Chapter 4 - THE MAN BEHIND THE CAMERA
Elena called the hotel.
Margaret’s niece answered on the first ring.
“Is Poppy safe?”
“Yes. She just fell asleep again.”
“Close the curtains and lock the door.”
“They’re already locked. What happened?”
“Did anyone come to the room?”
“No.”
“Did you see anyone outside the window?”
“Elena, we’re on the third floor.”
“I know.”
Margaret took the phone.
“Claire, move Poppy into the bathroom. Call your husband. Do not open the door for anyone except us.”
They hurried through the mansion grounds toward Elena’s car.
When they reached the service road, the dark green file box was gone.
So was the photograph.
Margaret stared at the empty pavement.
“Someone is cleaning the path behind us.”
Elena drove toward the hotel while calling Marcus Reed.
The number she found online went directly to voicemail.
“This is Elena Vale,” she said. “You photographed my daughter. Call me now.”
Three minutes later, her phone rang.
She answered through the car speakers.
“Where are you?”
Marcus’s voice was calm.
“Driving.”
“You need to return to your hotel.”
“I’m already going there.”
“Do not approach the garden house.”
“You sent the message.”
“No.”
“The photograph came from your phone.”
A pause.
“How do you know?”
“I saw your reflection.”
Marcus exhaled.
“I took that photograph an hour ago.”
Elena gripped the steering wheel.
“Why?”
“Mr. Hawthorne instructed me years ago to locate you if any new information appeared.”
“Graham told you to search for me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After you left Boston.”
The road blurred for a moment.
Elena forced herself to focus.
“How long did you look?”
“Seven months.”
“And you didn’t find me?”
“Every address led to a dead end. Your employment records were sealed. Your telephone number was changed. Your social accounts vanished.”
“I didn’t seal anything.”
“I know that now.”
“Why did you take the photograph tonight?”
“I recognized Margaret Bell near the hotel. I followed her and saw the child.”
“Then someone stole the photograph from you.”
“It was transmitted automatically to the estate security system. Vivian has access to that system.”
“So she sent the message.”
“Possibly.”
“You work for her.”
“I work for Graham.”
“Then tell him.”
“He is in the air. His satellite connection is unstable.”
Elena heard another voice in the background.
Marcus covered the phone, but the words remained faintly audible.
The east wing has been breached.
“Are you at the mansion?” Elena asked.
“Yes.”
“Vivian is there.”
“She just arrived.”
“Then how could she send the photograph from an unknown number?”
“She has staff.”
Margaret leaned closer to the speaker.
“Ask him about the garden house.”
Elena did.
Marcus went silent.
“What did you find?” he asked.
“A brass key.”
“Do not use it.”
“Why?”
“The chamber beneath the garden house was sealed after Arthur died.”
“That is where he may have hidden my letter.”
“It is also where he kept records that never appeared in the company archives.”
“What kind of records?”
“I don’t know.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Elena, listen carefully. Vivian is frightened, but she may not be the person you should fear.”
“Who is?”
The call disconnected.
Elena tried to call back.
No signal.
When they arrived at the hotel, Claire’s police-officer husband was standing outside the room.
Poppy was safe.
Elena held her daughter for several minutes without speaking.
Poppy rested her head against Elena’s collarbone, unaware of the struggle unfolding around her.
Claire’s husband inspected the window.
“There are fresh marks on the roof ledge,” he said. “Someone could have crossed from the maintenance platform.”
“Could they enter the room?”
“Not without breaking the glass.”
Margaret showed him the message, but Elena stopped her from mentioning the estate.
The less local police knew until Graham arrived, the less opportunity Vivian had to redirect the investigation.
After Claire and her husband left, Margaret placed Arthur’s cassette tape on the table.
“We need to hear this.”
The hotel had no cassette player.
Margaret called an old friend who owned an electronics repair shop. Forty minutes later, the friend delivered a battered portable player and left without questions.
Elena inserted the tape.
For several seconds, only static filled the room.
Then Arthur Hawthorne’s voice emerged.
The recording was dated two days after Elena visited the estate while pregnant.
Vivian spoke first.
“You had no right to take that letter.”
Arthur answered.
“It was addressed to Graham.”
“He cannot see it.”
“Elena is carrying his child.”
“You don’t know that.”
“She says she is.”
“Women have made similar claims before.”
“Elena is not one of those women.”
“You hardly know her.”
“I know my son.”
Vivian’s voice became colder.
“And I know what happens if Graham walks away from the merger to chase a frightened schoolteacher across the country.”
“He would not be chasing her. He would be taking responsibility.”
“He would lose the board vote.”
“Then let him lose it.”
“The company employs forty thousand people.”
“And how many lives are you willing to control in order to protect it?”
Static interrupted the recording.
When the voices returned, Vivian sounded closer to the microphone.
“I have already told Elena that Graham does not want her.”
Arthur’s chair scraped against the floor.
“You did what?”
“She will leave.”
“And when Graham discovers the truth?”
“He won’t.”
“You cannot hide a child forever.”
“I only need enough time.”
“For what?”
“For Graham to marry Celeste and secure the Marlow agreement.”
Elena stopped the tape.
Her hands were shaking.
Margaret sat beside her.
“Celeste never married him.”
“No.”
“So Vivian’s plan failed.”
“Not entirely.”
Elena looked toward Poppy sleeping on the bed.
Vivian had taken the months that Graham might have shared in the pregnancy.
She had taken Poppy’s birth.
Her first smile.
Her first steps.
She had taken Elena’s chance to know whether Graham would have chosen them.
Margaret pressed play again.
Arthur’s voice returned.
“I will give him the letter myself.”
“No, you won’t.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It is a fact. Your heart is failing. Graham already carries the company. If you add this burden now, you may destroy everything we built.”
“What we built was meant to protect our family.”
“What we built is the family.”
Arthur remained silent for several seconds.
Then he said, “I’m placing the letter where you cannot reach it.”
Vivian laughed once.
“There is nowhere in this house I cannot reach.”
“It is not in the house.”
The cassette clicked.
The recording ended.
Margaret took the tape from the player.
“The garden house.”
Elena looked at the brass key.
Her phone rang again.
This time, the caller identification displayed Graham’s name.
Elena stopped breathing.
She had deleted his number years ago, but she still recognized every digit.
She answered.
“Graham?”
A woman spoke.
“Elena, this is Celeste Marlow.”
Elena’s hope collapsed into confusion.
“Why are you calling from Graham’s phone?”
“He asked me to. His plane made an emergency landing in Maine.”
“Is he hurt?”
“No, but someone interfered with the jet’s navigation system.”
Margaret stood.
Celeste continued.
“Graham believes the interference began after he told his mother he was coming home early.”
Elena stared at the cassette player.
“Where is he now?”
“Arranging ground transport. He gave me one instruction.”
“What?”
“To tell you not to trust anyone carrying Hawthorne credentials.”
Elena looked at Margaret.
“Even Marcus?”
“Especially Marcus.”
A knock sounded at the hotel door.
Three slow taps.
May you like
Marcus Reed spoke from the hallway.
“Elena, open the door. We need to move Poppy immediately.”
