Chapter 14: Ivy's Tuesday

The big screen above the stage went white, then showed a floor plan of the forty-first floor.

I held the microphone with a steady hand. My knees were not steady, so I kept them locked.

"Everyone here has heard half of a sentence," I said. "Now they get the rest."

The technician pressed a key.

A line of text came up, in plain gray letters.

Badge log, 41st floor. Tuesday, 11:31 p.m. Entry: I. Dalton.

"That's a building record," the chairman said.

"It is," I said. "Mr. Maddox keeps one for every floor. You have all complained about it."

A few directors looked at their plates.

The second line came up.

11:52 p.m. Session opened, assistant desk terminal. Login: H. Brennan.

"The terminal is on the assistant desk," I said. "Only one badge went onto that floor that night, and it wasn't mine."

Ivy had not moved from my side.

Her smile had gone thin.

"Anyone can borrow a login," she said, lightly. "You could have called in from anywhere."

"You're right," I said. "So here's where I was."

The screen changed to a map of Queens, a blue dot on a gray street.

"The company put a tracker on my work phone," I said. "I hated it for four years."

I heard a small, dry sound from the head table. It was Elliot, breathing out.

"It says my phone was at my sister's building from nine that night until eight the next morning.

It's the one thing the tracker ever did for me."

Somebody in the press line laughed. It wasn't kind, and it wasn't aimed at me.

The technician looked at me, and I nodded.

"Now the video," I said.

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