Chapter 7 - The Smile for the Cameras
Hannah was already running toward her car before Ethan finished whispering.
"Do not answer him."
"Okay."
"Go into the bathroom and lock that door too."
"Okay."
"Keep the phone with you."
Hannah started the engine with shaking hands.
Oak Park to Berwyn was not far.
That did not matter.
Every traffic light became an enemy.
"Is he still there?"
Ethan whispered from the other end.
"I cannot hear him."
"Do not check."
"I am not."
"Good."
Hannah called 911 from her second phone while keeping Ethan on the first.
She gave the dispatcher the address and told her an unknown man was attempting contact with an eight-year-old child alone in an apartment.
The dispatcher told her officers were on the way.
Hannah drove faster anyway.
Five minutes later Ethan spoke again.
"Hannah?"
"I am here."
"Someone is opening the front door."
Her chest seized.
"Stay in the bathroom."
"I hear keys."
Then a door opened on his end.
Hannah nearly drove through a red light.
"Ethan?"
No answer.
"Ethan!"
A man's voice came through the phone.
"Chicago Police."
Hannah almost sobbed.
Ethan began crying instead.
Not loudly.
Just enough that Hannah had to grip the steering wheel harder to keep it straight.
When she reached the apartment, two police cars were outside.
Ethan ran down the hallway and hit her around the waist so hard she stumbled.
Hannah dropped to her knees and held him.
For a minute she did not care who was watching.
Then she saw the box.
It sat on the small kitchen table.
Brown cardboard.
No return address.
"The man left this outside," an officer said.
Hannah stared at it.
"Did anyone see him?"
"Neighbor across the hall saw a man in a baseball cap."
"Camera?"
"Building camera has been broken since last month."
Of course it had.
The officer opened the box after checking it.
Inside were twelve paper cranes.
Each one was folded from photocopies of Hannah's employment records.
Ethan looked confused.
"Those are bad cranes."
Hannah could not speak.
One crane was made from a copy of his surgical referral.
Across the paper, in black marker, someone had written three words.
GO BACK TO WORK.
The threat was clever.
It did not tell her to quit.
It told her they knew where she worked, why she worked there, and how to reach the person she loved most.
The police photographed everything.
They took the box.
They asked Hannah whether she had enemies.
She almost laughed.
"One or two."
By midnight, Ethan was asleep on the sofa beneath three blankets.
Hannah sat at the kitchen table with her phone in front of her.
She had called Walter six times.
No answer.
She had called Nicholas twice.
No answer.
At 12:18, Claire called.
Hannah stared at the screen.
Then answered.
"Where are you?" Claire asked.
No greeting.
No concern.
"Home."
"Nicholas needs his nighttime medication."
"The backup nurse has instructions."
"Nicholas dismissed her."
Hannah closed her eyes.
Of course he had.
"Put him on the phone."
"He is sleeping."
"Then why did you say he needs medication?"
Silence.
Hannah sat straighter.
"Claire?"
"You are becoming very difficult."
"Someone came to my apartment tonight."
Another silence.
This one was different.
Claire spoke carefully.
"What are you talking about?"
"They knew Ethan's name."
"Who is Ethan?"
The lie came too quickly.
Hannah's fear turned into something harder.
"You know exactly who he is."
"I have no idea what you mean."
"Then you will not mind if I give the police your name."
Claire laughed softly.
"Hannah, do you hear yourself?"
There it was again.
The same strategy Hale used.
Make the accusation sound like evidence of instability.
"Good night, Claire."
"If you do not return by seven, I will recommend Nicholas terminate you."
"He signs my contract."
"Yes."
Claire's voice became almost gentle.
"Nicholas signs things when he is tired."
The line went dead.
Hannah sat staring at the phone.
This time the sentence had not slipped out.
Claire wanted her to hear it.
At 1:06 a.m., someone knocked on Hannah's apartment door.
She froze.
The knock came again.
Ethan woke on the sofa.
"Stay there."
Hannah approached the door and looked through the peephole.
Walter Bell stood in the hallway.
She opened the door only after checking the chain.
Walter's face was grim.
"You called."
"Six times."
"My phone was in a secure room."
"Convenient."
His eyes dropped to Ethan.
"Is he all right?"
"How do you know something happened to him?"
Walter looked at her.
Hannah felt the floor move under her.
"How do you know?"
"Nicholas told me."
"Nicholas did not answer me."
"Because he was with security."
"Doing what?"
Walter removed his coat.
"Trying to find the man who came here."
Hannah stared at him.
"You already know?"
"Nicholas has access to police contacts."
"The police left less than an hour ago."
"That is enough time."
Walter glanced toward Ethan again.
"Pack a bag."
"No."
"Hannah."
"I am not taking him to that house."
"Neither am I."
She paused.
"Where?"
"A hotel near Northwestern Hospital under a name not connected to the Valentis."
"Why should I trust you?"
Walter did not look offended.
"You should not."
That answer sounded too much like Hannah herself.
"Then why would I go?"
"Because whoever sent that box knows this address."
He put a keycard on the table.
"And because I had the apartment across the hall rented forty minutes ago."
Hannah stared at him.
"You what?"
"Two of my men are inside it."
She looked toward the door.
"You put armed men across from an eight-year-old?"
"I put two licensed security officers across from the only person someone thinks can be used to control you."
Hannah hated that the distinction made sense.
"Did you know my brother was part of the hiring file?"
Walter's face changed.
Hannah pulled Amanda's photocopy from her bag and put it on the table.
"High financial vulnerability."
Walter read the highlighted words.
His expression went from confusion to anger.
"I have never seen this."
"Amanda found it on your desk."
"Then someone wanted her to find it."
"That is convenient too."
Walter looked at her.
"The agency file I received had your licensing history, employment history, references, and availability."
"No medical details about Ethan?"
"No."
"Can you prove it?"
"Yes."
"Good."
Hannah folded the page.
"Because I am done believing people who only have explanations."
Walter nodded.
"You should be."
By three in the morning, Ethan was in a hotel suite with Hannah and two security officers positioned outside.
Walter left only after Hannah checked both officers' licenses herself.
At seven, she returned to the Valenti estate.
News vans were already outside the gates.
Hannah slowed her car.
A reporter stood in front of a camera speaking into a microphone.
Behind him, a banner had been hung across the front terrace.
VALENTI FOUNDATION ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT.
Hannah stared.
No event had been scheduled for that morning.
She parked near the service entrance and entered through the kitchen.
Staff members hurried in every direction.
Flowers arrived by the cartload.
A makeup artist carried cases upstairs.
A publicist shouted into two phones.
"What is happening?" Hannah asked a housekeeper.
The woman looked surprised.
"The wedding announcement."
"What wedding announcement?"
"Mr. Valenti and Miss Whitmore."
Hannah's stomach tightened.
She went straight to the library.
Nicholas was there in a dark suit.
Claire stood behind him in a pale rose dress, adjusting his tie for a photographer.
The instant she saw Hannah, she smiled.
"There she is."
Nicholas looked over.
Hannah stopped in the doorway.
"What is this?"
Claire answered.
"We are getting married in six weeks."
Hannah looked at Nicholas.
"You decided that last night?"
His face was unreadable.
"Yes."
"Why?"
A photographer lowered his camera.
Claire laughed brightly.
"Because he loves me."
Hannah did not look at her.
"Nicholas?"
His jaw tightened.
"Not now."
Something inside Hannah dropped.
Claire moved behind the wheelchair and placed both hands on the handles.
For the first time since Hannah had met her, Claire pushed Nicholas's chair.
Only because twenty cameras were waiting outside.
She leaned down beside him as the terrace doors opened.
Her smile was flawless.
The reporters cheered.
Nicholas smiled too.
Hannah stood in the shadows and watched the man who had questioned Claire twelve hours earlier announce a wedding date to the world.
Then Nicholas lifted one hand to straighten his cuff.
His fingers briefly covered his mouth.
Only Hannah was close enough to see the movement.
Three taps against his lower lip.
Their signal from the night before.
Do not react.
Hannah's anger stopped.
Nicholas turned his chair toward the cameras.
Claire stood beside him glowing with triumph.
"Six weeks," a reporter called.
"Why now?"
Nicholas looked directly at the camera.
"Because waiting has become dangerous."
The reporters laughed as if it were romantic.
Claire laughed with them.
Hannah did not.
May you like
She understood exactly what he meant.
