Chapter 3 - The Missing Original
The security doors locked three minutes after the lights returned.
By then, Jaime, Evelyn, Audrey, and the original diary had disappeared from the ceremony hall.
Mallory stood at the center of the aisle while guests whispered around her. Some remained frozen in their seats. Others gathered the copied pages as if they were pieces of evidence at a crime scene.
Leonard Shaw, the head of security, approached with two guards.
“The east service door opened during the blackout,” he said. “Someone used an authorized badge.”
“Whose?”
“We are checking.”
“Find Audrey first.”
“We are searching every floor.”
Father Adrian came down from the altar.
“You should leave before the press reaches the entrance.”
“My daughter is missing.”
“She sent you messages.”
“That does not mean she is safe.”
Mallory showed him the final photograph Audrey had sent, the page referring to Daniel and Jaime.
The priest read it once.
His jaw tightened.
“You recognize something,” Mallory said.
“No.”
“You reacted.”
“I reacted to Daniel’s name.”
“You told me you did not remember him meeting Jaime.”
“I do not.”
“That is different from saying they never met.”
Before Adrian could answer, Leonard’s radio sounded.
A guard had found Evelyn inside the women’s lounge near the west corridor.
Mallory reached the lounge before anyone else.
Evelyn stood beside a marble sink, pressing a wet cloth to her forehead. Her silver dress was wrinkled, and one earring was missing.
“You staged all of that,” she said when Mallory entered.
“You wrote those pages.”
“You do not understand the context.”
“Then explain it.”
“Not here.”
“Where is Jaime?”
“I do not know.”
“Where is Audrey?”
“I do not know.”
“The diary?”
Evelyn looked away.
Mallory closed the door behind her.
“You spent months insisting Jaime was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“He could have been.”
“He was sleeping with you.”
Evelyn lowered the cloth.
“It ended before he proposed.”
“That is supposed to help?”
“I made mistakes.”
“You helped him hide documents beneath our prenuptial agreement.”
“I never saw the final documents.”
“You wrote that he wanted access to the Vale properties.”
“He said the family needed stronger management.”
“He said he loved you more than me.”
Evelyn’s expression shifted.
For a moment, she was no longer the elegant matriarch who could silence a room with one glance. She was simply a woman confronted by the words she had once believed.
“He did love me,” she said.
“Then why was he about to marry me?”
“He said the marriage was temporary.”
Mallory felt a wave of disgust, followed by something more painful.
Pity.
Evelyn noticed.
“Do not look at me that way.”
“How should I look at you?”
“As your mother.”
“My mother helped a man use me.”
“I was trying to reclaim what your father took from me.”
“The foundation?”
“My life.”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“Your father controlled every decision. He decided where we lived, which friends were acceptable, and what role I would have in the company. When he died, everything passed to you.”
“Because you told him you did not want the responsibility.”
“I said what he required me to say.”
“And Jaime promised to give it back?”
“He promised we would rebuild the Vale organization together.”
“Using my signature.”
“You had more than enough.”
The words silenced them both.
Evelyn seemed to realize what she had admitted.
Mallory opened the door.
“Leonard will escort you to a private room. You will remain there until the police arrive.”
Evelyn grabbed Mallory’s arm.
“You cannot involve the police.”
“Why?”
“Because the diary contains things that have nothing to do with Jaime and me.”
“Daniel?”
Evelyn released her.
Mallory stepped closer.
“What happened the night he died?”
“I do not know.”
“You wrote that he discovered Jaime’s plan.”
“That entry is not mine.”
“It is your handwriting.”
“It looks like my handwriting.”
Mallory studied her mother’s face.
For the first time that evening, Evelyn did not seem embarrassed or defensive.
She seemed afraid.
“Who added it?” Mallory asked.
“I do not know.”
“Who had access to the diary?”
“Jaime.”
“Anyone else?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“Your father.”
“He died twelve years ago.”
“The diary is older than that.”
“Daniel died eight years ago.”
“I know.”
“What are you not telling me?”
Before Evelyn answered, the fire alarm sounded.
The noise tore through the building.
Guests began moving toward the exits despite the locked security doors. Guards tried to maintain order. A recorded voice instructed everyone to evacuate.
Leonard appeared in the doorway.
“We have smoke in the north service hall.”
“Is there a fire?” Mallory asked.
“We do not know yet.”
“Find Audrey.”
“We found her phone.”
Mallory went still.
“Where?”
“In a service elevator. No sign of her.”
He handed her the device.
The screen was cracked but still active.
A map application was open, displaying a location six blocks from the ceremony hall.
The Halcyon Hotel.
Mallory remembered the diary entries.
Private dinners.
Midnight meetings.
Room 317.
The number engraved on Audrey’s brass key.
Mallory lifted her gown and removed her shoes.
“Get me a car.”
“You cannot leave during an evacuation,” Leonard said.
“My daughter is at the Halcyon.”
“We do not know that.”
“She wants me to go there.”
Father Adrian entered behind him.
“No,” the priest said.
Mallory turned.
“Why?”
“Because the Halcyon was where Daniel spent his final night.”
“How do you know?”
“I was with him.”
The alarm continued around them.
Mallory stared at Adrian.
“You told me you did not remember Daniel meeting Jaime.”
“I told you I did not remember seeing them together.”
“Were they together at the hotel?”
“I arrived after Jaime left.”
Mallory’s breath caught.
“So Daniel did know him.”
“Yes.”
“And you lied to me.”
“I was protecting a confession.”
“Whose?”
Adrian looked at Evelyn.
“Your father’s.”
Evelyn went pale.
The north doors opened as firefighters entered the building.
At the same moment, Mallory’s phone rang.
The caller identification showed Audrey’s name, even though her phone was in Mallory’s hand.
She answered.
No one spoke.
Then she heard the faint sound of breathing.
“Audrey?”
A man’s voice whispered through the line.
“Bring the memory card to room 317.”
Mallory gripped the phone.
“Where is my daughter?”
May you like
“You have twenty minutes.”
The call ended.
