# Chapter 9: The Setup
Tessa was sobbing quietly.
Her uniform was torn at the shoulder.
Martin pressed the barrel of his weapon against her temple.
“Drop it, Adrian,” Martin said.
His voice was completely devoid of its usual hospitality.
Adrian did not lower his weapon.
He kept it leveled directly at Martin’s chest.
“You work for Charles,” Adrian stated.
It was not a question.
“I work for whoever pays the most,” Martin corrected.
He gestured with his chin toward the locked roof door.
“Charles wants the ledger.”
“Give it to me, and the girl lives.”
Evelyn squeezed her eyes shut.
The ledger was tucked inside her coat pocket.
It was the only piece of her mother she had left.
It was the only proof of murder.
“Let her go, Martin,” Evelyn pleaded.
Martin laughed coldly.
“You are out of your depth, Evelyn,” he said.
“You should have stayed a quiet little waitress.”
Adrian shifted his weight slightly.
“If you shoot her, I shoot you,” Adrian said.
“You might hit me,” Martin agreed.
“But I will definitely kill her.”
Evelyn looked at Tessa’s terrified face.
She reached into her coat pocket.
“Evie, don’t,” Adrian warned.
“I can’t let her die for this,” Evelyn said.
She pulled the blackened leather book from her pocket.
She tossed it onto the concrete floor between them.
Martin smiled.
He lowered his gun from Tessa’s head and reached down to pick up the book.
In that split second, Adrian fired.
The gunshot was deafening in the enclosed stairwell.
Martin screamed and dropped his weapon, clutching his shattered shoulder.
Tessa scrambled away, crying hysterically.
Adrian kicked Martin’s gun down the stairs.
He picked up the ledger and handed it back to Evelyn.
“Are you okay?” he asked Tessa.
She nodded frantically.
Before anyone could say another word, the roof access door burst open from the outside.
A blinding spotlight hit them.
A police helicopter hovered just above the roof.
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“Drop your weapon!” a voice boomed over a loudspeaker.
“Adrian Cross, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of Charles Vale.”
