Chapter 3 - THE PHONE THAT WASN'T THERE
Nathan ran upstairs.
Security followed.
Victoria stood in the center of the bedroom with both hands visible.
There was no phone.
No laptop.
No radio.
Nothing.
Nathan searched the room personally.
He found nothing.
Victoria smiled.
“Looking for something?”
Nathan walked toward her.
“You were speaking to Dominic.”
“I was speaking to myself.”
“You used his name.”
“Maybe I wanted you to hear it.”
Nathan studied her.
Then Margaret entered.
Her gaze moved immediately to the antique clock on the bedside table.
She crossed the room.
Victoria lunged.
“Don’t touch that.”
Too late.
Margaret lifted the clock and turned it over.
A tiny communication device had been hidden inside the base.
Nathan stared at Victoria.
She stopped pretending.
“You have no idea what you’re dealing with.”
Nathan handed the device to security.
“Trace it.”
Victoria laughed.
“You think Dominic would use something traceable?”
Nathan ignored her.
His attention returned to Margaret.
“Second ledger.”
Margaret looked toward Victoria.
“Nathan.”
“Now.”
Victoria leaned against the bed.
“Tell him.”
Margaret breathed slowly.
“My father kept two sets of books.”
“One contained business.”
“The other contained leverage.”
“On whom?”
“Everyone.”
Nathan frowned.
“Politicians?”
“Executives.”
“Police.”
“Judges.”
“Family leaders.”
“Anyone who accepted money from the old network.”
Nathan felt sick.
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
Victoria laughed.
Margaret turned toward her.
“What’s funny?”
“You really don’t know.”
Victoria stepped closer.
“Your father survived that warehouse.”
Margaret’s face emptied.
Nathan watched her.
For the first time since this began, Margaret looked completely defenseless.
“You’re lying.”
“Am I?”
Victoria’s eyes gleamed.
“Dominic has a photograph.”
“Taken eleven years after the fire.”
“Samuel Ellis standing beside his father.”
Margaret shook her head.
“No.”
“I saw it.”
“No.”
“Samuel didn’t die.”
Victoria lowered her voice.
“He changed sides.”
Margaret slapped her.
The sound cracked across the room.
Everyone froze.
Victoria touched her cheek.
Then smiled.
“There she is.”
Margaret stepped backward.
Nathan moved between them.
“That’s enough.”
Victoria’s smile vanished.
Nathan turned to Margaret.
“Do you believe her?”
Margaret stared at the floor.
“I don’t know.”
Nathan looked at the hidden transmitter.
“Then we verify it.”
His head of security, Aaron Pike, entered.
“We traced the device.”
Nathan turned.
“Where?”
Aaron hesitated.
“The signal wasn’t leaving the property.”
Nathan frowned.
“What?”
“It connected to a receiver inside the house.”
Every person in the room went still.
Aaron continued.
“Someone else is here.”
Nathan immediately ordered a lockdown.
Doors sealed.
Exterior gates closed.
Security teams moved through every floor.
Within nine minutes, they found an unlocked service corridor behind the wine cellar.
Nathan had never known it existed.
Margaret had.
“My mother showed it to me once,” Nathan said.
Margaret looked confused.
“Eleanor showed you?”
“When I was a child.”
Nathan stepped into the corridor.
Dust covered most of the floor.
But one set of fresh footprints crossed it.
They led toward the old chapel at the rear of the estate.
Nathan pushed open the chapel door.
The room was empty.
Except for an envelope lying on the altar.
His name was written across the front.
NATHAN WHITMORE.
He opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Margaret gasped.
A younger Samuel Ellis stood beside Victor Rainer.
The date printed in the corner was 2009.
Eleven years after the warehouse fire.
On the back, someone had written five words.
ASK MARGARET WHO BURNED HIM.
Margaret’s knees nearly gave out.
Nathan caught her.
She stared at the photograph.
Then whispered.
“That isn’t possible.”
A second sheet slipped from the envelope.
Nathan picked it up.
It was a copy of an old hospital record.
Patient name.
Samuel Ellis.
Status.
Alive.
Date admitted.
February 18, 1998.
One day after the fire.
But the person who signed the admission paperwork was not a Rainer.
May you like
It was Nathan’s mother.
Eleanor Whitmore.
