Chapter 8 - The Body Behind My Wall
The remains were not Lillian’s.
Dental records identified the woman as Rebecca Vale.
Adrian’s first wife.
I had been told Rebecca died in a boating accident seventeen years earlier.
Her body was supposedly never recovered.
I knew almost nothing else.
Adrian said their marriage had been brief and painful.
He described Rebecca as emotionally unstable.
Jealous.
Paranoid.
Difficult.
The same words he later used to describe me.
The remains had been concealed behind a paneled wall installed during the penthouse renovation six years earlier.
The renovation Adrian supervised while I traveled through Europe negotiating investors.
For six years, I had worked, slept, and planned my life within twenty feet of his first wife’s body.
Mercer received preliminary details from a trusted officer at the scene.
The skull showed evidence of blunt-force trauma.
A gold bracelet bearing Rebecca’s initials remained around one wrist.
Beside the remains, police found a waterproof document case.
Inside were copies of financial records involving the early years of Vale Global.
Several carried Rebecca’s signature.
Mercer looked at me.
“She was listed as an officer of entities that received stolen investor funds.”
“Adrian used her as a front.”
“Apparently.”
“What happened after she discovered it?”
“We don’t know.”
I did.
Not the details.
But the pattern.
Drug the wife.
Make her appear unstable.
Use her signature.
Take control of her assets.
If she resists, remove her.
Rebecca had been the first version of the plan.
I was the improved version.
Celeste sat silently near the window.
“The password,” she whispered.
We all looked at her.
“The woman Adrian buried before Mara.”
“Rebecca,” I said.
I called Nina.
She entered the name into the encrypted file.
The video opened.
Lillian Hart appeared in a dim room.
She wore the same clothes shown in the retreat photographs.
A bandage covered the side of her head.
She was alive when the recording was made.
“If you are watching this,” she said, “then Adrian knows I discovered Rebecca.”
She held up a ledger.
“The Halcyon transfers did not begin with Mara. They began seventeen years ago with Rebecca Vale. Adrian used her legal identity to move stolen investor money. When Rebecca threatened to expose him, Dr. Cross created a psychiatric record describing her as delusional.”
Cross had been involved before Vale Global became powerful.
Lillian continued.
“Malcolm Wren was the junior prosecutor assigned to investigate the disappearance of those funds. He accepted payment to bury the case. Adrian later rewarded him with a board position.”
She looked off camera.
Someone spoke, but the voice was too quiet to identify.
Lillian returned her attention to the lens.
“Rebecca did not die in a boating accident. She was killed inside the original Vale apartment. Adrian moved her remains during the penthouse renovation.”
Julian stepped closer to the screen.
“Does she say where she is now?”
The video continued.
“Mara, if you receive this, do not trust the evidence attached to your name. Adrian has recorded you while sedated. He has obtained signatures, biometric data, and access to your private accounts. He intends to make you legally responsible for Halcyon Meridian before eliminating you.”
Lillian lifted a photograph toward the camera.
It showed Adrian standing beside Rebecca on a yacht.
Dr. Cross was behind them.
A young Malcolm Wren stood near the cabin.
“Celeste believes she can control Adrian by becoming indispensable. She is wrong. He will use her as he used Rebecca and Mara.”
Celeste flinched.
The recording shifted.
Lillian’s voice became urgent.
“One person inside Vale Global has access to the complete ledger. I cannot name them on this recording. The password to the next archive is hidden inside Mara’s original shareholder agreement.”
The screen went dark.
Then a second image appeared.
Rachel and her children inside the vehicle.
The file had been modified after Lillian’s recording.
Someone had added the current kidnapping video to the same drive.
That meant the abductors possessed either the encryption password or the original file.
A line of text appeared beneath the image.
Rebecca waited too long. Will you?
Nina’s voice came through the phone.
“The drive was accessed remotely the moment we opened the video.”
“Can you trace it?”
“I already started.”
“Where?”
“Inside Vale Global headquarters.”
Adrian wanted us to know he controlled Lillian’s evidence.
He also wanted me inside the building.
Mercer advised against going.
Julian demanded that we go immediately.
Both arguments were reasonable.
Neither mattered.
Rachel and the children were being used to force my presence.
The body in my office would soon make me the center of a murder investigation.
By morning, Adrian could portray me as a traumatized wife constructing allegations after police discovered evidence in my home.
Unless I reached the original shareholder agreement.
The first agreement had been signed in Adrian’s office on Vale Global’s opening day.
My copy was stored in my father’s Connecticut vault.
The same vault where I had sent Julian with the trust documents.
“Did you place the documents in the vault?” I asked him.
“No. I came back when Rachel called.”
“Where are they?”
“In my car.”
Celeste moved toward the window.
“Then we need to leave.”
A black vehicle had stopped across the street.
Two men stepped onto the pavement.
Mercer recognized one.
“He works for Vale Global corporate security.”
Another vehicle arrived behind it.
Then a third.
Adrian was closing the perimeter.
We left through the basement service tunnel connecting my father’s building to the property next door.
The tunnel had been constructed during Prohibition and used to move liquor between restaurants.
My father kept it maintained because, as he once said, every lawyer should know at least one way out that opposing counsel does not.
Mercer led us into an alley.
Julian retrieved his car.
Celeste climbed into the rear seat beside me.
“You are coming?” I asked.
“If I stay, Adrian kills me.”
“That possibility does not distress me as much as it should.”
“You still think I enjoyed humiliating you.”
“I know you did.”
She looked out the window.
“I hated you before I met you.”
“Why?”
“Lillian admired you. She said you were brilliant and principled. Then you married Adrian, left your career, and ignored what happened inside the company.”
“I did not know.”
“You did not look.”
The accusation struck because it was true.
“I saw employees disappear,” she continued. “People signed settlements. Women were called unstable. Executives who challenged Adrian suddenly resigned. You attended galas and smiled beside him.”
“You slept beside him.”
“Yes.”
Her honesty ended my reply.
Mercer followed us in his car.
As we left Manhattan, Nina called.
“I traced the remote access.”
“To Adrian?”
“No. The terminal belongs to Malcolm Wren.”
“Is he inside headquarters?”
“His access badge entered the building thirty minutes ago.”
“Can you locate Rachel’s phone?”
“The signal disappeared near the Hudson River.”
“Which side?”
“New Jersey.”
The Connecticut vault was in the opposite direction.
We had to choose between saving the evidence and searching for Julian’s family.
Julian looked at me through the mirror.
“Do not ask me to choose.”
“I won’t.”
“We go to Rachel.”
“The abductors want us to follow the phone.”
“I don’t care.”
“They may have sent the device without her.”
“I still don’t care.”
My phone rang.
Adrian.
This time, I answered.
“You found Rebecca,” he said.
“Were you hoping I would?”
“I hoped the wall would remain closed.”
“Did you kill her?”
“You should be careful what you say on recorded calls.”
“Did you kill your first wife?”
“She was unwell.”
“You mean she discovered you were stealing.”
“She misunderstood complicated transactions.”
“You buried her inside our home.”
“I preserved what remained of a terrible accident.”
“Malcolm hit her too?”
He became quiet.
I had guessed correctly.
Rebecca’s death involved the same men.
“Where is Rachel?” I asked.
“Safe for now.”
“And the children?”
“Also safe.”
“What do you want?”
“You in my office before sunrise.”
“You cannot take the shares.”
“The shares are no longer my primary concern.”
“What is?”
“The document your father hid inside the original shareholder agreement.”
He knew about the hidden archive.
“What does it contain?”
Adrian laughed softly.
“You truly have no idea what your father did.”
The call ended.
At that moment, the car’s navigation screen changed by itself.
Our route disappeared.
A new destination appeared.
An abandoned marina on the Hudson River.
May you like
Beneath it was a message.
Bring the agreement or Julian loses his family.
