Chapter 5
Elias stared at the photograph until every sound in the bank disappeared.
Daniel stood beside him.
"Is that Emma?"
Elias couldn't speak.
Daniel took the phone.
His face went white.
"We call the police."
"No."
Daniel looked at him.
"Elias—"
"The person who sent this wants us to panic."
"A child has been taken."
"I know."
His voice cracked for the first time.
"I know."
He forced himself to breathe.
"What key?"
Daniel looked at the brass key on the table.
"They may think the evidence is still in the bank."
"Which means they don't know we opened the box."
"Possibly."
Elias stared at the message.
BRING ME THE KEY.
There was no location.
No instructions.
"They'll contact us again."
Daniel reached for his phone.
"I'm calling my federal contact."
"Do it quietly."
"You think Richard took her?"
"I think Richard is capable of it."
Elias looked at Margaret's letter.
"But I want proof before I destroy my own son."
Daniel stared at him.
"He kidnapped your granddaughter."
"We don't know that yet."
"We know enough."
"No."
Elias's eyes hardened.
"We know exactly enough to be dangerous. Not enough to be certain."
Back at the hospital, Katherine woke to chaos.
Her first word was Emma's name.
When no one answered, she tore the IV from her hand.
"Where is she?"
A nurse tried to stop her.
"Mrs. Reed—"
"Where is my daughter?"
Richard appeared in the doorway.
Katherine froze.
He was alone.
He closed the door behind him.
"You shouldn't be out of bed."
Her fear became rage.
"Where is Emma?"
Richard frowned.
"How would I know?"
"Get out."
"Katherine—"
"Get out!"
He held up his hands.
"You're sick."
"You tried to kill me."
"That's absurd."
"You ran me off the road eleven years ago."
"No."
"You framed me."
"No."
"You threatened my baby."
Richard's eyes went cold.
"Careful."
That one word confirmed more than a confession could have.
Katherine stepped back.
"I knew it."
"Knew what?"
"You still do that."
"Do what?"
"Your face."
Richard smiled.
"What about it?"
"When you're afraid, you stop pretending to care."
He moved closer.
"I'm not afraid."
"You should be."
She looked him in the eyes.
"Dad found Mom's box."
Richard's smile disappeared.
Katherine saw it.
And she knew.
He had not found the evidence.
"You don't know what's in it, do you?"
His jaw tightened.
"Where is the key?"
Katherine laughed.
It was weak.
But real.
"Emma."
Richard turned toward the door.
"What?"
"That's why she disappeared."
He looked back.
"You're accusing me of kidnapping a child?"
"I'm not accusing you."
She grabbed the emergency call button.
"I'm telling you I know."
He crossed the room and ripped the cord from the wall.
Katherine's heart began pounding.
Richard stared at the broken cord in his hand.
For one second, both understood what he had just done.
He had stopped pretending.
"You should have stayed gone," he said.
Katherine backed toward the window.
"You destroyed this family."
"No."
Richard's voice rose.
"You did."
She stared at him.
"You were always Dad's favorite."
Katherine almost laughed.
"That's what this was about?"
"You could do anything and he forgave you."
"He threw me out."
"Because I made him."
The confession slipped out.
Richard stopped.
Katherine's eyes widened.
He knew he had said too much.
"You admit it."
"I admit nothing."
"You just did."
He moved toward her.
The door opened.
A security officer stepped in.
"Everything all right?"
Richard immediately changed.
His face softened.
"My sister became distressed."
Katherine pointed at him.
"Don't let him near me."
The officer looked between them.
"Sir, you need to leave."
Richard smiled.
"Of course."
He leaned close to Katherine as he passed.
"Ask Dad what he'd trade for a granddaughter."
Then he walked out.
Katherine nearly collapsed.
"Call my father."
The security officer nodded.
"Immediately."
Across town, Elias received the call.
"Katherine says Richard was in her room."
Elias's hand tightened around the phone.
"Where is he now?"
"Security escorted him out."
"Follow him."
"We are."
Another message arrived.
MIDTOWN STORAGE. UNIT 617. COME ALONE.
Daniel read it.
"Police go first."
"No."
"Elias."
"They may be watching."
"They are definitely watching."
Elias looked at the evidence from Margaret's box.
Then he took the key.
"Make copies of everything."
"I already am."
"If I don't call in thirty minutes, release it."
"To whom?"
"Everyone."
Daniel stared.
"The board?"
"The police. The board. The district attorney. Every major paper in New York."
Daniel nodded.
Elias walked out.
Midtown Storage was a concrete building near the river.
Six floors.
Hundreds of units.
Elias entered alone.
No receptionist.
No customers.
The elevator carried him to the sixth floor.
Unit 617 stood open.
"Emma?"
No answer.
He stepped inside.
A chair sat in the center.
Emma's backpack was on it.
Elias's heart sank.
"Emma!"
A speaker crackled.
"Put the key on the chair."
The voice was electronically distorted.
Elias looked around.
"Let me see her."
"Key first."
"Emma!"
A screen mounted on the wall turned on.
Emma appeared.
She was in a different room.
Her hands were no longer tied.
She was crying but seemed unhurt.
"Elias?"
His chest tightened.
"I'm here."
"Mom?"
"She's safe."
"Don't give them anything."
Despite his fear, Elias almost laughed.
"You're ten."
"So?"
The screen went black.
The distorted voice returned.
"Key."
Elias placed it on the chair.
"Now release her."
A door slammed behind him.
He spun around.
Locked.
The lights went out.
Elias stood in darkness.
Then his phone rang.
Katherine.
"Dad?"
"Katherine."
"Where are you?"
He hesitated.
"Looking for Emma."
"I know where Richard went."
Elias froze.
"How?"
"Security followed his car."
"Where?"
"An abandoned Blackwood laundry facility in Queens."
Elias looked around the dark storage unit.
Then he understood.
Midtown Storage was a trap.
Emma wasn't here.
"Call the police."
"They're already going."
"Tell them not to enter until they have eyes on Emma."
"Dad, where are you?"
"Locked in a storage unit."
"What?"
"I'll manage."
The lights suddenly came back.
Smoke began leaking under the door.
Elias stared.
"Katherine."
"What?"
"Tell Daniel to release everything."
"Dad?"
"Now."
The smoke thickened.
Someone wasn't trying to delay him anymore.
They were trying to kill him.
Elias pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around his hand.
He slammed his shoulder into the door.
Nothing.
Again.
The metal frame shook.
Smoke burned his lungs.
He remembered the old scar on his arm.
The surgery.
Katherine's surgery.
Emma's scar.
Three generations connected by a mark that had accidentally reunited them.
He was not going to let it end in a locked room.
He kicked the lower hinge.
Once.
Twice.
The frame bent.
He drove his heel into it again.
The door opened three inches.
Fresh air rushed through.
Elias forced his fingers into the gap.
Then someone outside pulled the door open.
Elias stumbled forward.
A young man stood there.
The waiter from the restaurant.
The one who had returned Emma's backpack.
"What are you doing here?" Elias gasped.
The waiter grabbed his arm.
"Saving your life."
"How did you find me?"
"No time."
They ran toward the stairs.
Behind them, flames rose from Unit 617.
Outside, Elias bent over coughing.
The waiter handed him a phone.
"Someone dropped this in the alley."
"Who?"
"A man in a gray coat."
Elias looked at the screen.
There was one video file.
He opened it.
The footage showed Emma being pushed into a black SUV outside the hospital.
The kidnapper's face appeared clearly for two seconds.
It was not Richard.
May you like
It was a woman.
Lady Vivienne Blackwood.
