Jenna feels a fissure in her heart.
Simon continues, “Robot LLC.”
The company’s name written on the folded star at the library.
“It’s a shell corporation, part of a web of related entities. It may be impossible, even for me, to ever find the source. But I did find something.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a single-purpose company, meaning it was created for only one purpose.”
“And what was that?”
“To buy a parcel of property.”
Jenna hears Lulu’s voice in the background asking him something.
“Can I talk to her?” she says. “Never mind. I’ll see her tomorrow.” Jenna’s superstitions are kicking in.
Simon continues, “The buyer was the corporation itself, but it does list the seller. His name is Park Jones.”
Jenna doesn’t recognize the name. “Never heard of him.”
“I ran a search. The guy’s dead but was a major creep. He used to work in Big Tech in the early years, was a pioneer. But he also had a thing for underage girls.”
The worst kind of monster.
“I’m sending you an article about his conviction. He apparently was fired, moved back to live with his parents, and inherited their house. It’s an unusual transaction for a shell company. Buying a low-value home in a blighted community.”
Jenna’s heart trips as she opens the newspaper story on the phone and recognizes the man’s face instantly. The man they called Ned Flanders.
“Let me guess, the house he sold is in Chestertown? On Carver Street.”
“Yes, how’d you know?”
Jenna’s interrupted by Nico.
“He’s here,” Nico whispers, staring through the crack in the board.
Jenna peers out and watches as the car pulls to the curb in front of Savior House. Derek Brood gets out of the sedan and looks around. He seems nervous, but that could simply be standing on this block after dark.
“I’ve got to go,” she says to Simon. “But I need to say something.”
He waits.
“You’re the love of my life,” she says, powering down the phone without waiting for his reply.
They watch as Brood goes to the front door, which is plastered with NO TRESPASSING signs.
There’s a Ring camera mounted above the door, but it appears to be covered with spray paint. Brood fumbles with some keys and unlocks a padlock and multiple dead bolts. He opens the door and stands in the entryway before going in, like he’s listening. He may be concerned about squatters, meth cookers, or vagrants or the other dangerous inhabitants of abandoned homes on this side of Chestertown.
An interior light goes on as he steps inside and shuts the door behind him.
“Why the hell did Arty ask him to meet here?” Nico asks.
“Because it’s secluded, I guess. He said Brood still owns the property.”
“Is Arty really gonna come?”
Jenna shrugs. She’s realizing how little she knows, and it’s making her nervous. And Nico’s question is a good one: Will Arty dare make an appearance? He was reluctant to show his face at the funeral for Ben. And he’s kept material details about Savior House from his own security team.
Would he come on his own without his body men and protection? If Jenna were on his detail, she’d advise against it. But even as a kid, Arty didn’t follow conventional thinking.
The thought is answered when a black town car pulls to the curb. A tall man in a black suit gets out of the driver’s side and opens a back passenger door. Jenna can’t see on the other side of the vehicle. She can hear voices but not what’s being said. The driver comes back around the vehicle, his gait reluctant, shaking his head.
The town car pulls away, leaving Artemis Templeton, who walks inside Savior House. Unlike Derek Brood, he isn’t timid about it. He opens the door like he owns the place and strides in.
“What now? Should we go in?” Nico says.
Jenna shakes her head. “Now, we wait.”
“For what?”
Jenna’s eyes fix on the figure appearing from nowhere in front of Savior House. Every time Jenna sees the woman, bolts of rage flow to her extremities.
“For her.”
CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
The pretty hit woman strolls into Savior House almost as casually as Arty did a few minutes before.
She’s not carrying a gun or the bizarre weapon. And she’s not dressed in tactical gear but a blouse and slacks, business-casual attire. Cool as a cucumber.
Jenna encountered some eccentrics in her time with The Corporation, but this woman is by far the most unique.
She and Nico watch as the woman disappears inside Savior House.
Jenna feels for the pistol in her pocket. “You okay with the gun?” she asks Nico.
He reluctantly took the handgun Jenna pulled out of her ex, Michael’s, bag of goodies. She’s still digesting what Simon told her about Ned Flanders, real name Park Jones, the man who used to live down the street, the man who owned the stretch of land where they took Mr. Brood. The scientifically minded man who’d mentored young Artemis.
“I’ve only fired a gun once in my life,” Nico says.
They both pause, silently acknowledging the long-ago event.
“Just stay near me,” Jenna says.
They walk quickly and quietly to Savior House and the front door creaks open, but not loudly.
There are voices coming from what used to be the dining room. Jenna points to the hallway that leads to the kitchen, which provides another entry into the dining room.
Nico nods, he remembers too.
They sidle down the hallway, through the kitchen, and stop out of sight. Listen.
A panicked voice says, “Susan, my god, what in the hell are you doing?” That’s Derek Brood’s voice, and it sounds like his father’s.
“Sit!” the woman’s voice says.
Jenna isn’t clear what’s going on.
“We can talk about this,” Brood says. “Put the gun down.”
Jenna stealthily makes it to the entryway, peers inside.
Derek Brood, walking slowly, hands in the air, takes a chair—the only piece of furniture in the room—in the center of the dining hall.
The hit woman has her back to Jenna and hasn’t seen her yet. Jenna’s breath is taken away when she realizes that the woman—who’s a foot taller than Arty—stands behind him and has her forearm around Arty’s neck, a gun to his temple.
Jenna steps quietly behind the woman and puts the handgun to the back of her head.
The woman stiffens.
“Slowly,” Jenna warns as the woman lowers the gun from Artemis’s head and Jenna gestures for Nico to grab it. He scurries over and takes the gun gingerly like he’s picking up a spider.
The woman releases her grip on Artemis’s neck and he pushes away from her.
“What the hell’s going on?” Derek Brood says, standing again. “Susan said she was your real-
estate rep,” he tells Arty. “That you wanted to buy Savior House and rejuvenate the entire area. What the—”
“I can explain,” Artemis says. “Please, sit.”
Jenna’s mind is reeling. Derek Brood seems sincerely mystified by the turn of events. Jenna and Nico lock eyes. Her old friend looks equally confused.