Chapter 5 - The Man at the Gate
I did not let Raymond inside.
Instead, I walked to the gate alone.
Marcus hated the idea.
Claire hated it more.
“You know someone is trying to isolate you,” she said.
“I won't be isolated.”
“You're literally going outside alone.”
Fair point.
Marcus positioned two men out of sight.
Claire stayed with the girls.
I crossed the driveway.
Raymond smiled when he saw me.
“Hell of a welcome.”
“Why are you here?”
“Because Daniel Price contacted my office.”
That surprised me.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“What did he say?”
“That someone compromised your security system.”
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why did you come personally?”
Raymond studied me.
“You don't trust me.”
“I asked a question.”
“And I heard the question beneath it.”
That was something he had taught me.
Listen for the question beneath the question.
I hated hearing it from him now.
“Elena met you the night she died.”
His expression changed.
Barely.
But I saw it.
“Yes.”
The admission hit me.
“Why?”
“She was frightened.”
“Of what?”
“Redstone.”
“You knew?”
“I knew she had concerns.”
“Richard Bennett?”
Another tiny pause.
“I knew him.”
“You recommended Redstone anyway.”
“Because the technology was valuable.”
“Ghost Layer?”
This time Raymond couldn't hide his reaction.
There it was.
Recognition.
“You've found Richard's files.”
Not a question.
I stepped closer.
“You knew.”
“Adrian, listen carefully.”
“No. You listen.”
My voice remained low.
“My wife is dead. Richard Bennett is dead. Someone attacked my daughter. Someone compromised my home. And my seven-year-old just identified you as a man she saw with Elena.”
Raymond looked toward the mansion.
“Lily spoke?”
That was wrong.
Very wrong.
I hadn't told him.
“How did you know she stopped speaking?”
Everyone close to us knew.
But the way he'd asked it wasn't surprise.
It was calculation.
He realized his mistake.
“Adrian—”
“Tell me what happened that night.”
Raymond sighed.
“Elena called me.”
“Why?”
“She thought someone was following her.”
“Who?”
“Daniel.”
My mind shifted.
“Daniel worked for you?”
“Before he worked for you.”
I knew that.
“What aren't you telling me?”
Raymond looked suddenly old.
“I sent Daniel to protect her.”
“Without telling me?”
“She wouldn't let me tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because she believed your company had been compromised.”
I laughed once.
Bitterly.
“So everyone protected me by lying to me.”
“She was trying to protect you.”
“From whom?”
Raymond's eyes moved toward the mansion.
“Someone you still trust.”
K is still inside.
I felt cold.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“You came here to tell me you don't know?”
“I came because Daniel called me and said the Ghost Layer was active inside your home.”
“Where is Daniel?”
“He said he had proof. Then the line died.”
I studied Raymond.
Either he was an extraordinary liar or the story was more complicated than I'd imagined.
Probably both.
“Did you kill Elena?”
His face hardened.
“No.”
“Did you know her car had been tampered with?”
Silence.
That was answer enough.
“You knew.”
“Afterward.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I couldn't prove it.”
“You let me bury my wife believing she died in an accident.”
“I was trying to identify who did it.”
“For three years?”
Raymond stepped closer to the gate.
“I made a mistake.”
I almost hit him.
Instead I said, “Leave.”
“Adrian—”
“Leave.”
He looked at me for a long time.
Then he reached into his coat.
Marcus's voice snapped through my earpiece.
“Hands!”
Raymond slowly removed an envelope.
“Your wife gave me this.”
I stared.
“She told me to give it to you if Ghost Layer ever activated inside your home.”
“Why wait?”
“Because those were her instructions.”
He pushed the envelope through the gate.
I took it.
“Don't trust the person who tells you he has all the answers,” Raymond said.
“That includes you.”
“Yes.”
For the first time, he looked afraid.
“Especially me.”
He returned to his car.
I went inside.
Claire was waiting.
“So?”
“He admitted meeting Elena.”
Ava appeared.
“And?”
“He says he tried to protect her.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I don't know.”
Lily stood behind Claire.
She was watching the envelope.
I opened it.
Inside was a handwritten list.
Seven names.
Daniel Price.
Raymond Sloan.
Martin Keene.
Three Redstone executives.
And the seventh name made no sense.
Thomas Hale.
My younger brother.
Thomas had died eleven years ago.
Or so I believed.
He was twenty-nine when his boat disappeared on Lake Michigan.
No body was recovered.
After weeks of searching, he was declared presumed dead.
Elena had written beside his name:
T.H. IS NOT DEAD.
I sat down.
Ava read over my shoulder.
“Dad?”
I couldn't answer.
Thomas and I had been inseparable as boys.
Then our father died.
Money changed everything.
I inherited control of the family company because I was older.
Thomas received shares.
He believed I had manipulated the arrangement.
We fought.
He sold his stake.
Then he disappeared.
Eleven years.
I had mourned him.
Buried an empty coffin.
And Elena believed he was alive.
Marcus entered with news.
They found Daniel.
Alive.
He had been hiding in an unused mechanical shaft beneath the garage.
Someone had stabbed him in the side.
The doctor stabilized him.
Daniel asked for me.
I entered the guest room.
His face was gray.
“Mr. Hale.”
“Who did this?”
Daniel struggled to breathe.
“He knows you're back.”
“Who?”
“K.”
“Keene?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Kestrel?”
Again, no.
“Then who?”
Daniel looked toward the door.
“King.”
“What does that mean?”
“Project name.”
“For whom?”
His hand closed around my wrist.
“Your brother.”
My pulse stopped.
“Thomas?”
Daniel nodded.
“He's alive.”
The room tilted.
“Where?”
“Closer than you think.”
“Why?”
“Redstone wasn't the target.”
“What was?”
Daniel's eyes filled with fear.
“You.”
I leaned closer.
“Why?”
“He wanted your life dismantled from inside. Company. Reputation. Family.”
“Why wait eleven years?”
Daniel coughed.
“Because Elena found him.”
I felt sick.
“She knew?”
“She tried to stop him.”
“And you?”
“I worked for Sloan. He sent me to protect her. I failed.”
“Who killed her?”
Daniel's eyes moved toward the hallway.
Footsteps approached.
Slow.
Measured.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Lily's drawing flashed through my mind.
The silver heel.
Daniel's eyes widened.
“He's here.”
The door handle began turning.
May you like
And from the other side, a man's voice I had not heard in eleven years said my name.
“Adrian.”
