Chapter 12 - THE LAST THING HER FATHER HID
Elena's father's original copy was gone.
But thieves made a mistake.
They assumed there was only one.
Nora had another.
Hers had remained locked in Blackridge for years.
Federal agents retrieved it.
The book was old, marked with faded pencil.
Elena opened to page eleven.
She counted to the eighth line.
Then the twenty-first word.
"Harbor."
Nora nodded.
Next sequence.
Their father had taught Elena dozens.
The markings inside the book revealed which sequence came next.
Together, the sisters decoded seven words.
Harbor.
Stone.
Saint.
East.
Below.
Twenty.
Nine.
Grace searched maps.
"Saint Harbor doesn't exist."
Hale looked at Elena.
"What did your father do every summer?"
Elena remembered.
"He took me fishing."
"Where?"
"Rhode Island."
She opened a map.
Then she saw it.
St. Harbor Street.
An old warehouse district near Providence.
Number 29.
Federal agents searched the property records.
The building belonged to a trust created thirty-five years earlier.
Trustee: Thomas Mercer.
Elena's father.
They reached Rhode Island after dark.
Number 29 was an abandoned marine supply warehouse.
The basement contained an old stone wall.
Twenty feet east of the stairs, Hale found newer mortar.
Behind it was a waterproof steel case.
Inside were ledgers.
Photographs.
Audio tapes.
Contracts.
Original death certificates.
And video recordings dating back decades.
Thomas Mercer had preserved everything.
Enough to expose Vesper.
Enough to destroy reputations.
Enough to imprison people.
But one folder was addressed only to Elena.
She opened it with trembling hands.
My Elena,
If you are reading this, then I failed to end what Charles Vance began.
I owe you a truth I was too cowardly to give you while alive.
I knew Nora survived.
I spent years trying to reach her.
I remained silent because every time I moved against them, they threatened to move her somewhere I would never find.
I told myself silence kept her alive.
Perhaps that was true.
Perhaps it was only the excuse of a frightened father.
You deserved better from me.
Your mother never knew.
Do not punish her for my choices.
Most importantly, do not trust the person who claims to be the last prisoner.
Elena stopped.
Nora leaned closer.
"What?"
Elena continued reading.
Daniel Vance is not the architect.
He is not the final authority.
Neither was Charles.
Vesper existed before the Vance family entered it.
If the system is exposed, someone will attempt to blame everything on the Vances.
Do not accept that story.
Look for the three circles.
Elena remembered the emblem she had seen embossed on several Continuity documents.
Three interlocking circles.
Below the letter was a photograph.
Three men standing outside a medical conference in 1987.
Charles Vance.
A younger Calder.
And Elena's father.
The third circle.
Thomas Mercer had been inside Vesper far earlier than Nora had admitted.
Elena slowly looked at her sister.
"You said Dad discovered them through an audit."
Nora's face changed.
"That's what he told me."
"He was photographed with Charles and Calder before we were born."
Nora stared at the photograph.
For the first time, Elena saw genuine shock.
Then Hale opened another envelope.
Inside was a recent photograph.
Daniel Vance.
Alive.
Standing beside a woman Elena recognized immediately.
Maya Chen.
May you like
Elena's trusted assistant.
The woman who had worked beside her for seven years.
