Chapter 26: The Navy Yard

Midnight turned the Brooklyn Navy Yard into a city of locked teeth. Warehouses stood in rows behind chain fences. Sodium lights burned over wet pavement. Leah wore black, kept a copy of Elena's letter taped beneath her shirt, and ignored Ethan's anger from two blocks away. He was nearby. Of course he was. The message had said come alone. Leah had obeyed the letter, not the spirit. Ethan watched from a neighboring roof with Megan and Nora coordinating through burner phones. If men wanted to trap a dead heiress, they would learn she had studied predators. Warehouse 17 was open. Inside, Catherine's ledger sat on a metal table beneath a single light. Sebastian emerged from the dark, clapping slowly. "You do make a convincing ghost." Leah stopped ten feet from the table. "You stole from my locker." "You stole from my future." "Was that before or after you tried to put me in the river?" His face changed. There. Direct hit. "Careful," he said. "Why? You prefer victims sedated?" Sebastian lifted a small recorder. "Leah Mercer threatening a Costa heir after assaulting Olivia Thorne. The police will love you." "Then call them." "I did." Blue lights flashed beyond the warehouse windows. Leah's pulse jumped, but she held her ground. Sebastian smiled. "Tell me who sent you. Hunt? Catherine? Or did Isabella leave a little revenge cult behind?" "Isabella left a bill." "Dead girls cannot collect." Leah moved then, not toward him, but toward the sprinkler control on the wall. She smashed the glass with her elbow and pulled. Water exploded from the ceiling. Sebastian cursed. The recorder sparked. The ledger's ink should have run, but Leah had noticed the plastic sleeve. She grabbed it as police voices shouted outside. Sebastian lunged. Ethan came through the side door like controlled violence. "Do not," he said. Sebastian laughed through the water. "You cannot hit me in front of police." Ethan smiled without humor. "No. But she can." Leah punched Sebastian Costa in the mouth. The first officer through the door saw exactly that. Sebastian staggered, bleeding, and pointed at her. "Arrest her!" Leah held up the ledger. "Gladly. I would like to file a report too." The officer's radio crackled. A dispatcher's voice came through. "Be advised, suspect Leah Mercer may be connected to deceased heiress Isabella Thorne identity fraud." Every officer turned toward her.