Chapter 5 - The Call from the Fourth Floor
Chief Mercer did not waste another second.
“Reeves, Carter, with me. Miller, stay where you are.”
Officer Miller’s face tightened. “Chief, I can explain—”
“You can explain later.”
The command struck harder than shouting. Miller stepped back, suddenly aware that every person in the lobby was watching him differently now.
Arthur stood still at the counter, one hand resting near his coat pocket, the other pressed lightly against his chest. The emergency call still played from the dispatcher’s tablet. The woman’s voice trembled through the speaker, broken by crashes and shouting in the background.
“Please… they’re in the hallway now… someone is bleeding…”
Chief Mercer turned toward Arthur.
“Mr. Hale, I need you to remain here.”
Arthur shook his head.
“With respect, Chief, I have remained quiet for weeks. It nearly cost someone their life.”
“You are eighty years old.”
“And I am still the only person in this room who knows that building well enough to tell you where the back stairwell leads.”
Mercer hesitated.
The old man’s eyes were tired, but they were not weak. They held the same steady command that had once silenced courtrooms, exposed corrupt officials, and made powerful men fear the truth.
Mercer understood then that refusing him would only waste more time.
“You ride with me,” he said. “But you do not enter until I say so.”
Arthur nodded once.
The two men from Apartment 4B were still near the counter, no longer laughing. The one in the red jacket looked toward the exit, but Officer Carter had already moved to block the door.
“Sit down,” Carter ordered.
The tattooed man scoffed. “We didn’t do anything.”
Arthur looked at him. “Not yet in front of witnesses.”
That wiped away what little confidence remained on the young man’s face.
Within minutes, sirens tore through the city streets. Arthur sat in the back of the chief’s vehicle, watching familiar buildings blur past the window. His heart beat too fast, but he refused to reach for his medicine.
Not yet.
When they reached his apartment building, people were already gathered outside in robes, slippers, and frightened silence. A woman on the sidewalk clutched a child against her chest. Broken glass glittered beneath the entrance lights.
From the fourth floor came a scream.
Mercer looked at Arthur.
“Back stairwell?”
Arthur pointed to the left side of the building.
“Through the laundry room. It opens behind 4B.”
Mercer drew his weapon and moved fast.
May you like
Arthur followed slower, but his eyes missed nothing.
And as they entered the building, a shadow moved behind the upstairs window, holding something dark in its hand.
