Chapter 3 - Room 314
Damian answered the dead man's phone.
Nobody spoke.
Then a recording began.
“If you're hearing this, somebody found Thomas's card.”
Lorenzo Moretti's voice.
Rosa gripped the cabinet.
Clara stopped breathing.
Damian listened.
“Do not trust the first evidence you see. I made that mistake once. It cost an innocent man everything.”
Static.
Then:
“Go to Room 314.”
The call ended.
Nobody moved.
Clara whispered, “Your grandfather planned this.”
“Or someone wants us to believe he did.”
At dawn, Damian went to the Moretti Grand.
Clara insisted on coming.
“No.”
“My father is involved.”
“That makes you a target.”
“It also makes me useful.”
“You were nearly abducted tonight.”
“We don't know that.”
“Your window was open.”
“I opened it.”
Damian stared.
Clara folded her arms.
“The paint smell made me sick.”
For the first time in hours, Damian nearly smiled.
“You could have mentioned that.”
“You didn't ask.”
Room 314 had been sealed.
Damian entered with Anthony and Clara.
The room looked ordinary.
Bed.
Desk.
Television.
Painting.
Clara immediately walked toward the painting.
Damian noticed.
“Your father teach you that?”
“He taught me people hide things where they assume nobody will look.”
She removed the frame.
Nothing.
Then she examined the wall.
One patch sounded hollow.
Anthony opened it.
Inside was a metal box.
The brass key fit.
Clara's hands shook as Damian lifted the lid.
Photographs.
Ledgers.
And a letter.
For Clara Hayes.
Her knees weakened.
“My name.”
Damian handed it to her.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
Her father's.
Clara,
If this reaches you, I failed to keep you away from the Moretti family.
She covered her mouth.
Damian quietly stepped back.
She continued.
Thomas explained that Lorenzo had discovered a conspiracy inside his companies.
Someone was selling confidential acquisition information.
Someone close.
Thomas had helped Lorenzo document it.
But before they could expose the operation, evidence disappeared.
Evelyn Mercer was blamed.
She fled.
Thomas realized the real thief knew about the investigation.
So he created two copies.
One hidden behind Lorenzo's portrait.
One elsewhere.
The letter ended:
Never trust the person who tells you Evelyn was the traitor.
Clara lowered the page.
“Who accused Evelyn?”
Damian looked at Rosa.
She had told them.
But Rosa hadn't made the original accusation.
Anthony searched the box.
He found an old security report.
Signed by Damian's father.
Vittorio Moretti.
Damian's face hardened.
“My father.”
Clara said nothing.
Vittorio had died eight years ago.
The dead were becoming inconveniently involved.
Then Anthony found a photograph.
Vanessa's mother.
Standing beside Vittorio.
Damian stared.
He had never known they had met.
On the back:
Eleanor Sterling. 2009. She knows.
Clara looked toward him.
“Vanessa's mother?”
“Yes.”
“Vanessa told the staff her mother died when she was a teenager.”
Damian turned.
“She did.”
Anthony's phone rang.
Security.
Vanessa had left the estate.
Damian's expression changed.
“How?”
“She had help.”
“From whom?”
“They're checking.”
A sound came from the bathroom.
Everyone froze.
Anthony drew his weapon.
Damian moved Clara behind him.
The bathroom door slowly opened.
A woman stepped out.
Red coat.
Gray hair.
A scar along her jaw.
Evelyn Mercer.
She raised both hands.
“Please don't shoot.”
Damian stared.
“You've been following us.”
“I've been waiting for you.”
“For seventeen years?”
“No.”
Evelyn looked at Clara.
“I've been waiting for her.”
Clara went pale.
“Why?”
Evelyn's eyes filled with something Clara hadn't expected.
Grief.
“Because Thomas Hayes saved my life.”
She reached inside her coat.
Anthony raised his weapon.
“Slowly.”
Evelyn withdrew an envelope.
She handed it to Clara.
Inside was a photograph.
Thomas.
Evelyn.
And a little girl.
Clara.
On the back was a date.
Three weeks before Thomas died.
Clara looked up.
“I don't remember this.”
“You weren't supposed to.”
“Why?”
“Because your father realized someone was watching you.”
“Who?”
Evelyn looked toward Damian.
“The same person who just helped Vanessa escape.”
Damian's phone vibrated.
A security image appeared.
Vanessa leaving through the estate service gate.
Beside her was a man.
Damian enlarged the image.
Richard Vale.
But behind them was someone else.
Someone Damian had trusted since childhood.
Anthony leaned over his shoulder.
His face drained.
Damian looked up.
The hotel room door suddenly clicked shut behind them.
May you like
Then the lock turned.
From the outside.
