Chapter 2
I sent Amelia inside with two bodyguards I trusted more than my own blood.
Food first, then fluids, then rest. One of the family physicians was already on his way. I did not leave the backyard until I watched my daughter disappear safely through the doors.
Then I walked down into the drained pool.
Marcus had managed to stand. He watched me cross the concrete toward the scattered cleaning equipment but made no attempt to stop me this time.
That was wise.
The scrub brush was cheap plastic with a hollow aluminum handle. Amelia had pushed the rubber grip back over something wedged inside.
I removed it.
A small silver token dropped into my palm.
Wolf head.
Black enamel eyes.
One engraved letter on the reverse.
M.
Robert sat down above us.
Diane stared.
Marcus muttered a curse.
I knew the emblem.
Everyone in Armstrong leadership did.
The Mercer family.
Our western rivals.
I had refused three separate proposals from Conrad Mercer over the last eighteen months. He wanted access through Armstrong-controlled freight territory. I wanted him nowhere near it.
Yet one of his private tokens had somehow ended up inside my drained swimming pool.
I looked at Marcus.
“How did this get here?”
“Maybe the kid found it somewhere else.”
“No.”
I turned the token over.
There was dried pale grit along the edge.
Same color as the old mortar around the deep-end service wall.
Amelia had found it here.
Diane climbed down two steps into the pool. “Give it to me.”
I almost laughed.
“You still think you can order me?”
“It doesn’t belong to you.”
That sentence changed the temperature of the entire backyard.
I closed my fingers around the token.
“Then tell me who it belongs to.”
She said nothing.
Robert finally spoke.
“Liberty, this became bigger than it was supposed to.”
I looked at him.
“My daughter went three days without food.”
“I know.”
“You sat ten feet away eating pizza.”
His face folded slightly.
Not enough.
I walked toward him.
“What was supposed to happen?”
Robert glanced at Diane.
She gave him a warning look.
I saw it.
So did Marcus.
My father took a breath.
“The pool was drained because something had been left behind.”
“The token.”
“No.”
I stopped.
Robert looked at the concrete beneath my feet.
“The token was only proof someone had been here.”
My eyes moved toward the old service wall.
There was a narrow discoloration along one seam I had never noticed before.
Marcus closed his eyes.
I walked toward it.
The mortar was cracked.
Recently.
I pressed my fingers into the edge.
A hidden maintenance panel shifted inward.
May you like
Behind it was darkness.
And fresh footprints.
