Chapter 12 - the heir to the conspiracy
Julian ordered everyone away from Ruth.
The detectives reached for their weapons.
He pressed the gun against a metal pipe running along the wall.
“You smell that?” he asked.
Adrian did.
Gas.
Julian had opened an old maintenance valve before entering the chamber.
“One spark,” Julian said, “and this entire section collapses.”
The detectives lowered their hands.
Lily remained beside Ruth.
Julian looked at her.
“You were supposed to be an obedient child.”
“She is a child,” Adrian said. “Leave her out of this.”
“She stopped being harmless when she found the camera.”
“You placed the tracker inside it,” Lily said.
Julian smiled.
“My father did. Evelyn carried that camera everywhere. Tracking it led him to every person she trusted.”
“Did your father kill her?”
“No. Victor lost control of the car.”
“Who hit them?”
Julian’s gaze shifted toward Margaret.
“Her security chief.”
Margaret did not deny it.
Adrian stared at her.
“I ordered him to stop Victor,” she said. “He attempted to force the car from the road. The collision was not supposed to happen.”
“You knew?”
“I learned the truth afterward.”
“And you covered it up.”
“I covered up your father’s involvement in the records. I believed it was the only way to protect you.”
Adrian looked around the hidden archive.
“You protected a criminal system.”
“My husband began collecting evidence against it.”
Julian laughed.
“Your husband used it. Half the families in these boxes were his clients.”
Margaret’s voice broke.
“At first. Then he discovered children were being taken from mothers who had never consented.”
“And he became frightened,” Julian said. “Not moral.”
Ruth struggled against the rope.
“Your father continued after Thomas tried to stop.”
Julian turned the gun toward her.
“My father maintained order.”
“He sold children.”
“He gave them homes.”
“He erased them.”
The gun trembled in Julian’s hand.
Celeste stepped forward.
“Your father erased you too, didn’t he?”
Julian froze.
She continued.
“You are not Lawrence Cross’s son. You came through this archive.”
“Be quiet.”
“That is why you protect it. Without these files, you lose the name that gave you power.”
Julian’s face twisted.
“Names are all anyone has.”
“No,” Lily said. “People have the truth.”
Julian looked at her.
For one dangerous second, the chamber was completely silent.
Then the camcorder in Lily’s hand emitted a small beep.
Julian’s eyes dropped toward it.
“You’re recording.”
“Yes.”
He moved toward her.
Adrian stepped between them.
Julian raised the gun.
Margaret struck the gas pipe with her walking stick.
A deafening metallic crash echoed through the chamber.
Julian turned instinctively.
Celeste lunged and knocked his arm upward.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Stone dust fell.
The detectives rushed forward.
Adrian pulled Lily and Ruth to the floor while officers restrained Julian.
The gas valve was closed before the chamber could ignite.
Julian screamed as they dragged him toward the tunnel.
“You think arresting me ends this?”
Adrian stood.
“It ends your part.”
“You still don’t know who ordered Claire’s removal.”
“Who?”
Julian laughed.
“Ask the woman in the photograph.”
Ruth looked at the open locket in Adrian’s hand.
“The woman holding Lily is not Claire,” she said.
Lily stared at her.
“But she looks like me.”
“Yes.”
“Then who is she?”
May you like
Ruth’s answer was almost lost beneath Julian’s laughter.
“Claire’s sister.”
