Chapter 10 - The Dead Man’s Voice)
Ethan stared at Victoria.
“My father died seven years ago.”
“I saw the body.”
“No.”
Margaret’s voice came from behind him.
Everyone turned.
She had arrived through the second elevator with Claire.
Margaret looked at Victoria.
“You saw a closed casket.”
Ethan’s heart began beating faster.
“The hospital.”
Margaret nodded slowly.
“Thomas collapsed at home. An ambulance took him away. Conrad arranged everything after that.”
Ethan looked at Reed.
“Death certificate.”
“We’ll verify it.”
Victoria held out the flash drive.
“You need to hear this.”
Ethan took it.
On his laptop was a single audio recording.
Static.
Then a man’s voice.
Older.
Weak.
But familiar.
“Ethan.”
Ethan stopped breathing.
Thomas Pierce.
His father.
“If this reaches you, then Samuel has finally made the mistake I spent years waiting for.”
Margaret collapsed into a chair.
The voice continued.
“I know what you were told about my death. Some of it was necessary. Some of it was cowardice.”
Ethan’s eyes burned.
“I could not return without putting you, Claire, Olivia, and the child in danger.”
Lucy looked at Ethan.
Thomas continued.
“Samuel controls people through what they fear losing. I chose to let him believe I was gone.”
Ethan clenched his fists.
Seven years.
Birthdays.
Funerals.
His father had watched from somewhere while his family mourned him.
“I am sorry.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
The recording continued.
“If Samuel is moving Olivia, he is going to Blackridge.”
Victoria whispered, “That’s where they’re going.”
Reed looked at her.
“What is Blackridge?”
“An old mining town in northern Maine.”
“Why?”
Victoria answered, “Northstar’s first headquarters.”
On the recording, Thomas said:
“The original records are beneath the main office. Samuel believes Olivia knows how to open the vault.”
Ethan looked at Nora.
“Does she?”
Nora nodded.
“She has Thomas’s code.”
“Why didn’t you mention this?”
“I didn’t know Blackridge still existed.”
Victoria continued.
“Samuel forced my father to help him for years.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You expect me to believe Conrad is a victim?”
“No.”
Victoria’s face hardened.
“He enjoyed it.”
“Then why did you help him?”
Silence.
“Because he was my father.”
Lucy looked disgusted.
“That’s not an excuse.”
Victoria’s eyes filled.
“No.”
For once, she did not argue.
“It isn’t.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“You threatened Olivia when she was pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“You paid her.”
“Yes.”
“You helped keep my daughter from me.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Then you planned to marry me so I could conveniently die.”
Her voice became almost inaudible.
“At first.”
Ethan stared.
“At first?”
“I was twenty-six when Samuel told me to get close to you.”
“You were at Nora’s funeral before that.”
“My father started it earlier.”
“So every day with me was a lie.”
Victoria looked at him.
“No.”
“You don’t get to say that.”
“I know.”
“Did you love me?”
She began crying.
“Yes.”
Ethan looked away.
That answer hurt more than if she had said no.
Victoria wiped her face.
“I kept delaying the wedding.”
Ethan remembered.
Three postponed dates.
Work.
Family illness.
Venue problems.
He had thought she was anxious.
“You were trying not to marry me?”
“I was trying to find a way out.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Samuel had Olivia.”
Ethan turned back.
“What?”
“Not continuously. He had people watching her. Watching Lucy.”
“So you protected them?”
Victoria gave a broken laugh.
“No. Olivia protected me.”
That surprised everyone.
Victoria continued.
“Two years ago, I tried to tell Samuel I was done. He threatened me. Olivia found out.”
“How?”
“She was watching us too.”
Nora almost smiled.
That sounded like her sister.
“Olivia contacted me anonymously,” Victoria said. “She gave me evidence I could use against Samuel if he tried to hurt me.”
“Then why were you still marrying Ethan?” Claire demanded.
“Because I was afraid.”
Lucy’s voice cut through the room.
“My mom was afraid too.”
Victoria looked at her.
“Yes.”
“But she didn’t marry someone so they could die.”
Victoria had no answer.
Reed took the flash drive.
“We can discuss guilt later. We need Blackridge.”
A search showed the town had been abandoned after a mine closure.
Northstar Meridian still owned several parcels through shell companies.
A helicopter could reach it in hours.
Weather would make flying dangerous.
They left anyway.
Ethan refused to stay behind.
Victoria went in custody.
Nora came because she knew old Northstar layouts.
Reed coordinated with Maine authorities.
Lucy remained with Margaret and Claire.
Before Ethan left, Lucy hugged him.
The first time.
He held her tightly.
“Bring Mom home.”
“I’m going to try.”
“And Grandpa?”
Ethan looked at her.
“I don’t know if he’s really alive.”
Lucy nodded.
Then she whispered, “If he is, I’m mad at him.”
“So am I.”
The helicopter lifted into the storm.
Hours later, Blackridge emerged beneath them.
Abandoned buildings.
Snow.
Pine forest.
One road.
And lights.
Several vehicles surrounded the old Northstar office.
As the helicopter descended beyond the ridge, Reed received a radio message.
A state trooper had found an ambulance.
Empty.
Blood in the back.
No bodies.
They approached Blackridge on foot.
Then Ethan heard something through the trees.
A woman screaming.
Olivia.
He knew the voice even after twelve years.
He ran.
Reed shouted after him.
Ethan reached the old building.
The door stood open.
Inside, a man lay unconscious.
Another was bleeding from the head.
Someone had fought back.
At the end of the corridor, a steel vault door was open.
Ethan entered.
A woman stood beside a table.
Brown hair.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakable.
Olivia.
She turned.
For twelve years Ethan had imagined what he would say if he ever saw her again.
Anger.
Questions.
Accusations.
Instead he whispered one word.
“Olivia.”
Her face broke.
“Ethan.”
Then a gun clicked behind him.
A man’s voice said:
“Step away from her.”
Ethan slowly turned.
An elderly man stood in the doorway.
Thin.
Pale.
Holding a pistol.
Samuel Pierce.
And behind him stood another man.
Ethan’s breath vanished.
His father.
May you like
Thomas Pierce.
Alive.
