Chapter 7 - The Safe HouseTwo hours later, Fiona and Arthur were shivering in the back of a small, 24-hour diner on the south side of Chicago.
Fiona had used her emergency cash to buy them dry sweaters from a nearby convenience store and two hot chocolates. Her left forearm was badly bruised and swollen, likely fractured from Reed’s strike, but she had wrapped it tightly in a medical bandage from her pocket kit.
The wrapped pillowcase containing the rusted needles sat on the plastic booth seat beside her.
"Fiona," Arthur whispered, his blue eyes looking remarkably clear now that the neuromuscular poison was starting to leave his system. "Is my dad going to believe them? Victoria said he would think you did it."
Fiona looked at the boy’s pale, brave face. "Your dad loves you, Arthur. More than anything. When he sees this," she touched the bloody pillowcase, "he will know the truth."
But she knew Dominic Costello was a man surrounded by lies. How could she reach him without Victoria or Marco intercepting her? Dominic’s phone lines would be monitored, and his security team was already hunting her.
She pulled out her personal burner phone—the one she kept for emergencies—and dialed a number she had memorized from the Northwestern hospital registry.
"Detective Alvarez," a gruff voice answered on the third ring. "Chicago PD."
"Alvarez, it's Fiona Jenkins. From the pediatric trauma ward."
"Fiona? Where the hell are you? We just got a call from the Highland Park PD. There's an active warrant out for your arrest for the kidnapping of Arthur Costello."
"Listen to me, Alvarez," Fiona said, her voice shaking but resolute. "The boy wasn't kidnapped. I saved him. His stepmother and Dr. Reed have been slowly poisoning him with customized orthopedic pillows rigged with contaminated spinal needles. I have the physical evidence and the needles. But I need Dominic Costello. I need him now."
There was a long silence on the other end of the line.
May you like
"Dominic is in New York," Alvarez said, his voice dropping. "But his private jet just touched down at Midway. He’s heading back to the mansion. Fiona, if you go there, his people will kill you before you can say a word."
"Then tell him to meet me," Fiona said, her eyes flashing with the same defiance she had shown the mob boss on their first meeting. "Tell him to meet me at the old Saint Jude clinic on 47th Street. It’s abandoned. No guards, no Victoria. Just him, me, and his son."
