Chapter 5 - The Greenhouse Door
The old greenhouse stood two hundred yards from the main house behind a row of bare elm trees and a construction fence silvered by rain.
Dominic had ordered it renovated in the spring, but work stopped after his crash because the contractor claimed structural problems beneath the west wall.
Since then, nobody was supposed to use it.
Vincent led the way with three guards while Dominic followed more slowly, refusing the wheelchair Mercer had sent after him.
Clare remained inside with Ellie and Mrs. Bell under guard.
That separation bothered Dominic more than he expected.
The child had become their most reliable witness precisely because nobody believed a four-year-old was worth managing.
Now somebody had planted a microphone on her toy.
That meant Ellie had moved from invisible to dangerous.
The greenhouse gate was chained.
Vincent examined the lock.
"New scratches."
Dominic looked at the pale limestone beneath their shoes.
Rain had softened the mud enough to hold prints.
Several sets of adult footprints crossed the construction road.
One pair had a narrow heel and smooth leather sole.
Another had a heavy security tread.
A third was smaller.
Vincent crouched beside it.
"Woman's shoe."
Dominic thought of Angela.
"Could be hers?"
"Could be anybody's."
One guard cut the chain.
The greenhouse door opened with a groan.
Inside, the air smelled of damp soil, rust, and old fertilizer.
Plastic sheeting hung from the ceiling like translucent skin.
Rows of empty planter boxes disappeared into darkness.
Vincent switched on a flashlight.
The beam caught a folding chair.
Then another.
Then a table.
The building was not empty.
On the table sat three disposable phones, a laptop with its battery removed, a box of medical gloves, and a stack of printed schedules.
Dominic approached.
The top sheet listed his rehabilitation appointments for the last eight weeks.
Every appointment was marked with handwritten notes.
PAIN INCREASE.
LIMIT WALKING.
VOSS MEETING THURSDAY.
COUNCIL VOTE.
Dominic picked up the paper.
Someone had planned his physical decline around Arthur's political schedule.
Vincent opened a second folder.
Inside were photographs of Dominic entering Lakeshore Medical Center, leaving restaurants, speaking with attorneys, and walking through his own garden.
Several photographs had dates written beneath them.
The images showed exactly when his cane use increased.
"They were measuring the effect," Vincent said.
Dominic looked at a photograph taken through the estate window.
"From inside my property."
"Yes."
A guard called from the far wall.
"Found something."
Behind a plastic sheet was a narrow workbench.
On it sat a vise, pliers, miniature screwdrivers, and three orthopedic brace components nearly identical to the one Ellie had noticed.
One retaining plate had been deliberately installed backward.
Another had been filed along its edge.
The third was bent enough to create pressure when tightened.
Dominic's anger finally showed.
Not in his voice.
In the way his hand closed around his cane until the knuckles went pale.
"They practiced."
Vincent nodded.
"More than once."
Beneath the workbench was a sealed medical cooler.
Inside were four vials bearing the same label as Dominic's prescribed medication.
Vincent did not touch them.
"Call Mercer."
One guard stepped outside to use the radio.
Dominic opened the printed schedule again.
A line near the bottom had been circled twice.
FRIDAY - TEMPORARY AUTHORITY SIGNATURE.
Tonight.
Next to it was one handwritten word.
FAILSAFE.
Vincent saw it too.
"That worries me."
"It should."
They searched the greenhouse carefully.
Inside a cabinet, they found a box of theatrical adhesive, latex material, skin-color pigment, gray hair fibers, and a small bottle of cedar-scented oil.
Vincent stared at the items.
"A disguise."
Dominic thought of Angela insisting she had seen Vincent's face.
"A good one."
"Good enough in a dark service corridor."
There were also two replica security badges.
One carried Vincent's photograph.
The second was blank.
Dominic picked up the blank badge.
"Who has equipment to make these?"
"Our contractor."
"Which contractor?"
Vincent's mouth tightened.
"Voss Protective Systems."
Arthur's nephew's company had upgraded the estate access network eighteen months earlier.
Dominic had approved it because Arthur vouched for them.
That approval now felt like signing an invitation.
A phone vibrated on the table.
Everyone froze.
The device had no identifying label.
Vincent looked at Dominic.
Dominic nodded.
Vincent put the call on speaker without answering verbally.
A distorted voice came through.
"Is it done?"
Nobody spoke.
The caller waited.
"You have five minutes before he sees the ledger."
The line disconnected.
Dominic stared at the phone.
"What ledger?"
Vincent looked around the greenhouse.
One guard began opening cabinets.
Another searched beneath the table.
They found no ledger.
Dominic replayed the sentence in his mind.
Before he sees the ledger.
Not before they find the ledger.
The caller believed somebody at the greenhouse already knew where it was.
Dominic turned toward Vincent.
"Who knew we were coming here?"
Vincent counted silently.
"You, me, three guards, Clare, Mrs. Bell, and whoever heard the order over security radio."
"Mercer?"
"He heard us say greenhouse before we left."
Dominic looked toward the main house.
"Then the microphone on Ellie's toy was not the only way they were listening."
A guard shouted from the rear room.
They hurried toward him.
A section of floor had been lifted.
Beneath it was a narrow storage pit.
Inside sat a metal lockbox.
Vincent checked for wires before opening it.
The box contained paper files, not money.
At the top was a ledger bound in dark red leather.
Dominic lifted it.
The pages were filled with dates, initials, amounts, clinic invoice numbers, security shift codes, and private transfers.
Most entries meant nothing at first glance.
Then Dominic saw A.V.
Several payments beside the initials matched dates Arthur had traveled out of state.
Another column was labeled M.R.
Mercer.
Dominic's chest went cold.
Vincent read over his shoulder.
"Could be Samuel Mercer."
"Could be designed to look like Samuel Mercer."
"You are getting generous."
"I am getting careful."
Near the back of the ledger was a payment of two hundred thousand dollars beside the initials V.H.
Vincent went silent.
Dominic looked at him.
"Anything you want to tell me?"
"No."
"Good."
Dominic closed the ledger.
"Because if this book were real, whoever kept it would be the stupidest conspirator in Chicago."
Vincent almost smiled.
"Finally, something we agree on."
A gunshot cracked outside.
One guard dropped behind the workbench.
Vincent shoved Dominic against the brick wall.
A second shot shattered a greenhouse pane.
Glass sprayed across the floor.
The lights went out.
Vincent drew his weapon and fired once toward the muzzle flash beyond the fence.
The shooter moved.
A guard chased through the rear door.
Dominic stayed low, clutching the ledger beneath his coat.
Another bullet struck the table where the disposable phones had been.
One phone exploded into fragments.
The shooter was not aiming at Dominic.
He was destroying evidence.
"Laptop," Dominic said.
Vincent understood.
He grabbed the laptop and medical cooler.
The remaining guard covered them as they moved toward the front exit.
Outside, rain blurred everything beyond twenty yards.
The pursuing guard shouted from the construction road.
"Vehicle heading south!"
An engine roared beyond the trees.
Vincent ran toward the sound but stopped when Dominic called his name.
"Let him go."
Vincent turned in disbelief.
"We can catch him."
"That is what he wants."
Dominic pointed toward the greenhouse.
"The attack started when we found the ledger."
"So?"
"So somebody needed security pulled away from the house."
Vincent looked toward the estate.
His face changed.
"Clare and Ellie."
They ran back as fast as Dominic's leg allowed.
Halfway across the garden, Vincent's radio came alive.
Mrs. Bell's voice was strained.
"Mr. Hale, someone just triggered the library fire alarm."
Vincent answered while moving.
"Stay inside."
"We cannot."
"Why?"
"Smoke is coming through the vent."
Dominic felt a sharper pain than anything the sabotaged brace had caused.
"Where are Clare and Ellie?"
Mrs. Bell's reply came after a terrible pause.
"They were here ten seconds ago."
Vincent stopped running.
"What do you mean were?"
"The lights went out, and when they came back, the side door was open."
Dominic stared at the glowing windows of his own house.
"Find them."
Mrs. Bell's voice broke.
May you like
"Ellie's toy is still on the floor."
