Chapter 5 - The Night Daniel Never Told Me About
Daniel pushed me behind the steel shelving and shouted:
“Police! Show me your hands!”
A flashlight beam moved across the storage-room door.
Then something small rolled across the concrete.
Daniel saw the red light first.
“Down!”
The stun grenade exploded.
Sound vanished.
White light swallowed the room.
I hit the floor beside Claire.
Someone rushed inside.
A detective fired.
Another shot answered.
When my hearing returned, Daniel was wrestling a man beside the doorway.
The attacker wore black.
His mask had fallen away.
I knew him.
Marcus Vale.
Former Vance estate security chief.
Daniel slammed him against the wall.
“Who sent you?”
Marcus laughed.
“You’re late.”
“To what?”
He looked at me.
“Ask Daniel.”
I stood slowly.
“Why?”
Marcus smiled through bloody teeth.
“Because he knows where Thomas is.”
Daniel went rigid.
Everything inside me turned cold.
The letter.
Daniel had been there the night our witness disappeared.
Now Marcus was claiming Daniel knew where Thomas Vance was.
“Tell me he’s lying.”
Daniel looked at the detectives.
“Secure him.”
“Daniel.”
“Not here.”
“You don’t get to choose.”
“Elena—”
“Twenty-three years.”
His face tightened.
“Yes.”
I stared.
“Yes what?”
“Yes, I was there.”
Claire whispered:
“Oh my God.”
Daniel looked at me.
“The witness from our corruption case was named Miguel Santos.”
“I remember.”
“He called me the night he disappeared.”
“You told me he never contacted anyone.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because he said someone inside the task force was feeding information to Vance security.”
“Warren.”
“I didn’t know then.”
“What happened?”
“I met Miguel alone.”
“Where?”
“An abandoned rail yard.”
My hands shook.
“He had documents proving Vance Development was laundering money.”
“And?”
“Two cars arrived.”
“Who?”
“Warren was in one.”
I closed my eyes.
Daniel continued.
“Thomas Vance was in the other.”
Claire stared.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas was helping Miguel.”
That changed everything.
Thomas hadn’t been the target of our investigation.
He had been trying to expose what Victoria was doing.
“Where did Miguel go?” I asked.
“Thomas got him out.”
“Out where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You helped?”
“Yes.”
“You let me spend years thinking our witness was dead.”
“I was trying to keep him alive.”
“And you didn’t trust me?”
“I trusted you.”
“Then why?”
“Because you were pregnant.”
Silence.
Brooke.
I had been six weeks pregnant when the case collapsed.
Daniel looked ashamed.
“Thomas told me Warren had already ordered surveillance on you.”
My anger weakened.
“What?”
“He knew where you lived. He knew your doctor. He knew you were pregnant before you told anyone at work.”
I felt sick.
“So you buried it.”
“I helped Thomas move Miguel. Then I destroyed the contact record.”
“You became exactly what we investigated.”
“I know.”
“And Thomas?”
“Years later, he contacted me.”
“When?”
“The week before his boating accident.”
Claire stepped closer.
“What did he say?”
“That Victoria had discovered he was collecting evidence again.”
“Did you help him disappear?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Yes.”
Claire began crying.
“You knew he was alive?”
“I knew he survived that night.”
“Where is he now?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“He cut contact.”
Marcus laughed from the floor.
We turned.
“He didn’t cut contact.”
Daniel grabbed him.
“What do you know?”
Marcus smiled.
“Thomas came back.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
Claire’s face drained.
“Where?”
“The mansion.”
“Why?”
“To see Brooke.”
I felt the room shift.
“My daughter met Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Because he asked her not to.”
Daniel pulled Marcus upright.
“What did Thomas give her?”
“You already found it.”
“The drive?”
Marcus smiled.
“The real one.”
Daniel looked toward the steel case.
The SV ORIGINAL drive.
“Why did Victoria attack Brooke?”
“Because she learned Brooke had copied everything.”
“Everything what?”
Marcus looked at me.
“The recordings.”
“What recordings?”
“Victoria’s private archive.”
Claire whispered:
“She recorded everyone.”
Marcus nodded.
“Judges. Attorneys. Police. Business partners.”
Blackmail.
That was how she owned them.
Not only money.
Evidence.
Secrets.
“What did Brooke see?” I asked.
Marcus’s smile disappeared.
“Her own husband.”
“What did Trevor do?”
“You know what he did.”
“No. What else?”
Marcus looked toward the floor.
“Ask him about the first wife.”
I froze.
“Trevor was married before Brooke?”
Claire turned pale.
“No.”
Marcus looked at her.
“You really don’t know?”
Daniel tightened his grip.
“Name.”
“Emily Hart.”
Claire shook her head.
“That was his college girlfriend.”
“Not girlfriend.”
Marcus looked at me.
“They married in Nevada.”
“What happened to her?”
“She disappeared.”
Daniel said:
“When?”
“Nine years ago.”
“Where is she?”
Marcus laughed once.
“That’s the question Thomas asked.”
By midnight, Marcus was in custody.
The SV drive went directly to a state forensic laboratory outside Warren’s chain of command.
Daniel insisted.
So did Internal Affairs.
I returned to Brooke.
She was awake.
I sat beside her.
“Did Thomas Vance contact you?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“He said you’d blame yourself.”
“For what?”
“The old case.”
“Did he give you the drive?”
She nodded.
“What did you see?”
Brooke turned her face away.
“Trevor.”
“Doing what?”
“He hurt women before me.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“Brooke.”
She looked at me.
“Mom, there was a video of Emily.”
My stomach tightened.
“What happened?”
“She was alive.”
“When?”
“After everyone said she disappeared.”
“Where?”
“The mansion.”
I leaned closer.
“With Trevor?”
Brooke nodded.
“And Victoria.”
“What did they do?”
Before she could answer, Daniel came through the door.
“Elena.”
His face told me something had happened.
“What?”
“Forensics opened the first folder.”
“And?”
“There are fifty-seven recordings.”
Brooke closed her eyes.
Daniel continued.
“Some go back fifteen years.”
“Emily?”
“Yes.”
“Is she dead?”
“We don’t know.”
“Then find her.”
“We found a file with a recent date.”
“How recent?”
“Six months ago.”
My heart stopped.
“Emily was alive six months ago?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“On the recording.”
“Where was she?”
Daniel looked at Brooke.
Then back at me.
“In the basement of the Vance estate.”
I stood.
“You searched the basement.”
“The architectural plans show one basement.”
“One?”
“The video shows another.”
Silver room.
Hidden corridors.
False plans.
Daniel’s phone rang.
He answered.
Then turned toward the window.
“What happened?”
His shoulders stiffened.
“When?”
He listened.
“No one goes in until I arrive.”
He hung up.
“Elena, stay here.”
“What happened?”
He hesitated.
“The Vance mansion security alarm just triggered.”
“So?”
“The system detected movement underground.”
Brooke grabbed my hand.
Daniel headed for the door.
Then his phone lit again.
A live security image appeared.
A hidden basement camera.
A woman stood behind a locked steel door.
Thin.
Barefoot.
Alive.
She looked directly into the camera.
Then she held up a handwritten sign.
MY NAME IS EMILY HART.
Behind her, another figure stepped into view.
May you like
And Brooke screamed.
“That's Trevor.”
