Chapter 9 - The Night We Went Back to Vespers
Elena didn't panic.
Three weeks earlier, she would have.
Now she locked the door, moved away from the windows, and told Shaw exactly what had happened.
Federal agents were already nearby.
Dante called.
"I'm downstairs."
"Stay there."
"Why?"
"Bell."
Silence.
"I'm coming up."
"No."
"Elena."
"Listen to me for once."
He did.
Agents arrived within minutes.
They searched the building.
No Bell.
The photograph had been delivered by a teenager paid twenty dollars by an unknown man.
Bell was playing with them.
Then Dante noticed something.
The photograph showed him passing a storefront.
In the reflection was a clock.
But the clock displayed the wrong time.
"This wasn't taken today."
Elena examined it.
He was right.
Same coat.
Same route.
But old photograph.
The threat was designed to make them believe Bell was nearby.
"Then where is he?" Elena asked.
Dante looked at the photograph again.
Behind his reflected image was a sign.
VESPERS.
Elena understood.
"He wants us back there."
Shaw forbade it.
Naturally, Bell had anticipated that.
At 8:17 p.m., every phone connected to the investigation received the same scheduled video.
Bell stood inside Vespers.
"I have something you missed."
Behind him sat a locked case.
"If you want the complete record of what happened to Sofia Rossi, send Dante and Elena."
Shaw immediately began planning an arrest.
Dante stared at the screen.
"It's a trap."
"Obviously," Elena said.
"But he's right about one thing."
"What?"
"We missed something."
They returned to Vespers with federal agents positioned throughout the surrounding buildings.
Elena entered first.
Dante followed.
Bell stood behind the rebuilt bar.
No weapon visible.
Just the case.
"You came."
Elena said, "You knew we would."
Bell smiled.
"You're smarter than everyone assumed."
"I'm getting tired of hearing that."
Dante remained several feet behind her.
"What's in the case?"
Bell touched it.
"Vale's insurance."
"Against what?"
"Everyone."
Bell explained that Vale had maintained recordings proving decades of corruption.
Bell had stolen them before agents searched the hidden room.
He wanted immunity.
Shaw's voice came through a concealed earpiece.
Keep him talking.
Dante asked, "Why involve Elena?"
"Because Vale was obsessed with loose ends."
Bell looked at her.
"And Elena became one."
"You sent the messages?"
"Some."
"Which ones?"
"DON'T TRUST ROSSI."
Elena looked at Dante.
Bell smiled.
"I needed you separated."
"You failed."
"Temporarily."
Dante's voice hardened.
"What happened to my mother?"
Bell's smile disappeared.
"I wasn't there."
"But you know."
"Vale ordered her disappearance."
Dante stood perfectly still.
"Did she die?"
Bell looked toward the case.
"The answer is in there."
Elena noticed something.
Bell kept glancing toward the piano.
Why?
She followed his gaze.
A tiny red light blinked beneath it.
Camera.
Bell wasn't simply negotiating.
Someone else was watching.
She whispered, "Dante."
He saw her expression.
Then the front doors locked automatically.
Shaw's voice vanished from the earpiece.
Signal jammer.
Bell looked confused.
That frightened Elena.
Because Bell hadn't done it.
A voice came through the speakers.
Alexander Vale.
Recorded or live, Elena couldn't tell.
"Detective Bell."
Bell went pale.
"You were always disappointing."
A timer appeared on the bar television.
Five minutes.
Elena's heart raced.
Dante moved toward her.
"What is that?"
Bell stared.
"I don't know."
"Think."
Bell began panicking.
"Vale installed contingencies."
"What kind?"
"I don't know!"
Dante grabbed the case.
Elena searched for another exit.
Service corridor.
Locked.
Kitchen.
Locked.
Windows reinforced during repairs.
The timer reached four minutes.
Elena forced herself to think.
Vale loved layers.
Locker.
Hotel.
Room.
Numbers inside numbers.
She looked at the clock.
8:17.
Four-one-seven.
"Four minutes seventeen seconds."
Dante turned.
"What?"
"The timer started at 4:17."
Bell stared.
Elena ran toward booth four.
Table seventeen didn't exist.
But the bar had seventeen stools.
Fourth stool.
She dropped.
Underneath was a switch.
She pressed it.
The hidden cellar door opened.
Dante stared.
"How did you—"
"Later."
They descended.
Bell followed.
Agents outside still couldn't enter.
The underground tunnel led toward the neighboring building.
They ran.
Behind them, the timer reached zero.
Nothing exploded.
Instead every screen inside Vespers activated.
Vale's entire archive began uploading publicly to federal servers Luca had configured months earlier.
Bell stopped.
"No."
Elena understood.
The timer wasn't destruction.
It was exposure.
Vale's final contingency had been intended to destroy everyone if he lost control.
Including himself.
Agents entered from the tunnel's opposite side.
Bell raised his hands.
It was over.
Then Dante opened the case.
Inside was a tape.
One label.
SOFIA.
Hours later, they played it with Luca present.
Sofia Rossi appeared on screen.
Young.
Terrified.
Alive at the time of recording.
"My sons, if you ever see this, I need you to know something."
Dante sat beside Luca.
"I didn't leave you."
Dante covered his mouth.
"I tried to come home."
Luca reached for his brother's hand.
Sofia continued.
"Alexander discovered what I copied. Evelyn helped me hide the records. If she survived, protect her family. They had nothing to do with this."
Elena cried silently.
The recording continued.
"I don't know what will happen to me. But whatever you're told, remember this."
Sofia looked directly into the camera.
"You were the best thing I ever did."
Dante lowered his head.
Luca held him.
For the first time since Elena met Dante, he cried.
Quietly.
Without hiding it.
Then the recording reached its final seconds.
Sofia said one more thing.
Something nobody expected.
"There is another copy of everything."
Elena leaned forward.
Sofia gave an address.
Marcus went pale.
Elena recognized it too.
It was Vespers.
Then Sofia whispered:
May you like
"Ask the bartender to open the piano."
Everyone turned toward Elena.
