“I was so focused on keeping Sean and Fred away from the van, I didn’t even realize Michael was gone until someone screamed.” Alice closed her eyes and hung her head. “Another bystander shouted to call for the police and the guys in the van ran for it, which is when I saw Michael lying out in the street.”
The image of that only fueled my anger. “Did you recognize either of the men from the van?”
“No. They were wearing masks.”
“Did Michael recognize them?”
“I don’t know,” Alice said, but then she paused. “He did say something when the van first pulled up.” She stopped to think again, then shook her head in frustration. “No, I don’t remember. I was so focused on keeping the other boys from being taken.”
I slammed my fists against the wall and Alice stood.
“I have something else to tell you,” she said. “But first, promise me you won’t run out of here.”
I didn’t say a word, just stared at her, and after a while she sighed. She put her hands on my arms. “Okay, so that petition your dad put in to question my guardianship rights? He was denied first thing this morning.”
“He lost,” I said, staring up at the underside of the stairs that led to the floor above us. “And then he sent Parsons to steal the boys from us.”
“You don’t know it was him.”
I jerked my arms free of her and slammed my fists back again. “Michael saw Parsons last time. Michael ran because it was happening again!” I yelled the last word and Alice jumped. I took the opportunity to step toward her, but her eyes seemed more fascinated than frightened. “Get out of my way.”
She shook her head. “Mori, stop. What can you accomplish by going to the police station?”
“Get out of my way!”
“No.” Alice grabbed my arm with both of her hands and pulled me in close to her.
I reached up with my free hand and grabbed her around the neck, pushing her up against the wall. Her eyes only challenged me, but her fingers were like vices on my arm. She was afraid of me.
I immediately let go and stepped back, running my hands through my hair as if I couldn’t trust them to have nothing to do. I wasn’t really mad at Alice; I was mad at myself. This was my fault, in the end. I’d let the threats against me distract me from protecting my brothers. I’d forgotten all about my father—trusted his cage to hold him, when I’d already had proof that it wouldn’t. And now Michael was injured and it was my fault for failing to see the greater threat.
My voice shook when I spoke again. “Do you think he’s done, my father? Because I don’t. He just lost guardianship of the only people he cares about in the world to a woman he blames for the death of his sainted wife. He will not give up until he has those boys hidden away from us and is out of prison to be their dad again.”
“I won’t give up on the boys either. Or you.” Alice spoke with the conviction I’d seen when she’d come to free me from Mallory’s interrogation. And I believed she cared. Despite how little time she’d spent as our surrogate guardian, she seemed to care about my brothers. She would protect them as well as she could. But even if I were to include Sherlock, we were two high school students and a con woman against police officers hiding behind masks and the law.
“Do you really still think you can protect us from him with a handful of lovesick middle-aged men?”
“Not without you here.”
We were weak together. We were useless alone. I knew that. But I had to find a way to keep my brothers safe without me, because my father wasn’t my only enemy. I knew for sure that whoever was clutching a burner phone in a shop on Church Street wasn’t going to stop just because I was stuck in a hospital waiting area. I wasn’t the safety Alice assumed I was. And I couldn’t figure out who was trying to get me thrown in jail from the hospital. If my new threatening enemy was successful, if they really could somehow blame my father’s crimes on me, I’d be locked away. Helpless. And worse, my father would be free.
But the moment I opened my mouth to explain all that to Alice, her mobile rang. She held a finger up in front of me as she answered. “Yes? Mallory, this is hardly the time.”
I grabbed the phone from her and tapped the screen to put it on speaker.
“. . . isn’t something to put off. Can you locate her?”
“Mori is here with me. We’re at the hospital. Her brother was hit by a car.”
The pause on the other end was perhaps one or two seconds, and then Mallory sighed heavily into the phone. “Which one?”
“What do you need from Mori?” Alice asked.
“Constance Ross is coming to the station first thing in the morning to make a statement.”
“I’m sure it’ll be just as coherent as the last one.”
“I’m told the woman has been medicated and is still claiming to have witnessed Mori disposing of the murder weapon.”
Alice and I exchanged panicked stares, but she recovered more quickly than I did. “She’s probably just mixing fantasy and reality in her memory. Surely—”
“That might have been the case if we hadn’t found the sword right where she’d said it would be. There’s no way around it. Mori’s going to have to come in for more questioning.”
I started to shake my head, and Alice placed a hand on my shoulder to calm me.