Chapter 8 - The House on Bellweather Road
Penny didn't understand until she remembered the bank box.
317 wasn't one place.
It was a system.
Her mother had been leaving the number everywhere.
Penny slipped away during the standoff.
The key opened a service door behind the estate.
A tunnel led beneath the property.
At the end stood the red door.
The key turned.
Elaine was inside.
Penny cut her free.
"How did you know?"
"I hoped you'd remember."
They escaped through the tunnel.
Above them, Gabriel discovered the empty chair.
His rage changed everything.
He no longer wanted negotiation.
He wanted revenge.
Lorenzo got Marco out alive.
Derek disappeared during the chaos.
By sunrise, Gabriel's estate was empty.
Computers wiped.
Accounts drained.
But Penny had the hard drive.
It contained years of surveillance.
More importantly, it contained Derek's reports.
Penny read them.
Subject increasingly isolated.
Subject no longer speaks regularly with Rachel.
Subject responds well to withdrawal of affection.
Subject believes incidents are her fault.
She stopped reading.
Elaine sat beside her.
"I'm sorry."
Penny shook her head.
"I kept thinking I was stupid."
"No."
"I kept wondering how I became someone who apologized for being afraid."
Lorenzo stood in the doorway.
"Derek studied you."
Penny looked at him.
"He weaponized trust."
For once, she believed that distinction.
The hard drive also revealed Gabriel's next destination.
Bellweather Road.
A house registered to a dead corporation.
Inside they found evidence Gabriel had prepared a second identity.
And one more surprise.
A nursery.
Penny stared at the crib.
"What is this?"
Elaine went pale.
On the wall were photographs.
Penny as a baby.
But another infant appeared beside her in several images.
"Mom?"
Elaine sat down.
"I didn't want you to learn this here."
"Learn what?"
Elaine looked at Lorenzo.
Then at Penny.
"You weren't my only child."
Penny's pulse stopped.
"What?"
"You had a brother."
"Had?"
Elaine began crying.
"He was taken from me."
"By Gabriel?"
"I thought so."
Penny looked at the photographs.
"Where is he?"
"I don't know."
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Lorenzo motioned for silence.
Someone was in the house.
They climbed slowly.
At the end of the corridor, a bedroom door stood closed.
Penny heard breathing behind it.
Then a man's voice.
"Mom?"
May you like
Elaine dropped the photograph.
The door handle turned.
