Chapter 7 - The Man at the Marina)
Police did not arrest Charles Vale that night.
They wanted him to lead them higher.
The decision infuriated Richard.
“There is nobody higher.”
Cole disagreed.
“You don’t know that.”
“He threatened my grandson.”
“He discussed your grandson. That isn’t enough to understand the network.”
Richard slammed his fist against the table.
Hannah remained calmer.
“What exactly did he say?”
Cole played the recording.
Walter Keene’s voice came first.
“Margaret panicked.”
Vale answered.
“Margaret always panics.”
“She triggered Seventeen.”
A pause.
Then Vale:
“You should have gotten rid of the boy when you had the chance.”
Keene responded:
“Michael made that impossible.”
Vale laughed.
“Michael made many things difficult.”
Hannah stopped the recording.
“What does that mean?”
Cole looked at her.
“We don’t know.”
“Play the rest.”
Keene asked:
“What about Hannah?”
Vale answered:
“She doesn’t understand what she has.”
Hannah’s skin prickled.
Keene:
“And Richard?”
Vale:
“He understands less.”
Then another sentence.
“The key is still with the child.”
Hannah looked at Owen’s stuffed elephant.
Richard did too.
The key hidden inside it had opened Beacon House.
But perhaps Michael had hidden something else.
Hannah carefully examined the toy.
One ear had already been opened.
She pressed along the seams.
Something crinkled inside the body.
Jonathan found scissors.
Hannah hesitated.
Owen loved the elephant.
Richard knelt beside him.
“Buddy, Grandpa needs to borrow Blue for a minute.”
Owen looked suspicious.
“Are you gonna hurt him?”
“No.”
“You hurt doors.”
Richard almost smiled.
“That was one door.”
Owen reluctantly handed over the toy.
Inside its stuffing, they discovered a strip of waterproof paper.
Numbers.
Coordinates.
Cole entered them into a map.
A location appeared.
Ashford Memorial Cemetery.
Richard stared.
“That’s where Michael is buried.”
They drove there immediately.
The coordinates led not to Michael’s grave but to the Ashford family mausoleum.
Inside, behind William Ashford’s memorial plaque, they discovered a small compartment.
There was another flash drive.
And a letter addressed to Richard.
Richard opened it alone.
He read for several minutes.
Then sat down.
Hannah waited.
Finally he handed it to her.
Richard,
If Michael brings you here, it means history has begun repeating itself.
Thomas did not steal from this family.
I discovered that too late.
My father used Thomas as a scapegoat after the boy discovered Charles Vale’s theft.
I failed Thomas because I trusted authority over my own child.
Do not repeat my failure.
Article Seventeen protects the children.
The second trust protects the future.
But neither will matter if Haven survives.
Destroy Haven.
And Richard, there is something about Margaret you must know.
The final line had been torn away.
Richard stared at the missing piece.
“Someone got here before us.”
Cole examined the compartment.
“No dust along this edge.”
“How recently?”
“Could be weeks.”
Hannah looked at Michael’s grave through the mausoleum doorway.
Someone had been searching the same trail.
Perhaps Michael.
Perhaps Vale.
Perhaps Margaret.
Then Richard’s phone rang.
Ashford Hall security.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
Hannah stood.
“What happened?”
Richard listened.
Then looked directly at Owen.
“We’re coming.”
He hung up.
“What is it?”
Richard’s voice was cold.
“Someone broke into Owen’s bedroom.”
Hannah grabbed her son.
“What did they take?”
Richard looked at her.
“Nothing.”
“Then why break in?”
“They left something.”
“What?”
May you like
Richard swallowed.
“A photograph of Michael’s car after the crash.”
