The Bloodline She Burned novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Champions

Nobody in the practice room moved.

Roz kept the phone raised.

The little number in the corner passed three hundred thousand.

"Everything you said in the last four minutes is on that screen," she said. "The offer, the pharmacy, and the paper in your coat."

Conrad looked at the phone and did not move.

"Turn it off."

"It's not mine to turn off. It's theirs."

The big man in the coat took a step toward her, and Gabriel pulled free of the driver and stood in front of her.

"Go on," Gabriel said. "Add one more thing to the tape."

The big man stopped.

Below them the street door banged, and heavy boots came up the stairs.

Two officers entered with the league director behind them, out of breath and still in his match-day blazer.

"Mr. Ellsworth," the director said. "The technician gave us the account number an hour ago. We'd like you to come with us."

"On what charge?"

"We can start with tampering. The recording on that phone will give us the rest."

The driver let go of Gabriel's arm and stepped away from the coats.

Conrad looked at the officers, and at the phone, and at the one person in the room who had never once begged him for anything.

"You were always the difficult one," he said to Roz.

"I was the one you didn't have to watch," she said. "Thank you for the severance, by the way. It's paying for the cafe's new heating."

He took out the brown envelope and dropped it on the nearest machine.

Then he walked down the stairs between the officers, past the pastry case, and out into a street already full of cameras.

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