Chapter 10 - THE WOMEN WHO MADE THE DEAL
Vivian finally asked for an attorney.
For the first twelve hours after her arrest, she had refused one.
That changed when Ortiz placed the 2011 photograph in front of her.
Vivian looked at Elizabeth.
Then Jonathan.
Then herself.
Her shoulders sank.
“It wasn’t supposed to become this.”
Ortiz leaned forward.
“What was it supposed to become?”
Vivian closed her eyes.
“A rescue.”
Claire watched through one-way glass in the adjacent room.
Ethan stood beside her.
Vivian began speaking.
After the staged crash, Elizabeth had gone to the weather station.
Daniel Bennett had refused to follow the plan.
He intended to go directly to federal investigators.
Jonathan Vale intercepted him.
Daniel disappeared.
Elizabeth panicked.
She believed Claire would be next.
Vivian agreed to hide Claire for three days while Elizabeth escaped the country.
“Why didn’t you release her?” Ortiz asked.
Vivian looked toward the table.
“Jonathan came to me.”
“And?”
“He showed me photographs.”
“Of what?”
“Daniel.”
Claire stopped breathing.
Vivian’s voice cracked.
“He was alive.”
“Where?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Vale told me Daniel would stay alive as long as Claire remained hidden.”
Ortiz stared.
“For twenty years?”
“No.”
Vivian shook her head.
“At first it was weeks.”
“Then months.”
“Then Jonathan began moving money.”
“He told me Claire’s legal existence was dangerous.”
“And you agreed?”
“I told myself I was protecting her.”
“While stealing from her trust?”
Vivian’s face hardened.
“I took money.”
“Yes.”
“I won’t lie about that.”
“I was weak.”
“I was angry.”
“Elizabeth had always inherited everything.”
“Our parents favored her.”
“When Jonathan offered me control, I took it.”
Claire turned away.
Ethan said nothing.
Inside the interrogation room, Ortiz continued.
“And Elizabeth?”
“She returned in 2008.”
Claire spun back.
Vivian looked broken now.
“She wanted Claire.”
“Did you let her see her daughter?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because by then Claire had been declared missing.”
“Jonathan said bringing her back would expose everything.”
“So Elizabeth left again?”
Vivian laughed bitterly.
“No.”
“She demanded I help her expose Jonathan.”
“What happened?”
“He showed us Daniel.”
Claire’s hand covered her mouth.
“When?”
“2008.”
“He was alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“On a video.”
“What did he say?”
Vivian’s eyes filled with tears.
“He told Elizabeth to run.”
“Then Jonathan stopped the recording.”
“What happened next?”
Vivian looked toward the one-way glass.
As if she knew Claire was behind it.
“Elizabeth married Jonathan.”
Claire whispered.
“Why?”
Vivian answered the question through the glass without hearing it.
“To stay close enough to destroy him.”
Ortiz frowned.
“Then where is Elizabeth now?”
Vivian became silent.
“Vivian.”
“She disappeared in 2014.”
“Dead?”
“I don’t know.”
“And Daniel?”
Vivian’s lips trembled.
“The last time I saw proof he was alive was 2016.”
Claire grabbed Ethan’s arm.
Ten years after the staged crash.
Her father had survived at least a decade.
Ortiz leaned closer.
“Where was he being held?”
Vivian whispered two words.
“Saint Orison.”
Ethan recognized the name immediately.
Saint Orison was not a town.
It was a private island retreat off the coast of Maine.
Owned by a consortium of investment families.
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One of those families had recently become Hale Infrastructure’s largest private creditor.
The island’s current chairman was Grant Ashford.
