Chapter 7: The Garage

Monday morning, Cavan drove Posy to school in a sky that looked like wet cement.

"Daddy, was that man mean to you yesterday?" she asked from the back.

"Which man?"

"The old one in the hall. He smelled like a funeral."

"He wasn't nice," Cavan said. "But he can't hurt us."

"Promise?"

"I promise, Bean."

At the school gate, he knelt and straightened her backpack.

He walked her to her teacher.

On the way he noted the front office, the fences and the camera over the door.

Then he drove to the Sandvik Freight tower with Ingrid's laptop bag on the passenger seat.

She had left it on the kitchen island, beside the goldfish bowl, in her hurry.

He parked on level three of the staff garage and took the elevator down to the concrete.

Pillars, painted lines, one flickering light.

He was walking toward the lobby door when four men stepped out from behind the pillars.

A fifth came from behind the car he had just passed.

Anders Sandvik.

He wore a camel overcoat and a smile that didn't get past his teeth.

"Mr. Keegan," he said. "My father says you were rude yesterday."

"I was polite."

"You pointed out I hadn't earned a bow. In front of the whole family."

"Sorry. I thought it was a toast."

The men fanned out.

They were hired muscle, all shoulders, two in leather jackets, two in security fleece with the Sandvik logo on the chest.

Cavan set the laptop bag down on the hood of a Volvo.

"This is a company garage," he said. "There are cameras."

"There are," Anders agreed. "And they'll show a tow truck driver who attacked five employees for no reason."

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