Chapter 8 - The Woman Who Knew Everything
They found Margaret Hale in an abandoned church two hours later.
She was older than Emma expected.
Silver hair.
Tired eyes.
A scar across her left cheek.
Victor entered first.
Margaret raised both hands.
“I came alone.”
Victor didn't lower his gun.
“Where's my father?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere your uncle can't reach.”
Emma stepped forward.
“Where is my mother?”
Margaret looked at her.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she whispered:
“Alive.”
Emma stopped breathing.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You know something.”
“Yes.”
Margaret sat down.
“Your mother didn't trust anyone.”
Emma's voice shook.
“She left me.”
“She saved you.”
“By abandoning me?”
Margaret looked at Victor.
“Your mother and Eleanor discovered the same thing.”
“What?”
“That someone inside the family had been selling information.”
Victor said, “My uncle.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Your uncle was only the middleman.”
Emma felt cold.
“Then who was above him?”
Margaret opened an old envelope.
Inside was a list.
At the top was one name.
Thomas Vale.
Victor stared.
His family's attorney.
The man who had managed Blackwood finances for twenty years.
“The spy,” Victor whispered.
Margaret nodded.
“He planted the first device.”
“Under the chair?”
“Yes.”
“And the second?”
Margaret looked at Emma.
“Thomas didn't plant it.”
“Then who?”
Margaret hesitated.
“Someone close to you.”
Emma felt a chill.
Victor turned toward her.
“No.”
Margaret continued.
“Thomas believed the chair contained Eleanor's evidence.”
“He didn't know about the ledger?”
“No.”
“Then why spy on it?”
“Because Eleanor made him believe there was something valuable beneath it.”
Victor frowned.
“She used the chair as bait.”
Margaret smiled faintly.
“She was clever.”
Emma looked at the old woman.
“Why did my mother leave me?”
“Because Thomas discovered that Emma existed.”
Emma's eyes filled with tears.
“He wanted me dead?”
“Yes.”
Victor stepped closer.
“Who protected her?”
Margaret answered:
“Your father.”
Victor closed his eyes.
For twelve years, he had hated a dead man who had never abandoned him.
Margaret continued.
“Your father arranged Emma's disappearance from the records.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother had hidden the final evidence inside Emma's childhood memories.”
Emma shook her head.
“I don't remember.”
“You will.”
Margaret handed her a small box.
Inside was a child's bracelet.
Emma recognized it.
Her mother had given it to her.
There was a tiny metal charm attached.
Margaret opened it.
A microfilm strip was hidden inside.
Victor stared.
“What is that?”
“The ledger's missing pages.”
Emma looked at the tiny strip.
“Why would my mother hide this inside my bracelet?”
“Because no one searches a child's jewelry.”
Suddenly headlights appeared outside.
Margaret stood.
“They found us.”
Victor moved toward the window.
Black cars surrounded the church.
Thomas Vale stepped out.
He looked up at the building.
Then smiled.
Emma saw him through the glass.
Her phone buzzed.
A message appeared.
COME OUT ALONE, EMMA.
Another arrived.
OR VICTOR DIES.
Victor saw the screen.
“Don't.”
Emma looked at him.
“What choice do I have?”
“Stay behind me.”
The church doors burst open.
Men entered.
Victor fired.
Emma ran toward the back corridor.
Then she heard a voice behind her.
Her mother's voice.
“Emma.”
She stopped.
Slowly turned.
A woman stood in the shadows.
Older.
Tired.
But unmistakably familiar.
Emma whispered:
“Mom?”
The woman reached for her.
May you like
And said the one thing Emma had never expected to hear.
“I'm sorry I had to make you forget.”
