Chapter 12 - The Man With the Limp

Arthur moved faster than a man with a damaged leg should have.

He swung a metal pipe into Harris's shoulder. Harris screamed and collapsed. Frank shoved Ethan aside and reached for his gun.

Everything happened at once.

Luca fired at the catwalk light.

Darkness swallowed the upper level.

Vincent tackled Sloan at the stairs.

Quinn shouted, "Police! Drop it!"

Ethan screamed my name.

I ran.

By the time I reached the catwalk, Arthur and Frank were fighting near the railing. Arthur's hospital gown showed beneath a stolen raincoat. Blood had soaked through the bandage around his head.

"Take Ethan!" Arthur yelled.

I grabbed my son and pulled him behind a steel support.

Frank fired once.

Arthur jerked.

The bullet caught him high in the shoulder.

Quinn fired back. Frank disappeared behind machinery.

"Uncle Arthur!" Ethan cried.

Arthur laughed through clenched teeth. "Never liked that title, kid. Made me feel ancient."

"Why were you at the cake?" I demanded.

His eyes met mine.

"I wasn't."

"Lily saw a limp. The crescent vial."

"Someone dressed like me."

Of course.

Frank had planted Arthur's symbols, his limp, his car. A performance for a three-year-old witness who was never supposed to understand what she saw.

But she had understood enough.

My watch changed.

11:59.

My phone vibrated.

A secure notification appeared.

ELENA MORETTI FAMILY TRUST - ACTIVATION COMPLETE.

Frank's voice came from somewhere in the dark.

"Read me the code, Dominic."

I held Ethan tighter.

"No."

A red laser dot appeared on Luca's chest below.

Sniper.

I looked across the warehouse windows.

Frank had planned layers inside layers.

"Code," he said again.

Arthur whispered, "Give him the wrong one."

"He'll know."

Arthur smiled weakly.

"No, he won't. Elena changed the system."

I stared at him.

"How do you know?"

"Because the night she died, she gave the real key to someone Frank never noticed."

"Who?"

Arthur's gaze shifted toward my phone, where Sophia's call was still connected.

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"The housekeeper."

And from the other end, Sophia whispered, "Oh my God."