CHAPTER 17: BLOOD ON THE BAT
Bianca searched the roadside.
“Grandfather!”
There was no answer.
The rain washed blood from the Midnight Bat onto the leather seat.
Ethan examined the ground.
Two sets of footprints led toward the abandoned warehouse beside the road.
One belonged to Conrad.
The other was larger.
Arthur Bell touched the blood.
“This is fresh.”
Bianca turned on him.
“Whose blood?”
“I don’t know.”
Ava remained inside Ethan’s car with Dr. Ward.
Ethan followed the footprints into the warehouse.
Broken windows allowed thin strips of city light to cross the floor.
He heard breathing behind a metal container.
“Conrad?”
A man lunged from the darkness.
Ethan blocked the first strike, but the attacker drove him against the wall.
It was the truck driver.
He wore no mask.
Ethan recognized Detective Harris.
“You should have stayed at the hotel,” Harris said.
Ethan struck him in the jaw.
They crashed onto the concrete.
Harris reached for a knife.
Bianca entered the warehouse and hit him with a loose wooden board.
Harris fell.
Ethan took the knife.
“Where is Conrad?”
Harris smiled through blood.
“Ask Eleanor.”
“You work for her?”
“I work for whoever pays enough.”
“What happened to my mother?”
“Still alive when I last checked.”
“And Claire?”
Harris’s smile disappeared.
“That was never my assignment.”
A gunshot echoed.
Harris’s body jerked.
He collapsed at Ethan’s feet.
Bianca screamed.
The bullet had come from the upper walkway.
A shadow moved behind the railing.
Ethan ran upstairs.
By the time he reached the platform, the shooter was gone.
Only a phone remained.
It began ringing.
Ethan answered.
Eleanor’s voice came through.
“Detective Harris became unreliable.”
“You killed him.”
“I corrected an old mistake.”
“Where is Conrad?”
“With someone he betrayed many years ago.”
“Evelyn Hart?”
Eleanor became silent.
Ethan continued.
“We are opening locker 927.”
“Then Ava will learn what she is.”
The call ended.
Ethan returned to Harris’s body.
Clutched inside the detective’s hand was a torn hospital bracelet.
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The name printed across it was:
BABY AVA HART.
