Chapter 11 - THE SAFE HOUSE
Police moved Linda and Toby to a protected apartment owned by the city’s witness-assistance program.
The windows faced a secured courtyard.
An officer remained outside the door.
Toby hated it.
“There are no tents,” he said.
“It’s temporary,” Linda promised.
“What about our booth?”
“Mrs. Alvarez packed everything.”
“Even the stuffed dog with one ear?”
“Especially him.”
Toby placed Captain on the windowsill.
Since the market, he had become quiet whenever strangers approached.
A child therapist named Dr. Ellis visited him.
She did not ask about the crime immediately.
She asked him to draw the market.
Toby filled the page with bright tents.
Then he drew a huge green dumpster in the center.
Every person around it had no ears.
Only Toby had ears.
Linda had to leave the room.
In the hallway, Desmond was waiting with Prescott.
He had come to provide an update.
Linda folded her arms.
“How did he know where we were?”
“Owen does not know this location,” Desmond said.
“Then why are you here?”
“To tell you that the board froze Celeste’s voting authority and blocked the market sale.”
“That won’t stop her from coming after the evidence.”
“No.”
Prescott handed Linda a document.
Hale Development publicly withdrew every accusation against her.
The company admitted her emails had been forged and reinstated her employment record with full back pay.
Linda read the statement.
“This clears my résumé.”
“It should never have been damaged,” Desmond said.
“It doesn’t erase what happened.”
“I know.”
The door officer knocked.
A delivery driver had arrived with a package addressed to Toby.
No sender.
Detective Vance was called before it was opened.
Inside was a new smartphone.
Its screen lit automatically.
A video began playing.
Celeste sat in an unknown room wearing plain clothes.
“Hello, Linda.”
Toby hid behind his mother.
Celeste smiled into the camera.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
“The flash drive,” Prescott said.
Linda had given it to him before the ambulance.
Celeste continued.
“If the files reach prosecutors, Owen will release information that makes Toby’s life very difficult.”
The screen changed.
Photographs appeared of Toby’s school, his teacher, and Mrs. Alvarez’s apartment above the fruit shop.
This was not only a threat against the boy.
It was a threat against everyone who had helped them.
Celeste gave Linda twenty-four hours to deliver the original ledger to a locker at Central Bus Terminal.
“Come alone,” she said. “Or the market learns what happens when poor people interfere in wealthy business.”
The video ended.
Toby looked at Desmond.
“She still thinks no one will protect us.”
Desmond crouched so they were at eye level.
“She is wrong.”
Toby did not respond.
Protection was not something a wealthy man could promise once and expect a frightened child to believe.
It had to be proven.
May you like
👉 Celeste demanded the evidence in exchange for the market’s safety—but Detective Vance suspected the bus-terminal locker was designed to lead Linda into another trap.
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