Chapter 5 - The Lie That Began Seven Years Ago
I called Anna.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
"Daniel."
"Already contacting the team."
I was driving before he finished speaking.
Stamford to Port Chester normally took twenty-five minutes.
I made it in sixteen.
Daniel's men reached Hawthorne first.
The blue door was open.
I ran inside.
"Lily!"
Nothing.
Upstairs, chairs had been knocked over.
A glass lay shattered near the hallway.
"Lily!"
Then Anna appeared.
Bloodless.
Terrified.
"She's gone."
The words nearly stopped my heart.
"What do you mean gone?"
"Your mother took her."
I grabbed the wall.
"My mother?"
"She came back ten minutes ago."
"Why?"
"She said you'd been in an accident."
I stared.
"She told Lily you needed her."
Anna covered her mouth.
"I tried calling you. Someone jammed the signal inside the building."
Daniel came up the stairs.
"Margaret's Mercedes left eleven minutes ago."
"Track it."
"Her driver disabled GPS."
Of course he had.
My own systems.
My own procedures.
Being used against me.
"Where would she take Lily?"
Anna shook her head.
"I don't know."
I called my mother.
She answered.
"Thomas."
"Where is my daughter?"
"Safe."
"Put her on."
"I can't."
Every muscle in my body tightened.
"Mother."
"Listen to me before you do something stupid."
"Put Lily on the phone."
A pause.
Then Lily's voice.
"Dad?"
I almost collapsed.
"Sweetheart. Are you okay?"
"Yes."
"Where are you?"
"Grandma says I can't say."
My eyes closed.
"That's okay. Is she beside you?"
"Yes."
"Give her the phone."
Margaret returned.
"Now you know she's safe."
"Bring her back."
"I will."
"When?"
"When you stop digging."
There it was.
Not concern.
Control.
"You sent the threat."
"No."
"You took Lily."
"To protect her."
"From whom?"
"People who will hurt her if you continue."
"Names."
"I don't have all of them."
"The red book does."
Silence.
Jonathan had been right.
"You have it."
My mother exhaled.
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Safe."
"Jonathan said Claire gave it to him."
"She did."
"And he gave it to you."
"After Charles died."
"Why didn't you go to the police?"
A bitter laugh.
"Because half the names in that book were police officers, attorneys, hospital administrators, political donors, and executives."
I looked at Daniel.
"What did my father build?"
"A machine."
My mother's voice changed.
For the first time, she sounded old.
"Charles didn't begin as a monster. He became one slowly. Every secret required another person to protect it. Every protected secret required another favor. Eventually, everyone owed everyone."
"And Claire found out."
"Yes."
"Did Dad kill her?"
Silence.
"Answer me."
"I don't know."
"That's not good enough."
"I don't know!"
The force of her response surprised me.
Then her voice softened.
"But I know he ordered someone to frighten her."
"Who?"
"I don't know the name."
"Then who arranged it?"
Another pause.
"Richard Vale."
Anna gasped behind me.
I looked at her.
"Who is Richard Vale?"
Her face had gone blank.
"My uncle."
Margaret continued.
"Robert's younger brother."
Anna sat.
"No."
"He's alive?" I asked.
"Very."
"Where?"
"He changed his surname decades ago."
"To what?"
My mother didn't answer.
"Mother."
"Thomas, if I tell you, you'll confront him."
"Yes."
"And that is exactly what he wants."
"Who is he?"
She whispered, "You already know him."
Another person I knew.
Another family friend.
Another ghost sitting at my table.
"Who?"
Before she answered, Daniel put a hand on my arm and pointed at his tablet.
Jonathan's phone had reappeared online.
Location: Rye.
I covered the receiver.
"Send a team."
Then I said to my mother, "Put Lily back on."
"No."
"Then tell me where you are."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because I think my driver is working for Richard."
My blood turned cold.
"What?"
"I realized after we left Hawthorne. He changed routes twice."
"Get out of the car."
"I can't without frightening Lily."
"Mother, I don't care if she gets frightened. Get her out."
The line went quiet.
"Mother?"
Whispering.
Then Margaret said, "He's turning off the main road."
I was already moving.
"Send your location."
"I did."
Daniel checked.
"We have it."
"Stay on the phone."
My mother whispered, "Thomas."
"What?"
"I'm sorry."
"Save it."
"No. Listen."
"Not now."
"If something happens—"
"Nothing is happening."
"I should have told you years ago."
"You should have."
"I thought silence could protect you."
"It protected everyone except us."
She began crying.
I had heard my mother cry twice in my life.
At my grandmother's funeral.
And after Claire died.
"I'm sorry," she repeated.
Then the phone dropped.
I heard Lily shout.
"Grandma!"
A man's voice said something.
Tires scraped gravel.
Then the line went dead.
Daniel took over navigation.
The location pin ended near an abandoned equestrian estate north of Rye.
When we arrived, Margaret's Mercedes stood beside a locked gate.
Driver's door open.
Empty.
I jumped out.
Daniel caught up.
"Wait for the team."
"My daughter is in there."
"Exactly why you need the team."
I hated that he was right.
Thirty seconds later, two vehicles arrived.
We entered.
The main house had been abandoned for years.
Windows boarded.
Grounds overgrown.
But footprints crossed the dust.
Small ones.
Lily's.
I followed them.
Inside, the air smelled of damp wood.
"Sweetheart?"
No answer.
A noise upstairs.
We moved.
One of Daniel's men found Margaret in a bedroom.
Her wrists were tied.
Tape covered her mouth.
Alive.
I ripped it free.
"Where's Lily?"
She coughed.
"Richard."
"Who is Richard?"
Her eyes filled with terror.
"Thomas, the man you know as Richard Vale is—"
A child's scream cut through the house.
"Lily!"
I ran.
Down the corridor.
Through a rear stairwell.
Outside.
A figure disappeared toward an old stable.
I sprinted after him.
The stable door slammed.
Daniel arrived behind me.
We entered.
"Lily!"
"Dad!"
Her voice came from the far end.
I found her locked inside an empty tack room.
I tore the bolt open.
She threw herself into my arms.
"Dad!"
"I've got you."
I held her so tightly she squeaked.
"I'm sorry."
"No. Never apologize."
"Grandma said—"
"Grandma's safe."
She cried into my shoulder.
Then whispered, "The man said he knows Noah."
I went still.
"What man?"
"He said Noah was supposed to disappear."
Daniel heard it.
"Did you see his face?"
Lily nodded.
"Do you know him?"
She hesitated.
Then nodded again.
"He's been at our house."
My heart sank.
"Who?"
She looked toward the stable entrance.
Before she could answer, slow applause echoed from the doorway.
A man stepped into the light.
Tall.
Gray-haired.
Seventy.
Elegant coat.
A face I had known since childhood.
My father's oldest friend.
Our family attorney before Jonathan.
My godfather.
Edward Blackwood.
He smiled at me.
May you like
"Hello, Thomas."
And behind him stood Noah.
