Chapter 6 - The Dead Accountant
"Put the gun down," Marcus said.
Julian smiled without warmth. "You first."
Sienna stood perfectly still. The barrel rested inches from her shoulder.
Eleanor stepped between two shelves, keeping her hands visible. "You warned me not to trust Marcus."
"I warned you not to trust anyone."
"That includes you."
"Especially me."
Julian lowered the gun slightly, but not enough.
Up close, he looked older than in the photographs. A scar crossed his jaw. His right hand trembled almost imperceptibly.
"Brooke is alive," Eleanor said. "You know where she is."
"I know where she was."
"Then tell me."
"Give me the adoption file."
Eleanor held the metal case tighter. "Why?"
"Because it contains a lie that can get both of you killed."
Sienna's voice sharpened. "Both twins?"
Julian looked at her. "All of us."
He tossed the flash drive onto the floor between them.
"That ledger records thirty years of hidden ownership. Judges, ministers, bankers, charities, hospitals. Arthur controls only one section. Richard controls another. Brooke found the master index."
Marcus said, "And you helped her fake your murder."
"She saved my life."
"You framed her."
"I gave Arthur a crime he thought he could use. That kept him from looking for the real evidence."
Eleanor understood the cruelty of it. To protect Brooke physically, Julian had destroyed her legally.
"Where is the master index?"
Julian nodded toward the photograph of the infants.
"In the original marriage certificate."
"A certificate cannot hold an index."
"The paper can. Microprint, encoded fibers, embedded serials. Bellamy couriers used civil documents because no one questioned why families protected them."
Sienna looked at the flash drive. "Does that explain why Arthur married Brooke?"
"No. Arthur married Brooke because someone ordered him to."
"Who?"
Julian's expression changed.
Before he could answer, the building lights went out.
A red laser moved across the shelves.
Julian fired first. The bullet shattered the lamp. Marcus dragged Sienna behind a cabinet while Eleanor dropped beside the recorder. Suppressed gunfire punched neat holes through the boxes around them.
Julian shouted, "Rear stairs!"
They moved through darkness.
On the landing, a man in black tactical clothing blocked the exit. Julian struck him with the gun and tore off his mask.
The man was one of Richard's estate guards.
"Your employer is dead," Julian said.
The guard laughed through blood. "Which employer?"
More footsteps approached.
They escaped through a loading door and entered an alley where two cars waited. Julian pointed toward the first.
"Get in."
Marcus raised his weapon again. "We are not going anywhere with you."
Julian removed a phone and played a live video.
Brooke sat in the back of a moving van. Her hands were bound. A digital clock beside her counted down from fifty-eight minutes.
Arthur's voice came through the video.
Bring the original certificate to Saint Orison Hospital. One person only.
Eleanor recognized the hospital name. It had closed twenty years earlier after a maternity records scandal.
The hospital where she and Brooke had been born.
Julian said, "Arthur does not know you have a fake."
"Then we use it."
"He will test the fiber."
"Can you make a duplicate?"
"Not in fifty-eight minutes."
Sienna picked up the flash drive. "Maybe we do not need the certificate."
They looked at her.
She held up the wedding gift card.
"Arthur reacted before the marriage certificate appeared on the screen. He knew what was coming because he recognized the box."
Eleanor remembered his expression when Sienna first lifted the black lid. Fear before evidence.
Sienna continued. "The box itself means something."
Julian's face became unreadable.
"Where did you get it?" Eleanor asked.
He did not answer quickly enough.
Eleanor moved toward him. "You sent the gift."
"No."
"But you know who did."
Julian looked at the countdown. Forty-nine minutes.
"The black box is a network summons," he said. "It means a hidden trustee has called for judgment."
"Who is the trustee?"
Julian looked at Eleanor.
"Your mother."
Eleanor felt anger rise through the shock. "Our mother died eight years ago."
Julian opened the second car door.
"Then someone has been using her authority since the funeral."
The live video changed. Arthur appeared beside Brooke. He held a knife against the rope at her wrists, almost gentle.
"Forty-five minutes, Eleanor."
May you like
He looked into the camera and smiled.
"Come home to the hospital where your mother bought you."
