Chapter 4 - The Uniformed Threat
The phone buzzed like an angry hornet in my palm.
“Answer it,” Dominic instructed quietly.
“Put it on speaker.”
I swallowed hard and pressed the green button.
“Hello?” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.
“Sarah, it’s Detective Reynolds,” the gruff voice answered.
“I am at St. Catherine’s Hospital.”
My blood ran cold.
“I’m not on shift tonight,” I lied quickly.
“I know,” Reynolds chuckled darkly.
“But I’m standing by your locker right now.”
“We got an anonymous tip that a nurse was storing stolen narcotics here.”
He was framing me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.
“Maybe we should discuss it at your apartment,” Reynolds suggested.
“By the way, I sent Child Protective Services there to check on Lily.”
“A little bird told me she was wandering Manhattan alone.”
I gripped the edge of Dominic’s desk to keep from collapsing.
“Don’t touch her,” I hissed.
“Bring me the ledger, Sarah,” Reynolds demanded.
“You have one hour before I tear your life apart.”
He hung up.
I looked at Dominic in total despair.
“He is going to take my daughter and put me in prison.”
Dominic stood up and pulled a handgun from a hidden drawer.
He checked the magazine and slid it into his holster.
“He will do neither of those things,” Dominic promised.
“Why are you helping me?” I asked.
“Because Reynolds killed my father to take over the streets,” Dominic replied.
“And your husband was the only one who found the proof.”
He handed me a burner phone.
“We are going to the hospital to get whatever Mark left in your locker.”
“But first, we need to hide Lily.”
A secret panel in the bookshelf slid open, revealing a dark tunnel.
“My sister lives at the end of this passage,” Dominic explained.
“She will guard Lily with her life.”
I knelt down and hugged my daughter tightly.
“Be brave for Mommy, okay?”
Lily nodded and squeezed Mr. Buttons.
As Dominic and I turned to leave through the back alley, the heavy steel door of the office rattled.
Someone was trying to kick it in.
“Moretti!” a voice yelled from the hallway.
“We know you’re in there!”
Dominic grabbed my arm and pulled me into the shadows.
May you like
“Run,” he whispered.
Just as we stepped into the alley, a spotlight blinded us.
