“I have the original rejection letters. I have the logs showing you never responded.”

“Because you hid them!” Ethan yelled, his voice echoing down the hallway.

A security guard at the far end of the hall turned his head toward us.

I reached out and placed a hand on Ethan’s forearm, feeling the muscle tight as a steel cable.

“Easy,” I whispered to him. “Don’t give them a reason to throw us out.”

Ethan took a deep breath, his nostrils flaring.

“Nobody will believe you,” Ethan said into the phone.

“They will believe the paper trail,” Richard said.

“And I am not the only one who knows you are suddenly playing the savior.”

I felt a cold knot form in my stomach.

“What do you mean?” Ethan asked.

“A man named Carl Brenner called my office an hour ago,” Richard said.

My heart stopped for a beat.

Carl Brenner, the man who had forced Mary and Lauren out onto the frozen streets.

“He was very interested to know why a Caldwell representative was asking questions at his building,” Richard said.