Chapter 10 - the man who returned without a name
Mrs. Dallow was taken to a private hospital under police guard.
She had been held for three days in an abandoned hunting lodge. Her captor kept his face hidden and used a voice device whenever he spoke.
She remembered only one detail.
“He wore an Ashford signet ring.”
Julian looked at his own hand.
The ring had belonged to his grandfather. Identical rings had been given to five original trustees decades earlier.
Only two of those men were still alive.
One was Conrad Vale.
The other was Julian’s godfather, Charles Whitmore, chairman of the Ashford Foundation.
Charles had attended the gala.
He had also left shortly before the blackout.
Daniel investigated him quietly.
Flight records showed Charles had traveled to Switzerland the following morning. His staff claimed the trip had been scheduled for months.
Julian did not believe in coincidences anymore.
Mary Jane remained at the hospital with Mrs. Dallow while Julian returned to Ashford House. Victoria was still confined to the property during the investigation, though her lawyers had limited police access to her private rooms.
Julian found her in the winter garden.
“You knew about Saint Orison’s.”
Victoria did not turn from the window.
“My family restored the chapel after the fire.”
“Your family records show no connection to it.”
“Then your records are incomplete.”
“A man wearing an Ashford ring took Mrs. Dallow.”
Victoria faced him.
“Did you see his face?”
“No.”
“Then you have nothing.”
“I have Eleanor’s notes.”
That caught her attention.
Julian continued.
“She wrote that the person controlling you was not your father.”
Victoria walked toward him.
“What else did she write?”
“So you admit someone controls you.”
“No one controls me.”
“Then tell me who Adrian is.”
“My brother.”
“Your brother died in a boating accident.”
“That is what the world was told.”
Julian watched her carefully.
“Is he alive?”
Victoria looked past him.
A man stood at the winter garden entrance.
Elias Mercer.
His face was bruised. One arm was supported by a sling. Dried mud covered his coat.
Police officers raised their weapons.
Elias lifted both hands.
“I came to surrender.”
Julian crossed the room.
“Where have you been?”
“Hiding.”
“Your car was found at the quarry.”
“I left it there after someone forced me off the road.”
“Who?”
Elias looked at Victoria.
She stared back without emotion.
“I don’t know his real name,” Elias said. “But he calls himself Adrian.”
Victoria’s face remained still.
Julian noticed her fingers trembling.
The police took Elias into the library.
He admitted preparing the fraudulent guardianship documents and the replacement signature packet. He admitted receiving payments from A.V. Holdings.
He denied participating in Eleanor Reed’s death.
“Victoria told me Adrian would only frighten her,” Elias said. “The next morning, Eleanor’s car went over the bridge.”
“Who is Adrian?” Julian demanded.
“He contacted me through encrypted messages.”
“You met him.”
“Once. In darkness.”
“Was he Victoria’s brother?”
Elias looked toward the closed library doors.
“He knew details about Ashford House that even Victoria did not know.”
Daniel placed a photograph of the five original trustees on the table.
One face had been torn from the copy in Thomas’s archive.
“Was it one of them?”
Elias examined the photograph.
“No.”
“Then who?”
“I heard Victoria call him Adrian. But when he answered his phone, the caller used another name.”
“What name?”
Before Elias could answer, the library windows shattered inward.
Everyone dropped to the floor.
A small metal object rolled across the carpet.
Daniel kicked it beneath a cabinet.
White smoke filled the room.
Through the haze, someone opened the side door.
Julian heard Elias cry out.
By the time the smoke cleared, Elias had vanished.
A message was written across the library mirror.
May you like
The next signature will be made in blood.
Below it was the symbol of the crown inside a circle.
