Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Eliana watched out the town car window, through the fat drops of rain that hammered on the glass.
The sound of heavy rain swelled inside the car, but if not for the Shrine car and driver, she’d be out there walking in it—and by now she’d be soaked to the bone.
So she supposed that was something to be thankful for.
The swelling in her throat hadn’t gone down much, but she couldn’t stand the idea of staying at home for a third day. Whether they let her work or not, she was going to spend time there today, where she’d determined the answers to her questions could be found.
Tony, in the back seat beside her, looked up from his phone. “Everything okay?”
She shifted, and the seat squeaked under her. “Sure.”
The pristine black leather, or whatever the material was, had to be brand-new or barely used.
No other seat would make a sound like that.
She’d never even been in a car like this, with wood inlay on the inside of the door, and what looked like a wet bar tucked against the seat back behind the passenger side front seat.
Not to mention a driver who wore a black cap and called her ma’am.
The ma’am thing was about the only part of it that was familiar, given she’d grown up in Wyoming among folks who earned their livelihood from what the land could produce.
At least, such as it was these days, with corporate-subsidized small farms that used local operations to provide products they could label “locally produced, family run” and “earth friendly.”
The car slowed at a stoplight.
On the street corner, in a courtyard in front of a local government building she didn’t recognize, a crowd of people had gathered in the rain. Holding signs and umbrellas, they blocked the building’s name from view.
She read a few of the signs.
THIS IS THE TRIBULATION
TWO WITNESSES WILL RISE
THE END IS HERE
The car set off. Eliana shifted in the seat with the movement, and they drove past the people gathered in the storm, protesting…whatever it was they were protesting. Or raising awareness about their beliefs.
The reference to two witnesses rising just made her think of what Carlos had told her about Sarah and Faith in the morgue. Thankfully, she hadn’t been there to see it for herself, because that had to have been terrifying.
She looked at Tony. “Do you know what happened to the doctor and his assistant from the morgue? Did you hear how they’re doing?”
He grunted under his breath, which she took as affirmation that there was merit to her questions. “Whatever they were injected with reversed the damage done by the chlorine gas. But sadly, the damage was already done. They’re both in comas.”
She ignored the fact he didn’t sound super sad. In fact, he sounded like he was giving a weather report. “And the van that the people left in? Did the police catch up to it?”
“You didn’t want to know what the police had to say the other day,” he replied. “You told me not to tell you.”
“That was when I was a suspect in a murder investigation. This is something that has nothing to do with me.”
Tony paused. “I don’t know that it has nothing to do with you.”
“I wasn’t there when it happened.” She stared at the rain running down the window for a second. “Did they find the van?”
“Yes, but it had been abandoned.”
“What about evidence? I know it takes time to process and test forensics, but—”
“Not as much time as you’d think. They ran the DNA they found at the scene, but the test results came back as the van’s previous owner. There were no cells left behind from the people wearing PPE.”
“Convenient.”
The car pulled to a stop at the rear entrance of the Shrine.
Eliana bent forward, gathered her backpack and jacket, and slid the coat over her shoulders, putting her arms through.
Tony pocketed his phone. “The Board sent me an update just now. They matched the gait of the person who did the injections and saved the doctor and his assistant. It came back as a match to Luci Ryson.”
Eliana stared at him. “What? How is that possible?”
“She was there. That’s how.”
“No. I mean, how do they have her gait to match?”
Tony shrugged. “Social media. Or a video provided by Carlos and his dad. Either way, they compared it with footage from the morgue, and it matched. It was Luci in that room with those people.”
Eliana shook her head. “No. There’s no way she’s cooperating in something like that. She’s not some crazy, true believer type. She lives by her own code.”
“Maybe you don’t know her as well as you thought you did.”
Eliana flipped up her hood and shoved the door open.
Right now, she didn’t want to have a conversation with him about how much she did or didn’t know Luci.
What she knew of Carlos’s sister convinced her that Luci would never do this.
That meant someone had scrambled her mind so much that she believed and went along with it.
Cognitive reprogramming. Brainwashing. Or some kind of pharmaceutical substance that altered her mind. Maybe even Elysium with the app—or a version of it—and it was all suggestion. It made her sick to her stomach to think that Luci was being manipulated in that way.
Eliana strode right to the punch cards and scanned for Carolena’s. She found it tucked in, down at the corner. The timer had been stamped a couple of days ago, when Carolena had come in for work. “She never clocked out. And she hasn’t been here since.”
“What’s that?”
Eliana turned and shoved the card at Tony. “Carolena!”
He shot her a look. “Why didn’t you tell the driver to go by her place so you could see if she’s there? Maybe she got sick.”
“She isn’t answering the phone. She hasn’t been here.” If her friend was sick, she would’ve called in. “She’s missing.” Eliana didn’t like the fact she’d been so caught up in other things that she’d forgotten to check on her friend, aside from just calling her and hoping she’d answer.
“Sylvia looped in the cops yesterday. The two detectives investigating Splitfield’s death, and the Dreamer from your building, went to Carolena’s house this morning. They’re on their way here with an update.”
Eliana sucked in a breath. They’d interviewed her before…and now they were on their way here?
“Don’t worry about it, Eliana. We’ll figure out what happened to her.” Tony sounded earnest and genuinely concerned, though only because he knew her mother and owed her family enough that he was prepared to protect her.
He wasn’t the only one in this with an ulterior motive.
Eliana’s stomach clenched. “Detectives Wallace and Maloney are on their way here?”
He nodded. “They should be here pretty soon. If they’d found something at Carolena’s house, though, then they would’ve stayed. So she isn’t there.”
Eliana pulled out her phone and texted Carlos because he’d told her to let him know if she would be seeing Maloney—but not why on earth he needed to know that. “I want to talk to Sylvia. Find out what the Board has learned looking for Luci.”
“We can do that.” His phone beeped. “Come on. The detectives are in the briefing room.”
She wanted to drag her feet. Maybe she shouldn’t be talking to them at all. But if she did, it was possible she could learn information from Maloney about…whatever the connection was that the FBI had found between her and whatever was going on.
Could Eliana get them to provide her with information she shouldn’t know?
Detective Maloney stood by the window in the briefing room, staring at the low clouds and the pouring rain hammering the window. Today she wore a black suit and a blood-red shirt.
Wallace had a smudge of something on his tie. “Morning.” He nodded.
Tony crossed the room and shook his hand. “Good to see you.”
Eliana pulled off her coat and put it on the back of a chair to dry.
Even though she hadn’t been outside in the rain for more than a minute, she was still soaked.
Without the wig, which she hadn’t worn since the vault, she shouldn’t meet with any guests or visitors—or even volunteers.
Or she should just give up the wig thing and accept the inevitable fact that everyone in Chicago would know who she was.
And bank on the fact that most people didn’t care.
Problem was, the few people who did care.
Focus.
Eliana didn’t want to act suspicious in her greetings, so she jumped right in. “Have you found Carolena? I’m not sure anyone has done a search of every room in the building.” She glanced at Tony, because she didn’t want to do it alone and she wasn’t in charge.
As much as she’d like to find her friend, the idea of discovering her in the same condition as Splitfield made her want to throw up.
Tears gathered in her eyes.
Maloney came over. “We’re still looking for her. It’s scary, but we’re doing everything we can to find her.”
“I think it might be—” Her breath caught in her throat.
Why not just jump in? “I think it might have to do with the Reverence Sisters. You know what happened yesterday, with me being kidnapped in that apartment. A man was murdered in this building. My neighbor was murdered the same way. I think everything might be linked.”
“We hadn’t connected it to the Reverence Sisters group, though.” Maloney’s expression remained professional. “The working theory has been that Doctor Splitfield’s death had to do with the Shrine.”
“What about the Dreamer who lived across from me?” Eliana said. “He didn’t have anything to do with this place.”
“But another murder of someone who works here will likely strengthen the theory that it’s connected to the Shrine, not the Reverence Sisters.”
Eliana stared at her. “You think Carolena is dead?”
Maloney’s expression softened, and it seemed like she was about to reach for Eliana.
Tony said, “No one is saying Carolena is dead.”
Eliana sat, angling her body away from the detective so she didn’t have to look at her while pretending she didn’t know what she knew. “If she isn’t dead, then where is she? And why hasn’t she checked in?”