Chapter 13 - THE MAN IN THE PARKING LOTThe police became involved.
So did the state inspector general.
Lily cooperated completely.
Then somebody leaked the documents.
By noon the next day, reporters were outside Poppy House.
HEADLINE:
ROMANO FOUNDATION LINKED TO MISSING FOSTER CHILDREN.
Another:
FORMER CRIME FAMILY’S CHARITY UNDER INVESTIGATION.
Lily stared at the television.
“They waited twenty years to use your name against me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing for having existed.”
“I did considerably more than exist.”
She almost smiled.
Then her receptionist called.
“There’s a man outside asking for you.”
“Name?”
“He won’t give one.”
I stood.
Lily pointed at me.
“Sit.”
“I am merely standing.”
“You’re standing like you intend to commit a felony.”
I sat.
Lily went outside with two uniformed officers nearby.
The man was perhaps forty.
Thin.
Baseball cap.
Nervous hands.
He looked at Lily and said:
“Your father is going to think I’m the enemy.”
“Are you?”
“No.”
“Then tell me your name.”
“Jonah Vale.”
He handed her a key.
Bus-station locker.
Number 214.
“What’s inside?”
“Proof.”
“Of what?”
“That Harbor Light has been selling children.”
Lily’s face changed.
Jonah immediately corrected himself.
“Not like that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Contracts. Placements. Reimbursements. Guardianships.”
He looked toward the police.
“They figured out that a child with a complicated case could generate more money if the case stayed complicated.”
Lily felt sick.
“So they kept children moving.”
“Some.”
“And the missing four?”
Jonah swallowed.
“I don’t know.”
“Who are you?”
He hesitated.
Then answered.
“I built the software.”
Before Lily could ask another question, a black SUV entered the parking lot.
Jonah saw it.
And ran.
Not toward the street.
Toward the police.
“GET DOWN!”
The SUV never fired.
Never stopped.
It simply passed.
But Jonah was shaking.
May you like
Someone wanted him afraid.
And whoever it was knew where he had gone.
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