“Let them look,” she said.

There was a cold certainty in her voice that made me pause.

I looked at her. “What do you mean?”

“Mr. Mercer knew this was a possibility the moment you found those papers,” she whispered.

“He has a plan?”

“He always has a plan, Claire. Now, keep quiet.”

Above us, the sound of destruction began.

We heard the crash of wood.

A heavy cabinet being overturned.

Drawer after drawer being ripped out and emptied onto the floor.

They were tearing Julian’s office apart.

“They’re going to destroy everything,” I said, my chest tightening.

“They are looking for things that are no longer there,” Margaret said.

“The files?”

“The files you helped him translate. They are already moving.”

“Where?”

“To people who cannot be bought by the senator,” Margaret said.

She leaned closer, her eyes sharp.

“Federal agents. Real ones. Not local police on a payroll.”

I swallowed hard. “Then why did he stay?”

“To buy time,” she said. “And to keep their attention on him.”

Emma shifted in my arms.

Her eyes opened, blinking against the dim light of the lantern.