Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead)
Nora called again thirty-four minutes later.
This time she gave Ethan an address.
A diner outside Providence.
Midnight.
Come alone.
Detective Reed refused immediately.
“You are not going alone.”
“She won’t show if police are there.”
“She’s a witness in a possible abduction.”
“She stayed hidden for ten years. She knows how to disappear.”
Reed cursed under his breath.
In the end, Ethan went inside alone while two unmarked cars waited several blocks away.
The diner was nearly empty.
A waitress poured coffee near the register.
A truck driver slept over a plate of fries.
At the rear booth sat a woman in a green coat.
Ethan stopped.
Nora Bennett had been twenty-two when he last saw her.
Now she was thirty-four.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably alive.
She looked at him.
“You came.”
“I went to your funeral.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Sit.”
Ethan remained standing.
“Where is Olivia?”
“I don’t know.”
His anger surged.
“You said you could help.”
“I can.”
“Then start talking.”
Nora glanced toward the windows.
“Sit down.”
He did.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Finally Ethan said, “Did Victoria fake your death?”
“No.”
“Conrad?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Nora looked directly at him.
“Your father.”
Ethan said nothing.
“Thomas Pierce arranged everything,” she continued. “New identity. Funeral. Documents.”
“Why?”
“Because I was going to be killed.”
“By whom?”
“Conrad Hale.”
Ethan leaned back.
Nora’s fingers shook around her coffee cup.
“Olivia found fraudulent transfers while auditing the Hale Foundation. Millions were being siphoned through charities and shell companies.”
“I saw the files.”
“She thought it was ordinary embezzlement.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No.”
“What was it?”
Nora’s expression darkened.
“Payments.”
“To whom?”
“Judges. Inspectors. Contractors. Politicians. Security companies. Anyone Conrad needed.”
Ethan frowned.
“And my father?”
“At first, Olivia thought he was part of it.”
“Was he?”
“Yes.”
The answer landed hard.
“But later he tried to get out,” Nora added.
Ethan stared.
“Why?”
“You.”
“Me?”
“Thomas told Olivia that Conrad wanted Pierce Meridian’s logistics network.”
“For what?”
“Moving things without inspection.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“What things?”
“Cash. Stolen property. Documents. Sometimes people.”
Ethan pushed the coffee away.
“You expect me to believe my father was involved in trafficking?”
“I expect you to understand that rich men call crimes business when enough lawyers stand around the table.”
Ethan’s face hardened.
Nora didn’t apologize.
“Thomas helped Conrad build the network,” she continued. “Then he discovered Conrad had started using Pierce facilities without authorization. He panicked.”
“And Olivia?”
“She had enough information to expose both families.”
“So my father hid her.”
“No.”
Nora shook her head.
“He tried to.”
Ethan frowned.
“Victoria got to Olivia first.”
“What did she do?”
“She offered money.”
“The cash from the envelope.”
“Some of it.”
“For what?”
“To leave you.”
Ethan clenched his jaw.
“Olivia refused.”
“Then Victoria threatened Lucy.”
The world seemed to narrow.
Nora continued.
“Olivia was pregnant. Victoria knew.”
“How?”
“Someone inside your family told her.”
“My mother?”
“I don’t know.”
Ethan remembered Margaret’s guilt.
Nora leaned closer.
“Victoria showed Olivia photographs of you entering Pierce Tower. Photographs of Margaret grocery shopping. Claire leaving college.”
“Threats.”
“Yes.”
“She told Olivia accidents happen to families.”
Ethan looked toward the window.
Rain streaked the glass.
“So Olivia disappeared.”
“With Thomas’s help.”
Ethan turned back.
“My father helped her leave me?”
“He believed it was temporary.”
“Eleven years is temporary?”
“It was supposed to be six months.”
“What changed?”
“Conrad discovered Thomas was helping her.”
Ethan felt his pulse quicken.
“What happened?”
“Thomas made a deal.”
“What deal?”
“He agreed to stay silent if Conrad left Olivia and Lucy alone.”
“And Conrad agreed?”
“For a while.”
“What broke the deal?”
Nora’s eyes lowered.
“Thomas began collecting evidence.”
“Against Conrad?”
“Against everyone.”
“Where is it?”
“That’s what everyone wants.”
Ethan understood.
“The ledger.”
Nora nodded.
“Olivia has it?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said you knew where the original was.”
“I knew where Thomas hid it ten years ago.”
“Where?”
“A house on Lake Briar.”
Ethan knew the place.
The Pierce family had owned a hunting lodge there until his father sold it.
“Who owns it now?”
Nora gave him a grim smile.
“Conrad Hale.”
Ethan’s phone buzzed.
A message from Reed.
LEAVE NOW.
Ethan looked toward the windows.
Nora saw his expression.
“What?”
“We’ve got company.”
A black SUV pulled into the parking lot.
Then another.
Nora stood.
“Back exit.”
Two men entered through the front door.
Gray suits.
The same security uniforms Ethan had seen at the church.
He grabbed Nora’s hand.
They ran through the kitchen.
A cook shouted.
The rear door opened onto an alley.
Detective Reed’s vehicle screeched around the corner.
Ethan pushed Nora inside.
Reed accelerated.
Behind them, one of the SUVs followed.
“Who knew you were here?” Ethan asked Nora.
“No one.”
“Then how did they find us?”
Nora looked at his phone.
“Turn it off.”
He did.
Too late.
The SUV stayed behind them.
Reed radioed another unit.
Two police cruisers joined the chase.
The pursuing vehicle suddenly turned down a side street and vanished.
Reed glanced in the mirror.
“They wanted us to know they could find you.”
Nora said nothing.
Then Ethan’s powered-down phone lit up by itself.
Everyone stared.
A message appeared on the screen.
LAKE BRIAR IS EMPTY.
May you like
A second message followed.
BUT OLIVIA ISN’T.
