Chapter 2 - THE CALL AT SEVENJames didn't tell Connor what was written in the text.
He didn't need to.
Connor was already watching the window.
Elliot noticed.
"Who are they?"
Connor shook his head.
"I don't know all their names."
James crouched beside him.
"Connor, listen to me. Nobody is taking you anywhere tonight."
Connor nodded.
The boy looked relieved for exactly three seconds.
Then the restaurant lights flickered.
Connor dropped his fork.
James immediately looked toward the windows.
The black SUV was gone.
But now a gray sedan had stopped beside the curb.
A man inside was staring toward the restaurant.
James stood.
He walked toward the manager.
"Can we use the side entrance?"
The manager looked confused.
James didn't explain.
Five minutes later, James, Elliot, and Connor left through the kitchen.
They drove to James's townhouse across town.
Connor sat in the back seat.
He kept looking behind them.
James noticed something else.
Connor never sat directly in the middle.
He always stayed behind the passenger seat, where nobody approaching the car could see his face.
At 6:52, James's phone rang.
Tommy.
James answered.
"Where are you?"
Static.
Then Tommy whispered.
"James?"
"Yes."
"Listen carefully."
James turned the volume up.
"I need you to keep Connor away from the rail yard."
"I already understand that."
"No. You don't."
Tommy coughed.
"I found something."
"What?"
"I can't say it over the phone."
"Where are you?"
"At work."
James frowned.
"Then why are you whispering?"
There was a long pause.
"Because someone is in the building with me."
A metallic crash sounded in the background.
Tommy gasped.
Then the line died.
Connor sat upright.
"My uncle."
James grabbed his keys.
"I'm going after him."
Connor shook his head.
"No."
"Elliot, stay here with Connor."
James barely reached the front door.
Connor shouted.
"Don't go to Building 14!"
James froze.
"What?"
Connor's breathing became rapid.
"That's where they found my mom's car."
"When?"
"The night she died."
James turned around.
"How do you know that?"
Connor stared at the floor.
"I was there."
Silence.
Elliot stepped closer.
"You were there?"
Connor nodded.
"My mom told me to hide."
"Where?"
"In the rail yard."
James's stomach tightened.
"What happened?"
Connor closed his eyes.
"There was shouting."
"Between who?"
"My mom and a man."
"What man?"
"I don't know."
"Did you see him?"
Connor nodded.
"He wore a blue jacket."
"Anything else?"
"A silver watch."
James thought.
"Did he have a name?"
Connor's eyes opened.
"He called someone Mr. Vale."
James's phone rang.
Not Tommy.
Police dispatch.
James answered.
"This is James Mercer."
A male voice said, "Mr. Mercer, we're calling because an employee at an industrial site has been reported injured."
James's blood ran cold.
"What site?"
The officer gave him the address.
The old rail yard.
Building 14.
James looked at Connor.
The boy was already crying.
"My uncle."
James drove.
When they arrived, police lights painted the warehouse walls red and blue.
A security gate hung open.
Inside Building 14, Tommy was lying beside a stack of crates.
Alive.
Barely conscious.
James ran toward him.
Tommy grabbed his wrist.
"Where's Connor?"
"He's safe."
Tommy's eyes widened.
"Then you have to leave."
"Who did this?"
Tommy looked toward the far end of the building.
A rusted red door stood beneath a broken light.
"That."
James turned.
The door was secured by a heavy chain.
Tommy whispered, "Your father knew about it."
James stopped breathing.
"My father?"
Tommy nodded.
"He told Elena he was going to expose them."
"Elena was Connor's mother?"
Tommy's eyes closed.
"Yes."
James stepped closer.
"What was my father doing here?"
Tommy didn't answer.
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Instead, he whispered:
"He wasn't supposed to die either."
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