Chapter 4 - The Woman in the Photograph
Victor Vale looked nothing like a monster.
That disturbed Claire most.
He was sixty-three, silver-haired and impeccably dressed, with the composed expression of a man accustomed to entering rooms where everyone else stood when he arrived.
Two armed men followed him.
Adrian stepped forward.
“Where did my mother die?”
Victor smiled.
“Hello to you too.”
“Answer me.”
Victor looked at Rebecca.
“You've caused remarkable trouble.”
Rebecca held Claire tighter.
“You kept me away from my daughter for sixteen years.”
“I kept your daughter alive.”
“You threatened to kill her.”
“Details.”
Claire's stomach turned.
Adrian moved so quickly Victor's guards raised their weapons.
Victor lifted one hand.
They lowered them.
“Still angry,” Victor said.
“You murdered my mother.”
“No.”
Rebecca whispered, “Adrian.”
He turned.
She looked devastated.
“Your mother survived Bellweather.”
Silence.
Adrian stared at her.
“What?”
“I helped her escape.”
Victor sighed.
“Rebecca.”
“She deserves the truth.”
“Where is she?” Adrian demanded.
Rebecca shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Victor smiled.
“I do.”
Adrian stepped toward his father.
“Tell me.”
“Give me the key.”
Claire looked at the silver key.
“You already got into the room.”
Victor's eyes settled on her.
“That key doesn't open only one door.”
“What else?”
“The evidence your father hid.”
Claire tightened her fist around it.
Victor's smile disappeared.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“You have your mother's stubbornness.”
“Thank you.”
“I didn't mean it as praise.”
“I took it as praise anyway.”
Adrian almost smiled.
Victor noticed.
Something cold entered his eyes.
“You've known her an hour and you're already risking everything.”
Adrian said, “I've known you thirty-four years. That makes the decision easier.”
A noise came through Adrian's earpiece.
Marcus.
“Thirty seconds.”
Adrian glanced toward Claire.
She understood.
Keep Victor talking.
Claire raised the key.
“You want this?”
Victor watched it.
“Very much.”
“Then tell Adrian where Evelyn is.”
Victor considered.
“Your mother lives in Boston.”
Adrian's face changed.
“Address.”
Victor gave it.
Rebecca whispered, “He's lying.”
“Perhaps.”
Victor smiled.
“But wouldn't you like to find out?”
Then the lights died.
Claire heard shouting.
Gunfire erupted somewhere upstairs.
Adrian grabbed her.
“Stay down.”
Marcus and his team entered through the passage.
Victor's men were disarmed within seconds.
When emergency lights returned, Victor was gone.
A hidden door stood open behind him.
Adrian swore.
Rebecca looked at Claire.
“We need to leave.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“My father's evidence is here.”
Rebecca touched her daughter's face.
“Your father died protecting that evidence. He would not want you dying for it.”
Claire looked into the eyes she'd missed for sixteen years.
“I spent half my life believing you chose to leave me.”
Rebecca's eyes filled.
“Never.”
“Then help me finish what you started.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
Then nodded.
They returned to Room 317.
Using the key, Rebecca opened a second compartment beneath the floor.
Inside were hard drives and ledgers.
Enough evidence to destroy Victor's empire.
But Claire noticed one photograph.
She lifted it.
Evelyn Vale stood beside Rebecca.
And between them was a little boy.
Adrian stared.
“Who is that?”
Rebecca hesitated.
Victor had been right.
There was another secret.
Rebecca sat down.
“His name was Noah.”
Adrian looked confused.
“Who?”
“Your brother.”
Adrian stopped breathing.
“I don't have a brother.”
“You did.”
Rebecca explained.
Evelyn had discovered Victor was using Bellweather to conceal crimes committed by powerful clients.
She planned to expose him.
When Victor learned she intended to leave, he threatened Adrian and Noah.
Evelyn arranged for Rebecca to help both boys escape.
But something went wrong.
Adrian was taken home.
Noah disappeared.
Evelyn survived the staged overdose and vanished.
Adrian stared at the photograph.
“Why didn't she come for me?”
“She tried.”
Rebecca handed him a letter.
Evelyn had written it seventeen years earlier.
Adrian read silently.
His hands shook.
Claire stood beside him.
Finally he folded it.
“She thought staying away kept me alive.”
Rebecca nodded.
Claire understood that pain.
She had lived it too.
Their mothers hadn't abandoned them.
They had sacrificed being loved by their children to keep those children alive.
Marcus entered.
“We have Victor's location.”
Adrian looked up.
“Where?”
“The Halcyon Room.”
Claire blinked.
“My bar?”
“He's gone back.”
“Why?”
Marcus looked at the evidence.
“Because there's something there he needs.”
Claire suddenly remembered.
The object she'd picked up before the key.
A small brass token that had fallen with it.
She had slipped it into her apron without thinking.
She reached into the pocket.
Still there.
Rebecca gasped.
“Claire.”
“What?”
“Where did you get that?”
“The bar.”
Rebecca took it.
“This belonged to Evelyn.”
Adrian stared.
“What is it?”
“A locker token.”
“For where?”
Rebecca looked toward Claire.
“The Halcyon Room existed before it became a bar.”
Claire waited.
“What was it?”
Rebecca answered quietly.
“Victor's private records office.”
They returned downtown.
The lounge remained empty.
Claire led them behind the bar.
Rebecca counted panels along the wall.
“Here.”
Adrian removed a wine rack.
Behind it was a black steel door.
The brass token fit into a circular slot.
The door opened.
Inside were hundreds of files.
Victor had kept insurance.
Evidence against politicians.
Executives.
Judges.
Police officers.
And himself.
Claire found a box bearing her father's name.
Daniel Bennett.
Inside were photographs and letters.
One photograph showed Daniel with Evelyn.
On the back:
WE FOUND NOAH.
Adrian grabbed it.
“He survived?”
Rebecca stared.
“I never knew.”
Claire searched the box.
A recent photograph appeared.
A man around thirty stood outside a warehouse.
Dark hair.
Strong jaw.
The resemblance to Adrian was undeniable.
Noah Vale.
Alive.
Marcus's phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“Adrian.”
“What?”
“We've got someone downstairs asking for you.”
“Who?”
“He says his name is Noah.”
Adrian froze.
Then the elevator chimed.
The doors opened.
A man stepped into the bar carrying a bloodstained envelope.
He looked directly at Adrian.
“Brother.”
Then he turned toward Claire.
“Victor took your mother.”
May you like
Claire spun around.
Rebecca was gone.
