Page 55 of Sinful Palace

I slumped in my seat, closing my eyes as a sudden wave of exhausted melancholy overcame me. I couldn’t stop thinking about the threatening note, to the point where it felt like it was burning a hole in my pocket.

I wanted to pull it out and tell everyone that today’s terrifying incident was my fault, but I couldn’t. I’d have to tell them about the Order to explain it all, and then I’d get myself into even deeper trouble with the society.

“Willow. You’re buzzing.”

I looked up to see my mother staring at me from her brocade seat. “Hm?”

“Your cell,” she said sharply.

I glanced at the small table on my left. I’d put my new phone on it when we walked into the room, and now it was vibrating all over the place. I’d been so caught up in my own head that I hadn’t even noticed until Mom pointed it out.

“Oh. Sorry.” I picked it up and answered the call, already knowing who it was. “Hi.”

“Hey. I heard about the parade. Are you okay?” Logan asked.

“I’m pretty shaken up, but I’m not hurt,” I replied. I stood and headed over to the white Palladian window on the far side of the room. “Did you actually see what happened?”

“Yeah, it’s all over the news. Someone dropped a fucking body from a helicopter, right?”

“Yup. It almost fell right on me and my dad.”

“Jesus. Someone really hates your mom.”

I bit my bottom lip. “Actually… I don’t think the threat was aimed at her,” I said softly, glancing over my shoulder to make sure no one was listening. “I can’t talk about it on the phone, though, just in case. I’ll tell you in person.”

“Okay. I’m leaving the office now. It’s not that far away, but it’ll probably take me a hundred years to get to the White House. Half the roads in the city are blocked off.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll see you when you get here.”

I went back over to my mother and Jared. “Was that Logan?” Mom asked, eyeing me.

I nodded. “He’s on his way to be with us.”

She smiled tightly. “How sweet.”

We sat in somber silence until Jamie Torrance stepped into the room with two unfamiliar men. They were holding papers and laptops.

“Madam President,” Jamie said with a deferential nod. “We’ve just confirmed that the helicopter used to drop the corpse wasn’t from the military. It was just painted to look like one of the military choppers so no one would be suspicious when it flew into the airspace above the parade.”

Mom gave him a withering look before turning to Jared. “Cover your ears, honey,” she said. When Jared did as he was told, she looked at Jamie again, eyes narrowed. “What kind of colossal fuck-up is that? Isn’t the military supposed to monitor the airspace, so this kind of shit doesn’t happen?”

Jamie nodded. “We’ll be launching a full investigation into how it happened. I’m just telling you what we know so far.”

“Is there anything else?”

Another nod. “We’ve identified the corpse. He actually had a tag around one of his toes, so that made it easy.”

“So he was taken from a morgue?” she asked, darting her eyes over to me before turning her attention back to Jamie.

“Yes. A funeral home in Bethesda reported a break-in two nights ago. A body was taken from one of the drawers. It was a man by the name of Thomas Halloran. Seventy-two, died of a brain tumor. No relevant links to you or this administration; at least none we can see yet. Seems like whoever arranged today’s incident stole a corpse at random.”

“But why?” Mom said, eyes widening. “It’s absurd.”

Jamie’s lips tightened. “We can only assume it’s someone—or an organization—who’s angry enough about the Rutherford situation to want to send a message to you. To us.”

“What message? That they’re good at stealing bodies and dropping them from the sky?”

Jamie shifted uncomfortably in his spot, twisting his hands together. “I’d say it was a threat.”

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