It’s…
Fuck.
It’s Carol’s apartment. Vicky’s there, Carol’s there.
I skim through. The footage covers three hours. Ijump forward at random, and they’re working on laptops in Carol’s room. She doesn’t look unwell, she looks very focused.
The most recent file is an email, and it’s dated yesterday. I open it, scanning the text, my mouth dry.
It’s an email to DeLuca from Lukas Van Wyk, and it starts with a screenshot from a monitoring platform.
Case Activity Alert—Van Wyk v. Van Wyk.
A monitored case has new activity.
Event: Document Access/Docket Query.
Timestamp: 14:37 EST.
DL, what the hell is your man playing at? Didn’t you tell him to get his investigator in line? It’s out of your hands now. BF not amused.
I stare at the screen, not moving, not able to move.
Vicky… what have you done?
Shit… where is she? Is she still at Carol’s?
I haven’t checked her location all day. Every five minutes the last two days, and not once today. With Van Wyk aware sinceyesterday.
I pull out my phone, bring up the app that links to her. It takes seconds to connect, and I don’t breathe for that time. I’m not even sure my heart is beating.
There’s her dot… and she’s in Brooklyn. I slump in relief.
Unless that’s just where herphoneis.
Then I look again. That’s not the location of Carol’s apartment; I’ve been staring at that damn dot for the lasttwo days,and that’s not it.
It’s somewhere in Red Hook, a warehousenear the pier.
What the hell is she doing there?
I’m on my feet before I even register it, then stop and force myself tothink.
The Ironvale file has completed. That’s all I need.
I select all the files in my folder—the images, the videos, the whole lot—and hit delete.
Then I pull open DeLuca’s desk drawer, and borrow his gun.
Thirty-Two
Vicky
Icome to sitting upright in a chair, my head slumped forward, my neck stiff.
The room I notice at the same moment as what I’m wearing. I’m in a space larger than Carol’s apartment, a basement or a warehouse, something primitive and unfurnished with concrete block walls, two bare-bulb lights dangling from the ceiling, no windows. And all I have on is my T-shirt and panties.
My heart is already hammering.
