Chapter 3
I ran through the service exit.
The alley behind the bank was empty.
“Noah!”
Nothing.
Marcus came behind me.
“Which way?”
“I don’t know!”
Smoke drifted from a trash bin near the loading entrance.
Someone had started a small fire.
A distraction.
Not an accident.
“Noah!”
I ran toward the street.
Cars rushed past.
People moved along the sidewalk.
No sign of a five-year-old in an oversized hoodie.
My chest tightened.
I turned back.
Richard stood at the service door.
“Sarah, get inside.”
I ignored him.
Marcus grabbed my shoulder.
“Look.”
He pointed at the pavement.
A tiny blue toy car lay near the curb.
I remembered seeing it in Noah’s hoodie pocket.
“He was here.”
Marcus picked it up.
Then his expression changed.
“What?”
He showed me the bottom.
A strip of masking tape was stuck to the toy.
Three numbers were written on it.
“What does that mean?”
Marcus stared at it.
“I don’t know.”
Richard approached.
“Give me that.”
Marcus closed his fist.
“No.”
Richard’s face hardened.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
Something passed between them.
Recognition.
Not friendship.
Not exactly.
History.
“You two know each other,” I said.
Neither answered.
My stomach twisted.
“Emily’s note mentioned you.”
Marcus looked at me sharply.
Richard went pale.
“What did you just say?”
I backed away.
Marcus stepped in front of me.
“Go inside, Richard.”
Richard laughed once.
“You think you’re protecting her?”
Marcus didn’t move.
Richard lowered his voice.
“You should have stayed retired.”
Retired?
Marcus was only forty.
I looked at him.
“Who are you?”
Richard turned and walked back inside.
Marcus waited until he was gone.
Then he looked at me.
“Former financial crimes detective.”
Everything inside me stopped.
“You were police?”
“Eight years.”
“Emily said someone in law enforcement protected Richard.”
“I know.”
I backed away from him.
He raised both hands.
“Not me.”
“How am I supposed to believe that?”
“You shouldn’t. Not yet.”
“Then tell me why Emily trusted you.”
His face tightened.
“Because I was the detective assigned to her disappearance.”
I stared at him.
Marcus Reed.
The security guard who brought donuts every Friday.
The quiet man who helped elderly customers with the ATM.
He had investigated Emily?
“Your name wasn’t in the reports.”
“I used my full name then. Marcus Reed Dawson.”
“Why did you leave the department?”
“Because I accused my lieutenant of burying evidence in Emily’s case.”
My pulse jumped.
“What lieutenant?”
“Thomas Vance.”
I knew the name.
Everyone in Chicago did.
Deputy Chief Thomas Vance.
He appeared on television.
He gave speeches about public safety.
Three years ago, he had stood beside Emily’s parents and promised they would never stop searching for her.
Marcus looked toward the street.
“Vance shut down every lead connecting Richard to Emily.”
“Why?”
“I never proved it.”
“Emily says Richard was moving money.”
“I suspected he was laundering it.”
“For who?”
Marcus met my eyes.
“People with badges.”
My skin went cold.
A horn sounded.
I spun around.
A black SUV was moving slowly past the alley.
The rear window was tinted.
Marcus pulled me backward.
“Inside.”
“What about Noah?”
“If whoever took him is watching, you standing out here helps them.”
“I’m not leaving him.”
“We’re not leaving him. We’re thinking.”
The SUV continued down the block.
We returned through the service entrance.
Richard was nowhere in sight.
I checked the break room.
The cash bag was still beneath the table.
That made no sense.
“They took Noah but left the money?”
Marcus’s eyes narrowed.
“Then Noah may not have been the target.”
“What?”
“They could have wanted you to panic and move the bag.”
I stared at it.
“Why?”
“Because the branch has cameras.”
My heart jumped.
“The cash is evidence.”
“Exactly.”
“If I carry it outside—”
“You become the employee seen removing tens of thousands in cash.”
A sick feeling settled in my stomach.
Someone wanted to frame me.
I looked toward Richard’s office.
Empty.
“Where is he?”
Marcus checked the lobby.
The fire alarm had been silenced.
Most customers had left.
Employees were gathered near the front doors.
Richard’s assistant said he had gone upstairs.
Our branch occupied the first two floors of the building.
The second level held records, meeting rooms and private banking offices.
Marcus took my arm.
“We need the camera footage.”
“Richard can erase it.”
“Not all of it. Security mirrors footage off-site.”
“Can you access it?”
“No. But I know who can.”
He pulled out his phone.
Then stopped.
“What?”
“My phone stays off.”
“Why?”
“Because if Vance is involved, assume normal channels are compromised.”
This sounded insane.
Yet three years earlier, Emily had disappeared.
Now her son had vanished from a locked employee room.
Nothing felt insane anymore.
“What’s 314?” I asked.
Marcus looked at the toy.
“I’m trying to figure that out.”
I remembered Emily.
Her locker.
She always chose numbers that meant something.
Her birthday was March 14.
“March fourteenth.”
Marcus looked at me.
“What?”
“Emily’s birthday. 3/14.”
“Could still be a locker number.”
Our bank didn’t have safe-deposit boxes at this branch.
But the old downtown location did.
Emily used to work there before transferring.
“Maybe she left something downtown.”
Marcus nodded slowly.
Then a voice came from behind us.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
Richard.
He stood in the hallway.
Two uniformed police officers were behind him.
My stomach dropped.
Richard pointed at the cash.
“She tried to leave the building with that bag.”
“That’s a lie.”
Richard shook his head sadly.
“I wish it were.”
One officer approached me.
“Ma’am, step away from the money.”
Marcus moved forward.
“Officer, you should confirm his accusation before—”
The second officer recognized him.
“Dawson?”
Marcus’s face changed.
The officer smiled.
“Well, this is interesting.”
Richard crossed his arms.
“The boy who brought the money is missing. Sarah was alone with him.”
I stared at him.
“You know exactly what happened.”
“Do I?”
“You set the fire.”
One officer grabbed my wrist.
“You need to calm down.”
“Check the cameras!”
Richard sighed.
“The security system malfunctioned during the alarm.”
Of course it did.
Marcus stepped beside me.
“Call Vance.”
The officers exchanged a look.
That was all I needed to see.
Marcus noticed too.
He whispered, “Run.”
“What?”
Then he slammed the fire door shut between us and the officers.
“RUN!”
I grabbed the cash bag.
We raced toward the loading dock.
Someone shouted behind us.
Marcus shoved a metal cart against the door.
We burst into the alley.
“Why did you tell me to take the money?”
“Because Richard just confirmed the footage is gone.”
Police sirens sounded nearby.
Marcus grabbed my arm.
“Your car?”
“Parking garage.”
“Too obvious.”
We ran through the alley and emerged two blocks away.
My mind was spinning.
“Noah is missing.”
“I know.”
“We can’t just run.”
“We need leverage.”
“What leverage?”
Marcus showed me the toy car.
“Whatever Emily left on March fourteenth.”
We entered a train station.
I pulled my hood up.
The bag felt like a bomb in my hand.
My phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
For several seconds, nothing.
Then Noah whispered.
“Sarah?”
I stopped walking.
“Noah!”
Marcus turned.
“Where are you?”
Noah was crying.
“I don’t know.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
A man’s voice spoke somewhere near him.
Noah went silent.
Then he whispered faster.
“My mom said if they take me, tell you the red door.”
The call disconnected.
I stared at my phone.
Marcus had gone pale.
“What?”
He looked at me.
“The red door.”
“You know it?”
May you like
He nodded.
“It was the last place Emily’s phone ever pinged before she disappeared.”
