Chapter 7
The first SUV stopped at the end of the driveway.
The second pulled behind it.
The third blocked the road.
Men stepped out.
Six.
Maybe seven.
Maya closed the curtains.
“Back exit?”
“Kitchen.”
Thomas looked through another window.
“Two moving around the side.”
Margaret gripped the bedpost.
“Simon.”
I looked at her.
“You recognize them?”
“I recognize what this looks like.”
Daniel was still on the phone.
“Evelyn?”
“We’re surrounded.”
Silence.
Then, “How many?”
“At least six.”
“I’m calling the police.”
“No.”
“What?”
“If Simon has people inside law enforcement—”
“I’m not calling local police.”
“Then who?”
“Someone Richard trusted.”
I frowned.
“Who?”
“FBI.”
Maya turned.
“Name?”
“Special Agent Marcus Bell.”
She looked at me.
“Richard mentioned him once.”
Daniel continued.
“He was investigating financial crimes connected to our Boston property.”
“Why didn’t Richard give him everything?”
“He was trying to build a clean chain of evidence first.”
A hard knock hit the front door.
Three times.
Not rushed.
Confident.
Margaret whispered, “Don’t answer.”
Another knock.
Then Simon’s voice carried through the house.
“Mrs. Hamilton.”
Which Mrs. Hamilton?
There were two of us inside.
Maybe that was the point.
Maya checked her weapon.
“How much ammunition?”
Thomas asked.
“Not enough for a war.”
“Good thing I hate wars.”
He grabbed a heavy lamp.
I stared at him.
He shrugged.
“I was in the Marines thirty years ago.”
Of course the bellman was a Marine.
At this point, nothing surprised me.
Simon called again.
“Evelyn, I know you’re inside.”
I looked toward the laptop.
The drives.
Richard’s letter.
Everything he died to protect.
“We need those files out.”
Maya nodded.
“Cloud upload.”
“Can they stop it?”
“If they cut internet.”
As if Simon had heard us, the lights went out.
The router died.
Thomas said, “There goes that.”
Maya pulled a small device from her bag.
“Mobile hotspot.”
No signal.
“They’re jamming.”
I looked around.
Richard loved redundancy.
He kept backup generators.
Backup keys.
Backup everything.
“There’s a landline in the garage.”
Maya frowned.
“Landline?”
“Old security system. Richard refused to remove it.”
Thomas smiled.
“Smart man.”
The front door shook.
They were forcing it now.
“I’ll get the line,” Thomas said.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“You need to stay with the evidence.”
Before I could stop him, he ran downstairs.
Maya handed me one drive.
“Put this somewhere they won’t search quickly.”
I slipped it inside the waistband at the back of my pants beneath my sweater.
Margaret took another.
“What are you doing?”
“Making myself useful.”
She tucked it inside her blouse.
Maya kept the third.
The front door crashed open.
Voices downstairs.
Thomas shouted.
Something broke.
Maya pushed me toward the bathroom.
“Window.”
“Second floor.”
“There’s a porch roof.”
Margaret followed.
We opened the bathroom window.
Rain blasted inside.
Maya climbed out first.
Then Margaret.
I went last.
The porch roof was slick.
We crawled toward the edge.
Below us, two men were circling the house.
Maya whispered, “Wait.”
They disappeared around the corner.
We slid down a drainpipe.
Margaret nearly fell.
I grabbed her.
For one strange second, I was holding the woman whose fear had helped get my husband killed.
I could have let go.
I didn’t.
We reached the ground.
“Boat house,” I whispered.
We ran through the rain.
Behind us, Simon shouted from an upstairs window.
“There!”
A gunshot cracked.
Margaret screamed.
The bullet struck a tree.
Maya fired back once.
Not to hit.
To force them down.
We reached the boathouse.
I locked the door.
There was an old motorboat inside.
Thomas was not with us.
“Where is he?” I whispered.
Maya looked back at the house.
“We can’t wait.”
“I’m not leaving him.”
“Evelyn—”
“He saved me twice tonight.”
Margaret grabbed my arm.
“If they catch you, Richard died for nothing.”
I stared at the house.
Then a figure burst from the side door.
Thomas.
He ran toward us.
Two men chased him.
Maya opened the boathouse door.
“Thomas!”
He sprinted.
One pursuer gained on him.
Thomas suddenly stopped, turned, and punched the man so hard he fell backward into the mud.
Even Maya looked impressed.
Thomas reached us.
“Landline works.”
“Did you call?”
He nodded.
“Daniel gave me Bell’s number before the line went dead.”
“Are they coming?”
“I told him armed men were here.”
Another shot struck the boathouse.
Thomas jumped.
“I think that answers the urgency question.”
We climbed into the boat.
I turned the key.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
“No.”
I pumped the throttle.
Tried again.
The engine coughed.
Footsteps approached outside.
Maya aimed at the door.
“Evelyn.”
“I know.”
I turned the key.
The motor roared alive.
Thomas untied us.
The boathouse door lifted manually.
Bullets tore through the wood.
Maya fired twice.
We shot out onto the lake.
Rain stung my face.
I pushed the throttle forward.
The boat raced away.
Men appeared on the dock.
Simon stood among them.
He didn’t shoot.
He watched.
That frightened me more.
Thomas looked behind us.
“No boat?”
“There’s another one across the property.”
I knew what that meant.
“They’ll follow.”
Margaret pointed toward the opposite shoreline.
“There’s a marina two miles east.”
“We won’t make it if they have the faster boat.”
Maya held up the hard drive.
“We only need one of us to make it.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“If they catch us—”
“No one sacrifices themselves.”
“Evelyn—”
“I have had enough people deciding to die for my protection.”
Silence.
The words were for Richard as much as anyone.
The second boat appeared behind us.
Faster.
Of course.
Thomas looked at me.
“Any tricks?”
I thought.
Richard and I used this lake for years.
There was a narrow channel near the eastern marsh.
Shallow water.
Rocks.
Our little boat could cross.
The larger speedboat behind us might not.
“Hold on.”
I turned sharply.
Margaret screamed.
The boat leaned.
We entered the narrow channel.
Branches slapped the windshield.
The pursuers followed.
Too fast.
“Come on,” I whispered.
I knew where the rocks were.
They didn’t.
I veered left.
Then right.
A terrible grinding crash exploded behind us.
Their engine screamed.
Then stopped.
Thomas laughed.
“You sank them?”
“Probably destroyed the propeller.”
Maya looked at me.
“Remind me never to chase you on a lake.”
We reached the marina.
Empty at this hour.
I pulled beside the dock.
Then we heard sirens.
Not one.
Several.
Thomas exhaled.
“Please let those be the good guys.”
Black SUVs entered the marina parking lot.
Federal agents poured out.
Weapons drawn.
A tall Black man in a dark raincoat approached.
“Evelyn Hamilton?”
“Yes.”
“Marcus Bell.”
I nearly collapsed.
He looked at Maya.
“Ms. Lopez?”
She nodded.
“Richard told me about you.”
Her face tightened.
Bell looked at Thomas and Margaret.
“Everyone inside the building. Now.”
Agents moved toward the lake house by road and boat.
We entered the marina office.
Bell closed the door.
“You have evidence?”
Maya placed her drive on the table.
Margaret did the same.
I pulled the third from behind my back.
Bell stared.
“Three copies?”
“Richard believed in backups.”
Bell’s face softened.
“That sounds like him.”
“You knew him well?”
“Well enough to know he was scared.”
Anger returned.
“Apparently everyone knew except me.”
Bell didn’t defend him.
Good.
He inserted the first drive into an isolated laptop.
Files appeared.
He scanned them.
His expression changed.
“This is more than he told me.”
“How much did he tell you?”
“Enough to open an investigation. Not enough to act without exposing him.”
“Now you can act.”
Bell looked at me.
“If these files authenticate, yes.”
“Authenticate them.”
“We will.”
My phone rang again.
Sophie.
I answered immediately.
“Mom?”
“Sweetheart.”
“There are two strange people outside my dorm saying they work for private security.”
“They’re there because I asked them to be.”
“What’s happening?”
I closed my eyes.
I couldn’t lie again.
“Something serious.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
That part was almost true.
“Are you in danger?”
I looked at the federal agents around me.
“Not right now.”
Sophie’s voice trembled.
“Mom, you’re scaring me.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
Bell signaled to an agent, who began arranging official protection for her.
“I need you to stay inside. Federal agents are coming.”
“Federal agents?”
“I’ll explain soon.”
There was a long silence.
“Is this about Dad?”
My heart stopped.
“Why would you ask that?”
Sophie began crying.
“Because he gave me something before he died.”
I stood.
“What?”
“He told me not to tell you unless somebody started asking questions about the lake house.”
Everyone in the room looked at me.
“What did he give you?”
“A key.”
“What kind?”
“Small. Silver.”
“Where is it?”
“In my dorm.”
“Sophie, listen carefully. Do not touch it. Do not show it to anyone.”
“Okay.”
“What does it open?”
“I don’t know.”
Then she said something that changed everything again.
“Dad said it opens the place where Grandpa kept the truth.”
Arthur.
Not Richard.
Arthur Hamilton.
Bell leaned closer.
“Ask if there was a number.”
“Sophie, is anything written on the key?”
She sniffed.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Deposit box 417.”
Bell and Maya exchanged looks.
“What bank?” I asked.
“He didn’t say.”
My frustration rose.
Then Sophie added, “But there’s a little crown on it.”
I knew that logo.
First Crown Bank of Manhattan.
Our family had used it for decades.
Bell stood.
“I can get a warrant.”
I looked at him.
“No.”
He frowned.
“That key belongs to my family.”
“The evidence may not.”
“If you go through official channels, someone might hear about it.”
Bell hesitated.
That told me I was right.
Corruption had made everyone suspicious of everyone.
My phone beeped.
Another call.
Daniel.
I answered.
“What?”
His voice was strained.
“Is Mom alive?”
“Yes.”
He exhaled.
“Thank God.”
“Simon attacked the house.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“He called me.”
I went still.
“What did he say?”
“That the old arrangement is over.”
“What does that mean?”
Daniel was silent.
“Daniel.”
“It means he knows I helped you.”
“So?”
“So he’s going to expose everything I did.”
“You mean your crimes.”
“Yes.”
No self-pity this time.
Just exhaustion.
“I deserve prison.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Daniel continued.
“But Simon doesn’t only have records on me.”
“Who else?”
“Half the board. Judges. Executives. Politicians.”
Bell leaned in.
“Ask him about Arthur’s deposit box.”
I did.
Daniel stopped breathing.
“How do you know about that?”
“Sophie has the key.”
A long silence.
Then Daniel whispered, “Richard found it.”
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I don’t.”
“Daniel.”
“Our father used that bank for things he didn’t want in company records.”
“What things?”
“Original ledgers.”
Bell’s expression sharpened.
Daniel continued.
“Names. Dates. Payments. Everything from the beginning.”
Maya whispered, “The master record.”
Daniel heard her.
“Is Maya there?”
“Yes.”
Another pause.
“I’m sorry.”
Maya stared at the phone.
“For what?”
“For not helping when you came to me.”
She didn’t answer.
Daniel said, “Simon is going to the bank.”
Bell grabbed his coat.
“How would he know?”
I asked.
“Because I told him about the box years ago.”
Of course.
Bell motioned to his agents.
We moved.
I put the phone on speaker.
Daniel’s next words stopped us.
“Evelyn, there’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“I know who paid Dr. Shaw to kill Richard.”
The room fell silent.
“You said you didn’t know.”
“I didn’t know at the hotel.”
“What changed?”
“Simon sent me a copy of the payment order ten minutes ago.”
“Why?”
“To remind me what happens to people who betray him.”
My hands went cold.
“Whose authorization is on it?”
Daniel started crying.
I had never heard him cry before.
“Mom’s.”
Everyone turned toward Margaret.
She went white.
“No.”
Daniel whispered, “I’m sorry, Mom.”
Margaret shook her head.
“No.”
“Your signature is on the order.”
“No.”
Her voice became louder.
“No!”
I stared at her.
She looked at me.
“Evelyn, I swear to you. I did not kill my son.”
May you like
I wanted to believe her.
But I had spent the last twelve hours learning that belief was the most dangerous thing I owned.
