The secretary was gone.
The desk was gone.
The coffee station was gone—like none of it had ever existed, and it had been a figment of her imagination.
“What the fuck?” she asked, moving toward the man’s office, and once inside, she found the same thing.
The place was deserted.
On the floor, there was a folder, and her name was scribbled on the top of it, along with a message.
‘In case you were curious…’
When she opened it, there were pictures of the dead victims they’d just exhumed. There were also pictures of her at the cemetery just a couple of hours ago. There was also a picture of a file cabinet, like the one still standing in the room.
“Oh, Jesus,” she said.
Moving toward it, she carefully opened it, and that’s when she saw it.
The dead secretary’s head, missing her eyes. Rolled up, and sticking out of her mouth, there was another note.
Unrolling it, she read it, and unfortunately, she just found all of this out. Once more, she’d been minutes behind.
‘Joan’s husband photographed real estate for me. I donated to the church fundraisers for Steph. For Penny, I bought the school’s new computers. Alina’s hospital named a wing after my mother for his philanthropy. Oh, and guess who helped build the library for Lory. As for the rest, I cleaned up all the loose ends. Larry is dead, I’m afraid, and right now, if you’re reading this, it's too late to save the city ME. His father was sketchy, but you misjudged him. Too bad. You’re good, but not that good. You’re missing one more note.’
She showed Ethan.
“Well, he didn’t give us anything we didn’t already know. We were so close.”
Well, shit.
Elizabeth was about to say something, when there was a giant blast. The whole building rocked, and all the windows exploded in.
Gene grabbed Elizabeth, and put his body over hers, as Raphael protected Ethan.
Ivan took a bunch of glass to his body, as the window exploded in and he was in front of it, scanning the parking lot to ensure they were safe.
The whole area went wild.
All of the car alarms went off in the parking lot, as the Mercedes they’d parked next to blew up, taking their vehicle to kingdom come.
A very familiar Mercedes.
It looked just like the one Chris drove back home.
Elizabeth got up, and crawled toward Ivan, who was on the floor, bleeding.
He was out cold.
The whole time, her ears were ringing.
“Ivan,” she said, shaking him. Finally, he came awake, his eyes fluttering open. His face was all cut up from the flying glass shrapnel.
Gently, she put his head in her lap.
“What the fuck?” he muttered as he tried to figure out what the hell had just happened, and why he felt like he was being stuck by a million pins.
Well, it was a good thing she had Ethan and Raphael stick close, or they’d be dead.
