Chapter 1 - THE NAME ON THE BAG
The click of the gate locking behind her sounded louder than a gunshot.
Renley spun around.
The two armed guards were no longer laughing.
One stood beside the gate, his hand resting beneath his jacket. The other stared toward the road as if expecting someone to appear at any second.
Renley's fingers tightened around the handlebars of her bicycle.
“I should go.”
The older man sitting on the front steps looked up.
“No.”
His voice wasn't loud.
It didn't need to be.
Every man near the mansion immediately stopped moving.
Renley felt her stomach twist.
The man slowly turned the food bag over in his hands.
Walter Pike's faded name had been written beneath another label, almost hidden by black marker.
The older man's thumb rubbed across it.
“Who gave you this bag?”
“The kitchen.”
“Who at the kitchen?”
“I don't know. It was on the delivery table.”
His eyes sharpened.
“That address wasn't written by Walter.”
Renley stared at him.
“How do you know?”
The guard nearest her looked horrified that she had asked.
But the older man almost smiled.
“Because Walter hated blue ink.”
Renley looked down.
The mansion address had been written in blue.
A strange silence followed.
Then the man rose.
“My name is Vincent Calder.”
The name meant nothing to Renley.
But she noticed the guards straighten immediately.
Vincent opened the paper bag.
Inside was a container of chicken soup, two pieces of bread, a plastic spoon...
And something else.
A tiny brass key.
Renley's breath caught.
“I didn't put that there.”
Vincent lifted the key carefully.
A number had been stamped into the metal.
317.
One guard whispered something under his breath.
Vincent turned.
“What?”
The guard hesitated.
“That's impossible.”
Vincent's face hardened.
“Say it.”
“Locker 317.”
Renley looked between them.
“What locker?”
Nobody answered.
Vincent's phone suddenly rang.
He checked the screen.
His face changed.
He answered without taking his eyes off Renley.
“Yes?”
A man's voice came through the speaker.
Even Renley could hear it.
“You received the delivery.”
Vincent went completely still.
The guards drew their weapons.
Renley froze.
The caller laughed softly.
Then he said:
“Ask the girl what Walter told her before he died.”
Renley's heart began pounding.
Vincent stared at her.
“What did Walter tell you?”
“Nothing.”
“Think.”
“He just... talked.”
“About what?”
Renley backed toward her bicycle.
“I don't know.”
The voice on the phone interrupted.
“She remembers.”
Vincent's eyes moved to the phone.
“Who is this?”
“You've spent eighteen years asking the wrong question, Vincent.”
The call ended.
Vincent immediately dialed back.
Nothing.
One guard ran toward the security room.
The second guard shouted for someone to check the property.
Renley felt panic rising into her throat.
“I really need to leave.”
Vincent looked at her again.
For the first time, she saw something more frightening than anger in his face.
Fear.
“Renley.”
She had never told him her name.
Her blood turned cold.
Vincent realized his mistake.
Too late.
Renley whispered:
“How do you know my name?”
Before he could answer, the mansion lights suddenly went out.
Every window went black.
The guards began shouting.
A second later, something slammed against the iron gate outside.
Then came another impact.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
Someone was trying to get in.
Vincent grabbed Renley by the shoulder and pulled her behind a stone column.
“Stay down.”
“What is happening?”
He pulled a handgun from beneath his shirt.
“Someone sent you here.”
“I told you, I just deliver food!”
“I believe you.”
Another crash shook the gate.
Vincent looked toward the darkness beyond the driveway.
“That is why I'm worried.”
Headlights suddenly appeared outside.
Three black vehicles.
Engines roaring.
The guards raised their weapons.
Then Renley remembered something.
Something Walter Pike had said weeks earlier while she placed soup on his kitchen table.
At the time, she'd thought he was joking.
She grabbed Vincent's sleeve.
“He told me something.”
Vincent stared at her.
“What?”
Renley swallowed.
“He said if I ever saw the number three-one-seven...”
The gate outside groaned under another impact.
Vincent leaned closer.
“What did he say?”
Renley whispered:
“He said I should never open it.”
May you like
Vincent's face lost all color.
Then the front gate exploded inward.
