Chapter 15 - RETURN TO THE WALL
Nathan left the hospital against medical advice.
Police surrounded the Vale estate quietly.
No sirens.
No visible units.
Conrad knew the property better than most security officers.
A loud approach would push him deeper into the passages.
Margaret had been taken from her townhouse sometime that afternoon.
Her driver had been found unconscious in the garage.
Nathan blamed himself.
Brooks refused to allow that.
“Conrad chose this.”
Nathan looked at her.
“He keeps choosing people I love.”
“Then help us end it.”
Oliver was taken to a secure location.
Before leaving, he gave Nathan the real memory card.
He had hidden it inside Claire’s old music box.
Nathan held the tiny piece of plastic.
“You trust me with it now?”
Oliver nodded.
“You came back.”
Nathan had to look away.
At 10:20 p.m., Nathan entered the estate alone.
The ballroom was dark.
Gala flowers were dying in their vases.
The west corridor remained sealed by police tape.
Nathan walked past the broken wall.
He stopped.
For eleven months Oliver had lived inside darkness.
Nathan placed one hand against the splintered stud.
“I’m sorry.”
A speaker hidden somewhere clicked on.
Conrad answered.
“You apologize too much.”
Nathan looked upward.
“Where’s my mother?”
“Library.”
Nathan entered.
Margaret sat in a chair.
Her hands were tied.
Conrad stood behind her.
Gun in one hand.
Nathan’s father’s old cane in the other.
Nathan stared at him.
Conrad Shaw was sixty-eight.
Immaculate even after weeks on the run.
Gray suit.
Polished shoes.
Calm eyes.
He looked like the trusted attorney who had attended Nathan’s wedding.
Oliver’s christening.
Claire’s funeral.
Oliver’s funeral.
Nathan hated him more for that than the gun.
“Let her go.”
Conrad smiled.
“Memory card.”
Nathan held it up.
Margaret looked at him.
“Don’t.”
Conrad pressed the gun against her shoulder.
Nathan stopped.
“You built this plan for decades.”
Conrad nodded.
“Your father understood legacy.”
“My father trusted you.”
“Your father depended on me.”
“That’s different.”
Conrad’s eyes hardened.
“He became weak near the end.”
“He wanted to split voting power.”
“Claire encouraged it.”
“You prevented it?”
“I corrected it.”
Nathan stared.
“How many people died because you corrected things?”
Conrad smiled faintly.
“Fewer than would have suffered if Vale Holdings collapsed.”
Nathan realized there would be no remorse.
No moment of conscience.
Conrad genuinely believed people were pieces beneath an institution.
Nathan placed the memory card on the desk.
“Take it.”
Conrad glanced down.
Margaret suddenly kicked backward.
Her heel struck his shin.
The gun shifted.
Nathan moved.
Conrad fired.
The bullet hit the bookshelf.
Nathan slammed into him.
Both men crashed through a side table.
Margaret dropped to the floor.
Conrad struck Nathan’s injured shoulder.
Pain blinded him.
Conrad reached for the memory card.
Nathan grabbed his ankle.
Conrad kicked him.
Then the wall behind the library opened.
Everyone froze.
Oliver stood in the passage.
Nathan’s heart stopped.
“OLIVER!”
The boy held the black recorder.
Conrad turned the gun toward him.
“You should have died at the lake.”
Oliver did not move.
Nathan saw the red light on the recorder.
Recording.
Conrad smiled.
“Still collecting evidence?”
Oliver looked past him.
“No.”
Conrad frowned.
May you like
Oliver said, “Keeping you talking.”
Police exploded through both doors.
