Page 60 of The Truth Between

“Your brother is going to be so pissed,” Iris warned, her blue eyes searching mine for any sign of hesitation. She was right of course. Parker would see this as a betrayal against him. But there was something about Iris’s story that drew me in, and I couldn’t shake it.

“There’s nothing I can do about it now,” I said, finally meeting Iris’s gaze.

Nerves filled my body as I found a place to park my car on a side street. We both got out and I shivered in the cold night air. Iris looked up at the towering skyscraper before she glanced at me. “Hopefully this is it.”

I looked at her, admiring her bravery. “I hope so too.” I wasn’t prepared to face whatever consequences that would be coming my way, but I had no choice now. I was in too deep and wanted to see this to the end.

Together, we made our way to the back of the building, and I couldn’t help but wonder if we were truly prepared for what lay ahead.

“Stay close,” I whispered to Iris. “There shouldn’t be anyone to question us, but just in case, it wouldn’t hurt.”

We slipped into the building without seeing anyone and made our way to Parker’s office.

We eventually reached his office door, which was closed but not locked. We entered the room, and nothing looked different from the last time I’d been here, but I watched as Iris took it all in.

“I think the first place we should check would be those cabinets over there and maybe his computer? If we can’t find anything there, we should find a way to get downstairs into the Chevalier Headquarters.”

I couldn’t believe I was sitting here spitballing a plan that would put me in direct opposition to my brother. Something was seriously wrong with me.

Iris began searching through the cabinets while I managed to log on to Parker’s computer, using the random password generator he’d given me access to when I was desperate to get on the internet for a school project in high school. We were looking for anything that might give us a clue as to where Eddison Payne’s documents and letters might be.

After a few minutes, I sat back in Parker’s chair and looked at Iris. “I think what we’re looking for must be downstairs. I’m not finding anything to indicate that Parker has any of Eddison’s stuff up here.”

Iris turned to me and asked, “Have you found anything about Margaret Turner?”

I shook my head. “Nothing so far.”

We both sighed heavily, knowing that the only way to get answers was to make our way to the Chevalier Headquarters and attempt to gain entry.

I made sure we left everything the way it was before I said, “I’m pretty sure the way down to the headquarters from in here is somewhere around here…”

My voice trailed off as I tried to look around his desk, looking for something, anything that would indicate a way to get downstairs. It was then that I had a memory about a book falling on a panel on Parker’s desk and triggering the bookcase to move to reveal another door. That door opened into a short hallway, and I was pretty sure that was where the elevator was.

But the question was, where did the book fall? I did my best to not mess up Parker’s desk while moving papers around as Iris walked up to stand next to me.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Finding a way for us to get downstairs,” I said without looking in her direction. I didn’t need the distraction because I was trying to search without disturbing anything. That was until I saw a little latch on the surface of his desk, and I gave it a small nod because I’d found what I was looking for. I pulled on the latch and pressed the small button inside of it.

Soon, we were staring at a private elevator with a single call button.

Iris’s eyes widened. “Is this how we’re getting down there?”

I nodded as guilt weighed heavily on me because we were only digging a deeper hole with every step we took. Pressing the call button, the elevator doors slid open silently. We stepped inside. As the doors closed, I noticed that instead of buttons next to floor numbers, the control panel had a single unmarked button.

Without a second thought, I pressed it. The elevator began its descent, its movement so fluid that it felt like we were floating on a cloud. It didn’t take long, thankfully. Iris and I only had a couple of moments to share a glance with one another before the elevator came to a gentle stop.

While it felt as if we were going into a supervillain’s lair as we stepped out of the elevator, it looked anything but. It was more old-fashioned in a way, reminding me of Westwick’s campus more than some high-tech business center.

“I’m not sure where we should go, but I also don’t want to split up either,” I said as I walked out of the elevator with Iris trailing behind me.

“I don’t want to either, but we need to move fast.”

“Without a doubt,” I said.

Just as I was about to turn and walk to my left, a sudden noise caused us both to freeze. It was the soft sound of a shoe squeaking against the polished marble floor. Iris and I exchanged panicked glances. We weren’t alone.

37

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