Chapter 12 - VICTOR’S CONFESSION)
Victor Sterling spent the night in an interview room.
By morning, his lawyers had stopped pretending the situation was a misunderstanding.
The evidence from Michael’s card connected Victor to falsified Lazarus reports, bribery, coercion, financial fraud and the illegal medication scheme involving Arthur.
But not Michael’s death.
Victor continued denying that.
Elena believed him.
She hated that she believed him.
There had been something different in his face when Leo disappeared.
Victor feared someone.
That did not absolve him.
It only made the conspiracy larger.
Elena entered the interview room with Detective Price.
Victor looked exhausted.
“No attorney?” Elena asked.
“Mine quit.”
“Smart man.”
Victor almost smiled.
“You always were funnier than Michael admitted.”
“Don’t talk about him like you knew him.”
“He was my brother.”
“And you betrayed him.”
Victor looked down.
“Yes.”
Elena had not expected the answer.
“You admit it?”
“I admit what I did.”
“Then tell me why.”
Victor leaned back.
“When Michael discovered Lazarus had problems, he wanted to shut the entire division.”
“Correctly.”
“We had invested eight hundred million dollars.”
“So you changed safety data.”
“I approved changes to a summary.”
“People could have died.”
“No device reached market.”
“Because Michael stopped it.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“Then you followed him.”
“I hired people to watch him.”
“Why?”
“I needed to know what evidence he had.”
“Did you cause his crash?”
“No.”
“Did you order anyone to frighten him?”
Victor hesitated.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Someone was supposed to stop him on the road.”
Elena went still.
Price leaned forward.
“Explain.”
“Two men were supposed to intercept Michael, take his laptop and let him go.”
“When?”
“The night he died.”
Elena’s chest tightened.
“What happened?”
“They never reached him.”
“How do you know?”
“They called me.”
“What did they say?”
“Michael’s car was already gone.”
“Gone where?”
“Over the barrier.”
Elena stared.
“So your people found the crash.”
“Yes.”
“Before police?”
“Yes.”
“How long before?”
Victor whispered:
“Twenty-six minutes.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Twenty-six minutes.
Michael might have been alive.
“Did they check the car?”
Victor said nothing.
Elena slammed both hands onto the table.
“Did they check him?”
“Yes.”
“Was he alive?”
Victor looked sick.
“I don’t know.”
“Was he alive?”
“One of the men said he heard something.”
Elena stopped breathing.
“What?”
“A voice.”
Her knees almost failed.
“What voice?”
“From inside the car.”
“Michael?”
“They couldn’t tell.”
“And they left?”
Victor’s eyes filled with something Elena had never seen in them.
Shame.
“They panicked.”
Elena stepped backward.
For three years she had believed Michael died instantly.
The coroner could not establish exact time because the vehicle burned.
Twenty-six minutes.
Maybe longer.
Victor whispered:
“I didn’t know until the next morning.”
Elena wanted to hurt him.
Price placed a hand near her arm but did not touch her.
Victor continued.
“When I learned, I paid them to disappear.”
“Why?”
“Because if police knew my men were there…”
“You protected yourself.”
“Yes.”
Elena stared at him.
“You left me believing it was an accident.”
“Yes.”
“You attended his funeral.”
Victor closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“You hugged Leo.”
He began crying.
Elena felt nothing for him.
Victor reached into his pocket.
Price stopped him.
“It’s paper.”
She removed it.
A receipt.
Storage facility.
Unit 417.
Victor said:
“One of the men contacted me six months later.”
“Why?”
“He had taken something from the crash.”
“What?”
“A metal case.”
Elena’s pulse quickened.
“Michael’s?”
“I think so.”
“Where is it?”
“Unit 417.”
Price sent officers immediately.
The storage unit belonged to a false identity.
Inside they found the metal case.
Fire damaged.
Locked.
Forensics opened it.
Documents survived inside heatproof sleeves.
One passport.
Michael Sterling.
One second passport under another name.
Daniel Cross.
Cash.
A satellite phone.
And a train ticket.
The ticket was dated the night Michael died.
Destination:
Port Mason.
Elena stared.
Michael had not merely been driving to meet Adrian.
He had been preparing to leave Bellmere.
Adrian looked equally surprised.
“He never told me.”
Then investigators found a photograph inside the case.
Michael stood beside Arthur.
The photograph was dated ten days before the crash.
Behind them was a sign.
BLACKWATER HOUSE.
Elena turned to Arthur’s empty hospital bed in her mind.
Do not look for me.
Finish what Michael started.
Victor studied the photograph.
His face drained of color.
“You know that place,” Elena said.
Victor nodded.
“What is it?”
He looked at her.
“Our mother died there.”
Elena stared.
“I thought Beatrice died at the family home.”
“That’s what Father told everyone.”
“Why?”
May you like
Victor looked at Blackwater House.
“Because she wasn’t alone when she died.”
