"Don't let him take it."
Victor's voice comes out as a scrape from the floor, thin and broken, but it cuts through the whole lobby. I see Richard turn toward the open red lockbox at the same second I do. The cassette lies half out of the split lining, old plastic, black tape, Mary's name written across it in thick ink.
I move first.
So does Julian.
We reach it at the same time. My fingers close over the cassette just as Richard's hand comes down. Julian catches his father's wrist before he can touch me. The force of it makes Richard stumble one step, and for one wild second the whole polished lobby looks like it might break into a real fight.
"Enough," Julian says.
His voice is low. Dangerous. He does not shout. He does not need to. Every guard in the lobby goes still.
Nathaniel is
