Chapter 4 - The Maid Who Wasn't Supposed to Know
Norah couldn't move.
"Who is it?" Gideon whispered.
She stared through the doorway.
"Someone who shouldn't be here."
A woman stepped into the light.
She was perhaps sixty.
Gray hair.
Dark coat.
A scar along her jaw.
Norah's face drained.
"Mrs. Keller?"
The woman smiled.
"Hello, Norah."
Gideon looked between them.
"You know her?"
Norah nodded slowly.
"She was my mother's nurse."
Mrs. Keller's smile disappeared.
"And your mother died because she learned something she wasn't supposed to know."
Norah felt the floor tilt beneath her.
"What?"
Rafael raised his gun.
"Hands where I can see them."
Keller obeyed.
Gideon wheeled closer.
"What did Evelyn Blake know?"
Norah turned sharply.
"You know my mother's name?"
Gideon realized his mistake too late.
Norah stared at him.
"How?"
He didn't answer.
"Gideon."
"I knew who you were before you came to work here."
The words struck harder than Norah expected.
"You investigated me?"
"I investigate everyone."
"That's not what I asked."
Keller laughed softly.
"Oh, Norah. He hasn't told you."
"Quiet," Gideon said.
Norah ignored him.
"Told me what?"
Keller looked directly at her.
"Your mother worked for the Wolf family."
Norah shook her head.
"No."
"For six years."
"She was an accountant."
"Yes."
Keller smiled sadly.
"An accountant for Gideon's father."
Norah turned toward Gideon.
He didn't deny it.
Everything suddenly felt contaminated.
Her job.
Her mother's history.
Her presence in this house.
"You hired me because of her."
"No."
"Then why did you know?"
"Because your application triggered a security review."
"And you said nothing?"
"Your mother's life wasn't mine to reveal."
"Apparently her death was."
Keller interrupted.
"Her death wasn't natural."
Silence.
Norah stared at her.
"My mother had cancer."
"Your mother had cancer," Keller said. "But that isn't what killed her."
Norah felt her hands go numb.
"Stop."
"She discovered financial transfers connecting Samuel Vale to Victor Soren. She tried to warn Gideon's father."
Gideon's expression darkened.
Keller continued.
"Someone found out."
Norah's eyes filled.
"No."
"She survived the first attempt. That's why she disappeared from this world and raised you far away from it."
"My mother never—"
"She protected you."
Keller reached slowly into her coat.
Rafael's gun lifted.
"Don't."
"It's a letter."
"Drop it."
Keller placed an envelope on the floor.
Norah recognized the handwriting immediately.
Her mother's.
Her knees almost failed.
Keller stepped backward.
"I was told to give this to Norah if Gideon Wolf ever became sick the same way his mother did."
Gideon froze.
"My mother?"
"Yes."
Keller's voice softened.
"She wasn't murdered with a bullet, Gideon."
He stared at her.
"She was poisoned."
The corridor went silent.
Norah looked at the letter.
Two mothers.
Two deaths.
One dead doctor.
One enemy who should have disappeared eleven years ago.
Gideon bent to retrieve the envelope.
Norah stopped him.
"It's mine."
He handed it to her.
Her fingers shook as she opened it.
Inside was one page.
Norah recognized every curve of the handwriting.
My darling Nora—
Her mother had always spelled her nickname without the h.
If you're reading this, then the past has found you despite everything I did to keep you away from it.
Norah covered her mouth.
She kept reading.
Samuel Vale developed a method of making murder look like illness. He never relied on one poison. He used small combinations, changed over time, creating symptoms that sent doctors in different directions.
Norah looked at Gideon.
Exactly what was happening to him.
The letter continued.
I found records proving Vale wasn't working alone. Someone inside the Wolf organization protected him.
Norah scanned downward.
Then stopped.
The final paragraph had been torn away.
"What does it say?" Gideon asked.
"Nothing."
"What?"
"The bottom is missing."
Keller's expression changed.
"It wasn't when I stored it."
Rafael stepped toward her.
"Who had access?"
"Nobody."
"Obviously somebody did."
Gideon's phone rang.
Rafael checked the number.
Unknown.
Gideon took it.
"Speak."
A distorted voice answered loudly enough for Norah to hear.
"You found Evelyn's letter."
Gideon's eyes hardened.
"Victor?"
A laugh.
"Still chasing ghosts, Wolf?"
Norah stepped closer.
The voice continued.
"The maid has become inconvenient."
Gideon looked at Norah.
"Touch her and—"
"And what? You'll kill me?"
Another laugh.
"You're having trouble standing."
The line went dead.
Rafael immediately called his team.
"Trace it."
Keller looked frightened now.
"You need to get Norah out."
"No," Gideon said.
"Then she'll die."
Gideon's eyes became cold.
"Nobody touches her."
Keller stared at him.
"Your father said the same thing about Evelyn."
The words landed like a warning.
Norah folded her mother's letter.
"I want the rest."
Keller looked at her.
"The missing piece?"
"Everything."
"Norah—"
"No. I've spent six years believing my mother died because her body failed her. Now you're telling me someone helped it happen."
Her voice remained calm.
That calm frightened even her.
"I want the truth."
Keller nodded.
"Then there's one place we need to go."
"Where?"
"Your mother's old apartment."
Norah frowned.
"We sold it."
"No."
Keller looked at Gideon.
"Your mother maintained another apartment under a different name."
Gideon understood first.
"A safe house."
Keller nodded.
"She left something there."
"What?"
"The original records."
Rafael checked his weapon.
"We move now."
Gideon tried standing.
Hart, who had followed them, blocked him.
"You're not going anywhere."
Gideon stared at her.
"Watch me."
"You can barely walk."
"I don't need to walk."
He looked at Rafael.
"Get the car."
Norah almost objected.
Then she realized there was no stopping him.
Thirty minutes later, an armored SUV entered the city.
Norah sat beside Gideon.
He looked worse.
Sweat covered his forehead.
"You should be in bed."
"You've mentioned that."
"Because you keep ignoring it."
"You sound like my mother."
Norah looked away.
"Apparently we have more in common with our mothers than either of us knew."
Gideon became quiet.
Then:
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you."
She looked at him.
"About knowing who she was?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because when I saw your application, I remembered her name. I had Rafael investigate. Everything said you'd built a life separate from mine."
"So you let me."
"Yes."
"Until now."
"I didn't bring you into this, Norah."
"No."
She looked toward the city outside.
"Someone else did."
They reached the address shortly after sunset.
An old brick apartment building.
Third floor.
Unit 3C.
Keller produced a key.
It turned.
The apartment smelled of dust.
Everything had been covered with sheets.
Norah stepped inside.
A photograph sat on a shelf.
Her mother.
Much younger.
Standing beside another woman.
Gideon's mother.
Norah stared.
"They knew each other."
Gideon picked up the photograph.
"Apparently."
Behind the frame was a handwritten number.
Keller looked at it.
"Storage locker."
They searched the room.
In the bedroom closet, Norah found an old metal lockbox.
417 opened it.
Inside were financial records.
Photographs.
Medical files.
And a cassette recorder.
Gideon picked up a tape.
A label read:
IF GIDEON GETS SICK.
Norah stared at him.
"She knew."
Rafael found an old player in the box.
He inserted the tape.
Static filled the room.
Then Evelyn Blake's voice spoke.
Norah hadn't heard her mother's voice in six years.
She nearly collapsed.
"If Gideon Wolf is hearing this, Samuel Vale's method has returned."
Gideon's eyes locked on the recorder.
"The person responsible isn't Victor Soren."
Everyone froze.
Evelyn continued.
"Victor financed Vale, but someone inside the Wolf family gave him access."
Gideon leaned closer.
"I discovered the name."
Static crackled.
Norah stopped breathing.
Her mother's voice returned.
"The person who betrayed Gideon's mother was—"
The apartment door slammed shut behind them.
A gun clicked in the darkness.
May you like
And a man's voice finished the sentence for her.
"His own father."
