Chapter 14 - The Confession Mason Tried to Sell
Mason requested to speak with Nora before he was transferred to federal custody.
Evelyn advised against it.
Nora agreed to the meeting anyway.
They sat across from one another in a secured interview room.
Mason wore handcuffs and an orange detention uniform.
Without the suit, the watch and the rehearsed smile, he looked smaller than Nora remembered.
A camera recorded them from the corner.
Evelyn sat beside Nora.
A federal investigator stood near the door.
Mason leaned back.
“You look disappointed.”
“I expected you to be braver.”
“I’m the only person willing to tell you the truth.”
“You kidnapped Luke Mercer.”
“Cresswell did.”
“You helped.”
“I made a business decision.”
Nora’s expression did not change.
Mason smiled weakly.
“That is what your father always hated about me. He thought money made people immoral. The truth is, money only reveals what they already are.”
“Why did you marry my mother?”
“At first? Because she was beautiful.”
“And later?”
“Because she knew where Caleb hid things.”
Nora’s hands remained folded on the table.
“Did she help you?”
“No. Helen spent the final year of her life trying to undo what she had done.”
“What did she do?”
“She accepted money from Cresswell. Signed statements saying Caleb was unstable. Gave them access to his medical records.”
Nora absorbed the words without looking away.
“But she refused to give them the cabin,” Mason continued. “She said it belonged to you.”
“So you waited until she died.”
“I waited until the paperwork looked old enough that nobody would question it.”
“You forged the county records.”
“Cresswell handled that.”
“And the chest?”
Mason glanced at the camera.
“I want an agreement.”
“You have nothing worth buying.”
“I know where the old man was taken.”
Nora felt her pulse quicken.
“Everett?”
Mason smiled.
“You really believe a ninety-seven-year-old man has been hiding in the mountains for seventy years?”
“You saw him.”
“I saw someone.”
“Who?”
“A man called Mr. Hayes.”
Nora leaned forward.
“Where is he?”
“Agreement first.”
The investigator spoke.
“Provide verifiable information and prosecutors may consider cooperation.”
“May consider isn’t enough.”
Evelyn opened her folder.
“You attempted to sell property belonging to an active-duty Army officer through interstate communications. You conspired to conceal geological information tied to federal wartime contracts. You helped imprison a nineteen-year-old witness.”
She turned a page.
“You are facing decades.”
Mason’s smile disappeared.
Evelyn continued.
“Your daughter has already accepted immunity in exchange for testimony.”
That was not entirely true.
Emily’s attorney was still negotiating.
Mason believed it.
His face collapsed.
“She betrayed me?”
“She learned from you,” Nora said.
Mason looked toward the camera.
Then he lowered his voice.
“The old man was moved to Saint Orison.”
Pike had mentioned the name before.
An abandoned tuberculosis hospital north of the county line.
“Who moved him?”
“Private medical staff.”
“Paid by whom?”
“I never saw a name. Payments came through Ridgeway.”
“Who controls Ridgeway?”
“Not Cresswell.”
“Then who?”
Mason hesitated.
“Your father.”
Nora stared at him.
“My father is dead.”
“I saw Caleb three months ago.”
The room became completely silent.
Mason leaned forward as far as his handcuffs allowed.
“At Saint Orison.”
“You’re lying.”
“He had the scar near his right eyebrow. He knew my name. He knew Helen was dead.”
Nora stood so suddenly that the chair struck the wall.
Mason laughed, but fear trembled beneath it.
“He told me to sell the cabin.”
“Why?”
“He said the sale would force the deed into the open.”
Nora looked at Evelyn.
The attorney’s face was pale.
Mason continued.
“He wanted you to come back to Blackridge.”
Nora turned toward him.
“Why would my father need Mason Reed to bring me home?”
Mason’s eyes flickered toward the camera.
“Because he said there was only one person left he could trust.”
“Me?”
Mason shook his head.
“No.”
May you like
He smiled.
“He meant your mother.”
