Ruby Taken

The station generator kicked in after six seconds.

Six seconds was enough for the evidence laptop to die.

Theo lunged for it. Roslyn grabbed the flash drive. Elise reached for June because the dark had become Martin's favorite room.

Emergency lights turned everyone red.

"Where is Ruby?" June asked.

Ruby had been crying in the hallway. Now the hallway was empty.

Roslyn drew her weapon and swore once, quietly. "Lock the exits."

An officer shouted back that the rear door alarm had tripped during the outage.

Elise ran before Roslyn could stop her. She heard Theo behind her and Claire calling June's name. The rear hall smelled like wet coats and burned dust from the generator.

The exit door hung open. Outside, rain hit the loading dock hard enough to blur the alley.

Ruby's blanket lay on the ground.

Elise picked it up. "She didn't run barefoot into rain by choice."

Theo pointed to a dark SUV at the end of the alley. Its brake lights flashed once.

Roslyn came out and raised her gun. The SUV backed away fast, clipping a dumpster before turning onto the street.

"Plate?" Elise asked.

"Mud-covered," Theo said.

Roslyn radioed the vehicle description. Her voice stayed controlled, which made Elise more afraid.

June appeared behind Claire in the doorway. "They took her because of me."

"No," Claire said.

June looked at her. "You do not get to comfort me with lies anymore."

Claire's face crumpled.

Elise walked back inside and opened Vivian's flash drive on Theo's backup laptop. If Martin wanted Ruby, the reason was in the file they had not read yet.

KLINE_NOTARY loaded first.

It held scanned stamps, signatures, and a video clip of Mara Kline in Vivian's study.

Mara looked into the camera and said, "If Martin has Ruby, he has the witness who can prove June's adoption file was payment for the first policy theft."

The clip ended with Mara looking off-screen.

"Vivian," she whispered, "he is in the house."