the locks engaged. A low clang echoed through the building. The door beside him jerked in its frame. Somewhere beyond it, guests gasped. Somewhere farther, a siren began to wail.

He spun toward the sound, and I pulled Poppy behind me.

“What did you do?” he snarled.

“I told the truth,” I said. “Or I will.”

He grabbed my wrist. His grip was strong, but he was shaking. He wrenched my hand from my pocket and took the compass. I let him. I had already photographed the inside with my phone while he was pacing. The code was in my cloud. The photo was in my hand. The truth did not need brass anymore.

“You think a locked door stops me?” he said. “I run security here. I know every override.”

“Then why are you still standing here?”

He looked at Poppy. That was his mistake. Whatever else he was, he could not quite leave his daughter behind. He had abandoned her once, but a second time, with her eyes on him, cost him something.

“Come here,” he told her.

“No,” I said.

“She’s mine.”

“She is not a thing you own.”

He pocketed the compass. “I’m walking out. You’ll tell them it was a false alarm. You’ll tell them the child was confused. Or I’ll make sure the story that comes out is about a delusional old woman who accused a dead son of being alive.”

“And Poppy?”

“She comes with me until I’m clear.”

“No.”

He pulled Poppy from behind me. She kicked. He lifted her against his chest, one arm around her waist, his security badge swinging. The doors were locked, but the radio on his shoulder crackled with panicked voices. He answered with a calm I had never taught him.

“All clear in the east hall,” he said. “Hold positions.”

Then he looked at me. “Open the door, Mother. Or I swear I’ll disappear with her so far away you’ll never even find a grave to visit.”

I had one move left, and it required airtime.