Chapter Thirty-Six
I have never been to the Sixes at night.
I’m not sure why I came up with this spot, but it’s too late to change it.
Everything around me is dead—quiet, I correct myself.
I’m grateful for the few lights scattered across the outdoor parking lot, pouring little circles of safety onto the pavement.
They’re not enough, though. As I leave the sidewalk and head into the underground garage, it still feels like I’m walking into darkness.
“Louis is going to meet us down there,” Matthew says quietly as we near the entrance.
I wonder what he thinks Louis will do. I mean, they both have the best of intentions, but seriously.
Louis, bless him, is a scrawny, old-looking forty, just a hair short of the stereotypical nerd with tape around his glasses.
Matthew, well, I adore him, but he’s not Indiana Jones.
He’s Professor Jones. And I can’t recall Professor Jones punching out many bad guys.
A parking garage lamp overhead buzzes, flickers, and dies.
My heart jumps, and adrenaline rushes through me.
We keep moving, trying to be quiet, but every step on the pavement echoes in the dark.
When we reach the back stairwell, there are no lights at all.
I flick on my phone’s flashlight, but the harsh, pale beam only makes me more nervous.
Then we arrive, and I smell the sharp reek of drywall dust. The subbasement is unfinished, not yet divided into storage and engineering rooms, but its cement floor is cluttered with scaffolding, old construction crates, and tools abandoned in the shadows.
Sloppy work. In one corner, I see a somewhat unsettling mountain of MSI crates, and I think of Paul with a shudder.
I hear the plink of water dripping from a pipe onto cement.
An unfinished elevator shaft looms in the middle of the wall beside me.
There are useless orange metal fences propped around the deep hole, which would provide absolutely no protection if someone slipped.
My inspector brain itches to catalogue everything wrong with this place.
But I’m not here to work. I’m here to save my life.
“Turn out the light,” Matthew whispers.
I kill the flashlight, and immediately a brutal overhead lamp slams on, blinding us. I stumble back, one hand shielding my eyes.
“Bridge,” Claudia purrs.
I know that voice so well. I’m a little surprised by how much it hurts, hearing her now.
Claudia and I had never been friends, but she saved me when I thought I was heading for unemployment.
She gave me opportunities, and she taught me a lot.
I always knew she was out for herself, and I’d seen her go behind people’s backs.
And yet I—foolishly—trusted her. I’d never suspected she might go behind mine.
I blink hard while my vision adjusts. When I can see, I take in Claudia in high heels, her hair swept up elegantly, her makeup perfect, as if this is just another of her boardroom ambushes.
Beside her stands a thick-necked brute. I knew she wouldn’t follow my orders to come alone.
I do a double take and realize the man’s fists are already dark with blood.
That’s when I see Louis, slumped against a pipe behind them.
He isn’t moving. Guilt washes through me.
I never should have dragged anyone else into this.
Not Matthew. Not Louis. This is too much for any of us.
The thug kicks Louis’s thigh. “Wake up.”
Louis doesn’t move.
Matthew steps forward, fists clenched. “Leave him alone.”
The big man slams his fist into Matthew’s face before he can step out of the way.
I hear a sickening crack, then Matthew crumples against the wall and slides down it like a broken puppet.
I lunge for him, but the thug grabs my arm and flings me hard across the floor.
My phone skitters out of reach, and I hit the cement, pain flaring through my ribs.
But I’m not giving up. At this point, I can’t.
Matthew still hasn’t moved. Neither has Louis.
I force myself to stand, and the goon steps back lazily, leaving the next part to Claudia.
She strolls my way, her perfume a suffocating cloud of musk.
“You made a mistake,” she says coolly, just a couple of feet away from me. “You should’ve walked away.”
“I guess I’m not getting a raise.”
Her laugh echoes in the space. A cold, mocking sound that I can no longer stand.
“I’m not scared of you, Claudia. I’m disappointed in you, but not afraid. You’re a coward, a cheat, and a lousy criminal,” I snap. “You made it so easy, leaving a trail of huge breadcrumbs.”
Something flickers in her eyes. Can it be doubt?
I’ve never seen that expression on her, and it fills me with satisfaction.
Good. Let her worry. By the wall, Matthew stirs and groans quietly.
I almost weep at the sound. He’s alive. Emboldened, I shove Claudia with both hands.
She stumbles back toward the elevator shaft, her high heels clicking on the concrete.
Behind me, I hear a clang as her hired man picks up a steel pipe, and I spin around to defend myself. Before either of us can react, another shape barrels out of the shadows.
Gary.
He’s just as big as Claudia’s brute, and just as strong.
He slams into him, landing a hard punch under the thug’s jaw.
Claudia’s man staggers, dropping the pipe with a clatter, and Gary doesn’t hesitate.
He plants a hand on the thug’s chest and pushes hard, sending him sprawling headfirst into a scaffolding tower.
The whole thing comes crashing down with a deafening roar, and dust explodes into the air.
That’s when I realize Gary was the man in the shadows, following me. I stare at him, stunned.
Claudia is frozen in place. She’s covered in dust from her hair to her heels, and her face is white with it. She’s lost control, and she knows it.
Gary, in contrast, is red with fury. His hands flex as if he wants to strangle her. Instead, he pulls his phone from his jeans pocket. When he gets close enough, he holds up the phone so she can see the screen, and Claudia stiffens.
“You didn’t have to kill Paul. He was a good guy. Plus, he and I had a deal. If one is ever harmed, the other shares this with the world. Now everyone is gonna know about you. Police, media, your competition, everyone. You’re finished.”
Claudia looks ready to bolt, but there’s nowhere to run. I step into her path, forcing her back another step. The flimsy metal fence wobbles, then crashes down. The elevator shaft behind her gapes open. One more step and she’s gone.
But I’m not a murderer. I would never let that happen. Still, it doesn’t hurt to let her think otherwise.
“You wouldn’t,” she whispers.
“Maybe not,” I reply. “But one way or another, you’re going down.”
She tries to sidestep but wobbles when her heel slips. Off to the side, I hear the thug trying to escape the fallen scaffolding. When I turn, he is pawing for the dropped pipe.
That’s when Matthew, bloodied and barely upright, seizes my phone from the floor and hurls it across the garage.
The phone smacks the thug’s bloody knuckles, and he howls, dropping the pipe.
Grabbing his opportunity, Gary tackles the big man and sends him sprawling once more.
This time, he stays down. When Gary faces Claudia, she minces out of the danger zone and raises her hands in surrender. She looks defeated, weak, and foolish.
I catch Matthew as he staggers to my side and wrap a supportive arm around his waist. “Good arm,” I say. “Ever considered a professional baseball career?”
He leans into me, and we both smile, seeing Louis stir. I had feared the worst, seeing all that blood.
“He’ll be okay,” Matthew says, resting his head against mine. “He always is.”
I hear sirens wail in the distance, coming closer, and I wonder who called them. For the first time all night, my pulse returns to normal.
“You don’t get it,” Claudia whispers to me. “I had no choice.”
“You always have a choice,” Matthew mutters.
“No, no. You’ve made a mistake. I’m only a small player in something much bigger. Trust me. You don’t want to mess with the man in charge.”
“Trust you? No, thanks. Already made that mistake once. Never again.” I retrieve my phone from the floor, keeping my eyes on her. The screen is smashed, but I’m still able to show her the photo Louis gave me of her with Leandro Mazza. “Are you referring to this guy?”
Her eyes pop open, and I swipe right so she can see more photos.
“This is just a few samples. I’ve got you ignoring safety warnings and approving faulty materials, like that Montey stuff.
Oh, and I found out there’s a lot more than hardware packed in those crates, isn’t there?
” I pause for effect and hope my pronunciation is correct.
“I know what you did to Paul Brzezicka. Murder is life behind bars, Claudia.”
“It wasn’t me,” she claims weakly.
Gary shuffles closer and sniffs. “No, but you ordered it.”
Finally, about a dozen policemen enter the space through the dark stairway, guns at the ready. Gary goes to meet them, and I assume that he was the one who called. While they’re talking, he points toward the ruined scaffolding, then at Claudia.
Matthew sighs, then faces me. His jaw is swollen on one side, and blood is beginning to dry around his mouth and nose.
I love his sweet, pained expression. “There you are, Indy.” I gently wipe his bloody cheek, cleaning a little of it away. “My hero.”
He leans in to kiss me, then draws back with a hiss. “Ow. Oh—” It’s his turn to clean blood off my face, put there by him. “Sorry.”
“You’re a mess,” I inform him, then I tilt my head. “Point to what hurts the most.”
His finger goes to his cheek, so I hop onto my tiptoes and kiss it gently. “Where else?”
He smiles, recalling that scene in the movie, then he taps his fist, so I kiss that, too. When he points to his mouth, I don’t care how much blood gets on my face. I kiss his lips, and the most difficult thing for me is being gentle.
“You’re beautiful,” he says. “Even when you’re all bloody.”
Claudia is sitting on the floor, facing the police, her hands bound tightly behind her. A battered but victorious Louis is scowling down at her, firing questions that she seems resolute on not answering. Matthew and I head over to listen in.
“Where did the money for those fake permits come from? Who ordered you to doctor inspection reports?” Louis sniffs.
“You might as well speak up because we already have the answers. We know Mazza subcontracted you, and he’s been doing it for years.
Good thing he never looked too closely, because you didn’t cover that trail very well. ”
Every molecule of Claudia’s body is focused on Louis. I can feel the rage steaming off her.
“You have to admit it,” I tell her. “We have you anyway.”
“You have nothing,” she spits at me. “And you don’t know the hornet’s nest you’re poking. You think you do, but you don’t.”
Louis is practically salivating by this point. From the look on his face, he’s channeling Dirty Harry. This might just be the most fun he’s ever had. “Oh, but I do. And I can’t wait to publish this story.”
There’s a new look in Claudia’s eyes. She’s afraid. “Please don’t,” she whispers.
“She’ll never give Mazza up,” Matthew murmurs into my ear. “He’d kill her.”
Claudia shivers and averts her gaze. If she dumps everything she knows about Mazza, she might be spared from jail. But from what Louis told us before, Mazza is a very powerful gangster with tentacles everywhere. If she says one word, Mazza’s men will hunt her down, in jail or not.
“Let’s go home,” Matthew says.
“I’m gonna take you to the hospital first. That cheek is going to need stitches.”
His nose wrinkles. “I hate needles.”
“I’ll get you a lollipop for after. And some stickers.”