Chapter 8 - ERIC VANCE
Eric Vance had once saved my life.
Bogotá.
A warehouse.
Three gunmen.
One exit.
Eric stayed behind long enough for me to escape with a witness.
I spent years believing I owed him everything.
Eleanor’s photograph changed that.
Jack immediately ordered a search for Eric.
His listed address was empty.
His phone was off.
His bank cards had not been used in forty-eight hours.
But a traffic camera caught his vehicle leaving Ashford the previous evening.
Heading west.
Toward the lake house.
“He searched it,” I said.
Jack nodded.
“Probably.”
“Then why leave the floor safe?”
“Maybe he didn’t know it existed.”
I looked at Eleanor’s letter.
“She did.”
Lily had been released from the hospital under protective custody.
We moved to a federal safe location outside Raleigh.
She hated it.
Not because it was uncomfortable.
Because every locked door reminded her of Richard.
That first night, she stood at the bedroom window and said, “I married a man who was spying on my mother.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I defended him.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I told Mom he was different.”
“She wanted you to be happy.”
“What if she knew?”
I said nothing.
“What if she figured out why he came near me?”
“She would have told you.”
“Would she?”
That question hurt because Eleanor had hidden plenty from both of us.
Lily sat on the edge of the bed.
“Dad, did Mom trust you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t she tell you?”
I looked at the letter.
“Because she knew what I would do.”
“What?”
“Become Shepherd again.”
Lily waited.
I had never told her what that meant.
Not really.
So I did.
I told her about witnesses moved in the middle of the night.
Families given new names.
Officials arrested after believing nobody could touch them.
The time our own team was compromised.
The colleagues who died.
Why I finally walked away.
Lily listened quietly.
Then she asked, “Did Mom hate that life?”
“She hated what it did to me.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Then don’t become him again.”
I frowned.
“Who?”
“Shepherd.”
Her voice was steady now.
“I need my dad.”
Those words stopped me more effectively than any order from Jack.
I sat beside her.
“I’m here.”
The next morning, Richard’s attorney filed documents claiming Lily had voluntarily transferred the lake house.
He also produced a psychiatric evaluation describing her as delusional.
The doctor’s name was Dr. Martin Keller.
Lily stared at the report.
“I’ve never met him.”
Jack smiled without humor.
“That’s useful.”
“Why?”
“Because this is fraud.”
Within hours, investigators learned Keller had been paid $175,000 over three years by a Hale charitable foundation.
The lie Richard created to destroy Lily became another piece of evidence.
But the biggest break came from Deputy Trent.
He finally talked.
He described regular cash payments from Chief Nolan.
He admitted helping move Sarah and the other captives.
He identified Charles as the person giving orders.
And then he said something unexpected.
“Richard isn’t the one everyone should be afraid of.”
Ruiz asked, “Who is?”
Trent looked toward the observation glass.
“Vance.”
My name came next.
“He said if Thomas Carter ever got involved, we were supposed to kill him immediately.”
Ruiz called me.
“Thomas, you need to hear this part.”
“What part?”
“Vance wasn’t just working for Charles.”
May you like
She paused.
“He was waiting for you.”
