Page 116 of Coordinates of Death

Kordell rubbed her arm. “She’s in excellent hands.”

“I—” Something to the right of a steel cabinet caught her attention.

“What is it?”

Aurora approached and bent down, pointing. “The dust has been disturbed here.” She rose and stuck her fingers into a narrow gap, tracing the unseen surface behind the cabinet. She stopped at a protruding edge. “I think there’s a latch here.” She pressed it, and a portion of the wall released with a sharp click.

“Well, I’ll be.” Kordell drew out his Glock. “It’s a secret room.”

Aurora unholstered her weapon and Maglite, raising them together. She nudged the door open with her foot, checking for any trip wires before entering. The beam from her light revealed a desk against the far wall with two monitors, showing different locations in the institution.

“This is where SBK was watching us from.” Aurora flipped on the light switch to get a better view of the darkened room.

A long, thin table littered with various items drew her gaze, and she approached.

Pieces of jewelry, a key chain, locks of hair tied with a ribbon, a list of patients, several journals, and a stack of papers. “This looks like SBK’s lair. Stay at the door. We don’t want to be surprised.” She secured her weapon and put on latex gloves.

“Will do.” He braced against the entryway, turning to guard the room.

Aurora traced her finger down the list of patients, stopping at one she recognized.

Pam Hunt—her mother.

She stiffened and checked the second list. They appeared to be patients of the abandoned institution. Aurora rifled through the stack of papers and froze.

They were her mother’s.

“What is it?”

Aurora stuffed them into her pocket. It was wrong, she realized, but she wanted a first glance at them with no one else reading them. She picked up one journal. “I think these are patients from here.”

“Interesting. We should bag—”

Shouts echoed from the lower level. A constable yelled, “Police!”

“They’ve caught our intruder. Let’s go.” Aurora abandoned the items and brought out her weapon.

Had her fellow officers found the Shadow Box Killer lurking in the institution?

Kordell marched down the steps after Aurora, his mind shifting to her earlier suspicious actions in the secret room. He had noted her stuffing something into her jacket, but she kept it hidden from him. Clearly, she no longer trusted him, and if he was honest, that hurt. Badly. Again, not that he blamed her. His confession had obviously torn at her heart, and he now had to work at regaining her trust.

But how?

A gunshot filtered up the staircase followed by more shouts, putting his thoughts on hold. Right now, he had to help the team.

Aurora and Kordell raced toward the commotion, weapons raised.

Two constables had a male suspect pinned against the wall, cuffing him. The slender constable glanced over his shoulder. “We caught SBK! We can finally stop all this senseless killing.”

Yes! Kordell pumped a silent fist in the air, relief relaxing his tightened muscles.

“Let me be the judge of that.” Aurora holstered her weapon and grabbed the suspect’s arm, spinning him to face them.

She dropped his arm and stumbled into Kordell.

Kordell scrutinized the man’s face. Sebastian Roche—an older version of the teenager Kordell remembered. But definitely him.

“What is it?” the constable on the right asked.