Chapter 9
According to every public record, Charles Blake died in Switzerland eight years earlier.
Private funeral.
Closed casket.
No photographs.
No press.
Richard had inherited control of Blake Hospitality afterward.
But Whitmore insisted the death was fake.
"He wanted to disappear," he said.
Dad stared at him inside the bell tower.
"How do you know?"
"Because I saw him three years after his funeral."
"Where?"
"Montreal."
Lauren stepped closer.
"Why didn't you report it?"
Whitmore laughed bitterly.
"To whom? Samuel Price?"
That answered too much.
Whitmore sat against the wall.
Twenty-five years of secrets seemed to crush him all at once.
"Charles built the whole thing."
"The stolen money?" I asked.
"Everything."
He nodded toward the documents.
"Jonathan handled accounts. Price handled police problems. Richard was supposed to inherit the legitimate business and never know the rest."
"But Victoria found out."
"Yes."
"What did Richard do?"
Whitmore's expression tightened.
"He panicked."
Dad folded his arms.
"That's not an answer."
"Richard confronted Jonathan."
"And gave him access to my car?"
Whitmore shook his head.
"No. Richard asked me for your keys because he wanted to take something from your glove compartment."
Dad looked confused.
"What?"
"A letter."
I saw his expression change.
Mom.
Whitmore continued.
"Evelyn had written you a letter telling you she loved you. Richard found out. He wanted to destroy it."
Even after twenty-five years, Dad looked hurt.
"He never got it."
"No. But Jonathan learned Richard had access to your keys."
"And copied them."
Whitmore nodded.
"So Richard didn't know about the sabotage?"
"I don't think so."
"Then why did Victoria tell Mom to look at Richard?"
"Because she knew Richard was hiding something."
"What?"
Whitmore looked at me.
"The fact that Jonathan had threatened her."
"Why hide that?"
"Because Jonathan told Richard he'd expose Charles."
"Richard wanted to protect his father."
"Yes."
Madison had inherited that instinct.
Protect family first.
Ask questions later.
Dad took the second cassette.
"We need to watch this."
Whitmore shook his head.
"No police."
Lauren gave him a hard look.
"You're in no position to make requests."
"You don't understand. Price isn't the only officer Charles bought."
"Charles would be almost seventy-five now."
"And rich enough to buy anyone."
Dad's phone rang.
Madison.
He put it on speaker.
Her voice came fast.
"Chloe disappeared."
My stomach dropped.
"What?"
"Security said she was asleep. I went to check on her. The window was open."
Dad looked at Lauren.
"Impossible. Twentieth floor."
Madison continued.
"She left a note."
"What does it say?"
Paper rustled.
Then Madison read.
MY FATHER HAS EMILY'S MOTHER'S LAST RECORDING. I'M GOING TO TRADE MYSELF FOR IT.
I closed my eyes.
"Oh, Chloe."
Dad was already moving.
"Where?"
"She didn't say."
But I knew.
"She'll contact him through something only they know."
Madison said, "Her family has a vacation house in Gloucester."
Lauren looked at me.
"Why would she go there?"
"Because if Jonathan has been hiding, he needs somewhere familiar."
Whitmore suddenly stood.
"Jonathan's family owned an old cannery near Gloucester."
Everyone turned.
"Where?"
He gave the address.
Dad called police.
Lauren called private security.
I knew what Dad would say before he turned toward me.
"You're not coming."
This time I didn't argue.
Because someone had tried to burn me alive.
Because someone had fired into a hospital.
Because bravery and stupidity were not the same thing.
"I'll stay with Madison."
Dad looked surprised.
Then relieved.
He left.
Whitmore went with police.
Lauren followed Dad.
Madison and I were taken back to the secure apartment.
Four guards remained.
At 7:40 p.m., Dad texted me.
Cannery empty.
At 8:12:
Found signs someone was there recently.
At 8:31:
No Chloe.
Then silence.
At 9:05, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
Madison saw it.
"Don't."
I answered anyway.
"Hello?"
A man's voice.
Older.
Calm.
"Emily Carter."
Every muscle in my body tightened.
"Who is this?"
"Someone who knew your mother."
Madison came closer.
I put the phone on speaker.
"Charles Blake?"
Silence.
Then a soft laugh.
"Clever girl."
Madison's face turned white.
"Grandpa?"
The silence changed.
"Madison?"
She covered her mouth.
"You're alive."
"My sweet girl."
"Don't call me that."
Her voice cracked.
"You let us bury you."
"I did what was necessary."
"Did you kill Aunt Victoria?"
Charles didn't answer.
Madison screamed.
"Answer me!"
"No."
She froze.
"No?"
"I did not intend for Victoria to die."
My skin crawled.
"That's not the same answer," I said.
Charles laughed again.
"You sound like Evelyn."
"What happened?"
"Victoria found things she wasn't meant to find."
"So you had Dad's brakes cut."
"I ordered Jonathan to frighten Daniel."
"By cutting his brakes?"
"Jonathan exceeded his instructions."
"Liar."
His voice hardened.
"Be careful, child."
I felt a burst of anger strong enough to erase fear.
"You killed my mother."
"I did not."
"Then who did?"
Silence.
"Jonathan."
Madison shook her head.
"You expect us to believe you?"
"Your father knows."
"Where is my father?"
"Trying to correct his mistakes."
"What does that mean?"
Charles ignored her.
"Emily, your mother recorded something before her death. Jonathan has spent years searching for it."
"We found the tape."
A long silence.
I knew immediately I had made a mistake.
Madison grabbed my arm.
Charles's voice changed.
"Where?"
I said nothing.
"Where is it?"
I ended the call.
Madison stared at me.
"He wanted us to say that."
"I know."
My phone buzzed.
A video message.
I opened it.
Chloe appeared on-screen.
She was tied to a chair.
Jonathan Mercer stood behind her.
Older than on the old videotape.
Gray hair.
Cold eyes.
Alive.
Real.
He looked into the camera.
"Emily, your father has something that belongs to me."
Chloe struggled.
Jonathan tightened one hand on her shoulder.
"You have until midnight."
The camera shifted.
Richard Blake appeared in the background.
He was tied to another chair.
Madison screamed.
"Dad!"
Richard looked bruised but alive.
Jonathan smiled.
"Bring both tapes to the address I'm sending."
A location appeared.
An abandoned hotel outside Boston.
"Come with Daniel Carter."
Jonathan leaned closer.
"No police."
The video ended.
Madison was crying.
"We have to tell your dad."
I called him.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then Lauren called me.
"Emily, listen carefully."
"What happened?"
"Your father has been in an accident."
Everything inside me stopped.
"What?"
"His SUV was hit leaving Gloucester."
"Is he okay?"
"We don't know yet."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"The vehicle went off the road."
Madison grabbed the counter.
Lauren continued.
"Emergency crews are searching."
My knees weakened.
"No."
"Emily, stay where you are."
"But Jonathan—"
"I know about the video. He sent it to us too."
"Chloe and Richard are alive."
"Yes."
"What do we do?"
"Nothing until we find your father."
Then the apartment lights flickered.
Madison looked up.
My heart sank.
Not again.
One of the guards shouted from the hallway.
"Lockdown!"
The elevator indicator lit.
Someone was coming up.
But the private elevator required biometric access.
A guard raised his weapon.
The doors opened.
I expected Jonathan.
Price.
Charles Blake.
Instead my father stumbled out.
Blood covered one side of his face.
"Dad!"
I ran to him.
He caught me.
"I'm okay."
Lauren came through behind him.
She looked furious and relieved.
Dad had escaped the SUV before it rolled down the embankment.
The crash had been staged.
Someone had remotely interfered with the vehicle.
Again.
Just like twenty-five years earlier, someone wanted Daniel Carter dead.
Dad looked at Madison.
"We got the location."
She wiped her eyes.
"Then let's go."
Dad shook his head.
"No."
Madison stepped forward.
"That's my father."
"And Jonathan wants Emily."
"So?"
"So we're not giving him either of you."
I held up the cassette from the bell tower.
"We don't know what's on this yet."
Dad stared at it.
The old camera equipment was still at the media shop, but Lauren had obtained a converter.
Within minutes, the tape played on the apartment television.
Static.
Then Mom appeared.
It was the missing final recording.
She sat inside her car.
Rain struck the windshield.
The timestamp showed the night she died.
My breath stopped.
"Daniel," she said into the camera, "if you're seeing this, Price lied to me."
Dad went rigid.
Mom continued.
"Richard helped Jonathan cover up Victoria's death, but Richard didn't order it."
Madison began crying silently.
"Charles did."
She wiped tears from her face on-screen.
"But Charles didn't kill me."
I stared.
Mom looked directly into the lens.
"Jonathan is coming after me because I found the accounts. Price is helping him."
She took a shaky breath.
"But there's one more person."
Dad moved closer to the screen.
Mom whispered the name.
"Robert Whitmore."
Nobody spoke.
Whitmore.
The chairman.
The man currently in police custody.
Mom continued.
"Robert wasn't just the boy who gave them the keys."
Her voice shook.
"He was the one who cut Daniel's brakes."
Dad stared at the screen in disbelief.
"He told me tonight."
Mom glanced into her rearview mirror.
"He says Jonathan forced him. I don't know if that's true."
Then headlights appeared behind her.
She looked back.
Her face filled with terror.
"They found me."
The camera fell sideways.
Mom's voice came one last time.
"If anything happens to me, Emily needs to know I love—"
A crash.
Metal screamed.
The recording ended.
I couldn't move.
Dad was crying.
Actually crying.
I'd seen him cry twice in my life.
Both times were about Mom.
Lauren's phone rang.
She answered.
Her eyes widened.
"What?"
Dad looked at her.
Lauren lowered the phone.
"Whitmore never reached the police station."
"What do you mean?"
"The transport vehicle was found empty."
My skin went cold.
She continued.
"The two officers escorting him are missing."
Dad looked at Mom's frozen image on the screen.
Then at the clock.
10:47 p.m.
Jonathan had given us until midnight.
But now we knew something he didn't.
May you like
The tape proved Jonathan wasn't the only killer still alive.
And Robert Whitmore had just escaped.
