Lethal Lullaby by Diana Orgain

Author:Diana Orgain [Orgain, Diana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Diana Orgain

Chapter 14

When I reached Denny Brannigan’s office building, I parked as close as I could, swiped my credit card through the parking meter, and raced through the door and to the elevator bank. There were only two elevator doors, and a white sheet of paper proclaimed Out of Order on one of them.

Just like the bathroom on the boat.

“Come on, come on,” I muttered, pressing my knuckle against the call button.

Denny’s firm was on the eighth floor, and there was no way I was taking the stairs while a billion months pregnant with twins.

At first, the elevator didn’t respond. I made a face. Denny Brannigan seemed like the kind of person who would rent space in a nicer office building than this. But maybe he only bleeds money when he’s trying to ink business deals.

The gears groaned to life, and the unmistakable whoosh of the elevator sounded in the shaft. Then it screeched to a stop, and I tilted my head. That didn’t sound quite right.

The doors opened.

“Hey!” I yelled in surprise.

The elevator hadn’t come all the way to this floor—only the bottom third of the elevator was visible. Beneath it, a gaping hole opened up into the elevator shaft.

Perhaps gaping hole was a bit dramatic; I was on the bottom floor, after all. But . . . there was no way to safely board the elevator. I stared at it, willing it to continue its downward trajectory and let me on. But after a few moments, the door closed, and the elevator whooshed upward.

Tentatively, I hit the call button again, and the elevator whooshed back toward the ground floor. And again, the doors opened, revealing only the bottom third of the elevator.

Andrew’s story about the poor women trapped in the elevator for four days flashed in my mind.

No way!

I stared at the defective elevator, then at the out of order sign on the other elevator door and let out a hiss.

I was going to have to take the stairs. While a billion months pregnant with twins.

The door to the stairwell was just a few paces away. I walked to the bottom of the staircase and gazed hopelessly upward. Eight floors. And I was running late.

Before I’d gotten pregnant with Laurie, this would just have been an inconvenience. But that felt like a very long time ago. I’d really never got properly back in shape after my first pregnancy.

I just hadn’t had time.

Was that an excuse or a reason?

Well, either way I certainly wasn’t in any kind of shape for this.

“One stair at a time, Kate,” I muttered. “Andrew needs you to solve this.”

My brother was counting on me. I wouldn’t let him down. I took one step forward. The lights were garishly bright, but I was grateful I didn’t have to ascend eight floors in a shadowy stairwell. I’d had enough eerie ambiance on Alcatraz to last me a lifetime.

I lost my breath on the fourth step.

Not the fourth floor. The fourth step.

Gripping the handrail with determination, I took slow, deep breaths, and trudged onward.

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