I n the plush holding cell, the door opened, and Adeline marched in, eyes wide.
Sam rose from the club chair and held out his arms.
She ran to him and wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest and sobbed, a long, ragged cry filled with hurt. It was a single word: “Dad.”
“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered. “Did they tell you?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Adeline sobbed again. “I was so mean to her, Dad. So mean.”
“You were upset. You had every right to be. It’s understandable. She understood. I promise you.”
Her sobs receded, and Adeline broke the hug and looked up at her father. “What happened?”
Sam sensed that now was a time for truth. And he told her the truth: “I don’t know.”
“She was alive when we left.”
“Yes. She was.”
“And somebody killed her.”
“They did.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know that either.”
“What happens now?”
“Frankly, I’m not sure. Whoever killed Nora is one step ahead of us—and you’re obviously their other target.”
“They’re trying to frame me.”
“It would seem so.”
“Why?”
“I have no idea.”
Adeline studied her father’s face and seemed to decide something. “I don’t believe you, Dad.”
When Sam didn’t say anything, Adeline scoffed. “I thought we were done with secrets. Please tell me what you know. That’s all I’m asking.”
Sam scratched the side of his head. “My best theory is that this is somehow related to my work.”
“As in…”
“Absolom.”
“What about it?”
“We’ve made a discovery. Elliott and Hiro did. A breakthrough. A… new version of Absolom. Nora was opposed to it. My best guess is that maybe that’s why she was killed.”