Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Eliana opened the door. She had a sub sandwich in a white paper bag and a can of soda. She put both on the table in front of this woman. “Those are for you.” Then she dragged out the chair opposite the woman and sat. “What’s your name?”
She wasn’t a cop. She wasn’t an interrogator.
She had no training at this and knew nothing about this woman.
And those were the facts that might make her the only person who could succeed at this.
Believing it herself would make this seem far more natural than if she pretended to be something—or someone—she wasn’t.
The woman scoffed. “That’s all you came in here to ask?
” Her voice sounded hoarse, as if she’d spent some time recently screaming.
Dark circles ringed her eyes, and the clothes she wore had a rumpled note to them.
The odor in the room wasn’t terrible, but it also wasn’t entirely pleasant. The room held a kind of musky air.
“Humor me. I need to call you something, and my boss didn’t tell me anything about you.” She exhaled a breath and rolled her eyes. “She just ordered me in here like I’m supposed to know what’s going on.”
Eliana tried to act relaxed. To appear friendly, even. At least not like someone who was at odds with this woman and wanted to get something from her. That was a decent starting point, right?
“Keri Herbohn.”
“I’m Eliana Jaxton.”
Keri glanced over, a hard expression on her face. “Yeah, I know. Hope Adams.” She snorted. “We all know who you are.”
And yet they’d pretended otherwise when she took the wig off.
“Are you guys some kind of group?” She found it hard to believe Sylvia and the Board of Governors hadn’t fingerprinted all of the would-be thieves and run their backgrounds to figure out who they were and where they’d come from. “You, and Miles, and the others?”
Keri paced the room as if anxiety was in charge of her movements, not any kind of rational thought. But having been kept here since the chaos would do that to a person. Not being able to shower or go outside.
Being cooped up would drive anyone nuts.
“We don’t have to talk about that.” Eliana needed to give the impression she could sit here all day. “But if I’m honest, the boss wants to know what you know, and she can deal with that. She’s prepared to let you go. You’re not the one she wants.”
“You think I’m gonna roll over and play dead, beg for mercy?”
“It’s a strategy,” Eliana said. “It could save your life. Or your freedom.”
In those instances when a stronger predator prowled around looking for something to devour, why stick up your head and show yourself as prey?
Eliana motioned to the chair across from her. “At least sit down. That way when she looks in, she’ll see you cooperating.” She tipped her head to the little window in the door.
Keri glanced at it. She huffed and pulled the chair out. “Funny how they have these interrogation rooms down here, isn’t it? And a whole wing of jail cells. Why would a museum need jail cells?”
“Despite what they’re being used for currently, that may not have been their original purpose. This place was a library. They could’ve been private rooms for viewing sensitive documents.”
Keri popped the top on the soda and took a sip, huffing out a laugh as if she didn’t believe a word of that.
“So who hired you to try and get in the vault?”
Keri tore open the paper bag and unwrapped the sandwich. She flipped the bread open, then fished out a tomato and ate it. She nudged the sandwich across the table. “Want some?”
Eliana didn’t want to admit she was actually super hungry, but it could help if she broke bread with this woman. If nothing else, it would solidify that this wasn’t a typical interrogation.
“Sure.” She flipped the sandwich closed again and tore off the end, giving herself about a quarter of it but ending up with nearer to a third. “Thanks.”
Eliana could imagine Tony and Sylvia in the room next door, objecting to her actions. But she wasn’t going to worry about that.
She chewed for a while, both of them eating in silence. Eventually, she was done enough to say, “Is it helping you to keep silent? Talking will get you out of this.”
“If I’m going to sue them for wrongful imprisonment, it can’t be a cakewalk.
It needs to be long and painful, so I can tell everyone how they really put the screws to me.
After I talk about their security in the vault that vaporized my friend.
” Keri slurped more of the soda, then used the napkin to wipe her fingers.
“It’s gotta be good if I’m gonna get a big payout. Probably even a book deal.”
“What about the others?”
Keri shrugged one shoulder. “Why do I care about them?”
“You’re in this together, aren’t you?”
Keri rolled her eyes. “I met them all online. What do I care about them? Miles is an idiot.”
“Then you have to know, none of the others have talked yet. That means if you do, then you’ll be the first. And the first person to talk always gets the best deal.”
Keri huffed a laugh. “Sure.”
“So…why does the Mother want me dead?”
“Who?” Keri frowned.
“The Mother. Isn’t she the one who sent you to break into the vault?” Eliana had no idea, but it sounded right.
“No idea who you’re talking about.”
“Huh. I’m pretty sure Director Caughton was telling the detectives that you guys are part of the Reverence Sisters.
They had one of the doctors who works here killed just a few days ago, nailed him to a table and cut out his tongue.
” She remembered the scene all too clearly and how the table had been set with a tea service for two.
What that had to do with anything was a mystery. Unless Splitfield was into that sort of thing. And where was Carolena?
Eliana continued, “I think they believe it’s all connected.”
Keri shook her head. “Connected to what?”
“The canisters with the compound that made everyone on the streets go crazy. Everything that happened the day you guys broke into the vault—or tried to.” Eliana shrugged.
“You used it as a smoke screen, right? The distraction was a cover for breaking in.” She needed Keri to correct her because people loved correcting others, and it would get her talking at least.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“How am I supposed to believe that?” Eliana paused.
“You guys picked a seriously coincidental day to break in if you don’t even know what was going on up at street level.
Or were you just following orders? Someone else knew what was happening, and you guys just had your orders, and you didn’t ask any questions, you blindly follow. Is that how it works?”
“I know how to think for myself. I’m not part of some crazy cult.”
“So you do know who the Reverence Sisters are.”
Keri made a face. “Who doesn’t? I smelled something rotten the minute they started talking about the end times. As if we should want to bring about the end of days? That’s just nuts. Things aren’t great, but I’d rather that than live through it all going you-know-where in a handbasket.”
“I’m gonna agree with you on that one.” There was plenty Eliana wanted to do in her life before the Lord came back.
Still, it was His timing, and He was ultimately in control.
“If you’re not going to tell me who ordered you guys to break into the vault, at least give me something I can tell my boss. ”
Keri snorted.
“It needs to sound like I had some success in here.” Eliana shrugged. “I am a Banbury.”
“You’re tryna be like your mom?”
“People always think I should be able to do what she does. Like it’s imprinted on my DNA to catch killers, or something.” Eliana shuddered. “I found the guy who was murdered here. I don’t want to see that again. Like your friend who died in the vault. Who wants to actually seek that out?”
“They killed him. They knew what would happen when he stepped into the vault.”
“Whoever told you to come here is responsible for all of it. Them, and the guy who pushed your friend in the vault. He had to know what would happen.”
Keri shook her head. “I mean Dominatus killed him.”
“They aren’t a thing anymore. They haven’t been a thing for years.” Eliana leaned closer. “There’s no secret society. This is just a museum.”
Keri snorted. “That’s what they want you to think.”
“The Shrine pays the bills. It’s where I work.” Eliana paused. “Breaking and entering, on the other hand, is illegal.”
“It’s for the greater good,” Keri said. “People don’t get to keep secrets.”
“Everyone keeps secrets. It’s called privacy.” Before Keri could spout more nonsense, Eliana continued, “What is for the greater good is the law. Justice for the victims of those whose lives are ended prematurely. Like Doctor Splitfield. Like my friend Carolena.”
“Who’s that?” Keri shrugged. “And why would I care? Dominatus is still doing everything they’ve been doing for years. They’re hiding secrets in that vault instead of destroying whatever it is.”
“So you were gonna steal it, and what—expose them? Why not be the one to just destroy it all? It’s cleaner to make sure no one can use it, ever.
Or are you curious as to what they’re hiding in that vault?
” Eliana propped an elbow on the table. “I’ll admit I am.
But someone died. Is it really worth a life just to know? ”
“You got in. So did that other security guard.” Keri sat back in her seat. “That means they can let others in.”
“You know who I am. Even I was told only one person could get in—the head of security. That’s the guy, Tony.
” Eliana tipped her head toward the door.
“Not me, him. Maybe who I am is what got me in, but it could just as easily have ended for me the way it did for your friend. For all I knew, it was going to.” She let Keri think on that for a second, then continued, “Dominatus isn’t something you mess with.
If you want to know what they’re hiding, you have to work with them. Not against them.”
Keri huffed again.
“Tell me, who sent you here to expose them?”