Chapter 1 - THE PHONE ABOVE THE STALLDerek Voss knew exactly where the security cameras ended.
That was why he waited.
The ballroom at the Halston Grand Hotel in Washington, D.C., was crowded with nearly four hundred guests attending the Arden Family Foundation’s annual benefit gala. Crystal chandeliers glittered above white tablecloths. Champagne moved through the room on silver trays. Politicians, donors, physicians, and executives smiled for photographers beneath a wall displaying the foundation’s slogan:
DIGNITY. SERVICE. TRUST.
Derek found the last word almost funny.
He stood near the corridor pretending to type on his phone.
Eleven minutes earlier, Nora Hale Arden had left the ballroom.
He had watched her go.
Thirty-four years old.
Dark chestnut hair.
Emerald evening gown.
Wife of Ethan Arden, whose family had built a fortune through Arden Medical Systems.
Derek had been following her for eight days.
Coffee shop.
Office.
Parking garage.
Pharmacy.
Tonight was supposed to end the assignment.
His phone buzzed.
GET THE SHOT.
Derek typed:
Working on it.
The reply arrived immediately.
Before she goes back to Ethan.
Derek glanced around.
The corridor was empty.
A polished brass sign pointed toward the restrooms.
He slipped inside the women’s room.
Bright.
Clean.
Marble counters.
Four stalls.
One occupied.
He heard movement behind the third stall door.
Nora.
Derek’s pulse accelerated.
He had done ugly jobs before.
Photographed cheating spouses through restaurant windows.
Tracked executives to hotels.
Waited outside addiction clinics.
He always told himself he merely collected information.
What people did with it afterward was not his problem.
Tonight felt different.
He knew that.
He did it anyway.
He moved toward the stall.
Raised his smartphone.
His hand paused near the top of the divider.
One photograph.
That was all the client wanted.
Something compromising.
Ambiguous.
Private enough to humiliate.
His thumb moved toward the shutter.
Then a hand appeared from nowhere.
A man’s hand.
Large.
Hard.
It locked around Derek’s wrist.
Derek nearly screamed.
His phone froze above the divider.
He tried to pull away.
The grip tightened.
“What the hell—”
A deep voice came from behind him.
“Don’t move.”
Derek turned his head.
He saw only a charcoal sleeve.
A strong forearm.
No face.
“Who are you?”
The man did not answer.
Inside the stall, Nora went completely silent.
Derek twisted again.
“Let go.”
“No.”
The voice was almost calm.
That frightened him more.
The phone slipped lower.
The screen lit.
A new message appeared.
The stranger saw it.
So did Derek.
GET THE SHOT BEFORE SHE GOES BACK TO ETHAN.
The man’s grip tightened once.
Then he said:
“Now we know this wasn’t an accident.”
Inside the stall, Nora whispered:
“Who’s out there?”
The stranger finally released Derek’s wrist only to take the phone from his hand.
“Stay inside for a moment, Nora.”
Derek’s face went pale.
He knew her name.
Nora froze.
Then asked:
“Dad?”
Derek looked toward the unseen man.
Warren Hale.
He knew that name.
Former federal investigator.
Nora Arden’s estranged father.
Derek suddenly understood something his client had failed to mention.
May you like
The woman he had been paid to follow was not alone.
And the man who had just caught him was very good at finding out who had sent him.
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