Chapter 9 - Dinner for Four
Detective Ruiz told Caroline not to answer Luke again.
“He has violated the protection order,” she said. “That gives us grounds to arrest him.”
“Then arrest him.”
“He is not at his apartment or office. His phone routed through another country.”
“He is at Bellweather.”
“Our patrol checked. The house is dark.”
Caroline knew the patrol had checked doors and windows. They did not know about the passages.
She showed Ruiz her mother’s map, the photographs from the Meridian files and the audio from her support-belt recorder. Ruiz listened to Luke forcing the call, then contacted a prosecutor.
“This is stronger,” she said. “But the hidden room is the center. If he removed the forged records, we need the server data.”
“Daniel can recover it.”
Daniel did, remotely. At noon he found an active server beneath Luke’s office. Someone was deleting files.
At twelve fourteen, Helen’s phone sent Caroline a photograph. Helen sat in the Bellweather dining room with a bandage at her temple. Luke stood behind her. Beside him was Adrian Cole, a narrow-faced attorney Caroline had met twice at holiday parties.
The message contained six words.
Dinner at seven. Bring the trustee seal.
Helen had kept the physical seal used to authenticate estate transfers in a bank vault. Luke apparently believed Caroline could obtain it.
Ruiz wanted to place officers around the property and send Caroline inside with a transmitter.
“He expects her,” Ruiz said. “If we rush the house, he may hurt Helen in the passages before we locate them.”
Priya objected. Daniel objected. Caroline did not.
At six forty-five, she entered Bellweather wearing the pink maternity dress Luke loved. A microphone was clipped beneath its collar. The trustee seal in her handbag was a police replica.
Luke opened the door before she rang.
“You came alone?”
“Yes.”
He searched the handbag, her shoes and the folds of her dress. He did not find the microphone. He led her to the dining room.
Helen sat upright, pale but conscious. Adrian poured wine. A fourth place had been set for Caroline, and covered dishes waited beneath silver lids.
“This is obscene,” Caroline said.
Luke pulled out her chair. “This is negotiation.”
Dinner began with soup. Adrian described the agreement as if they were concluding an ordinary sale. Caroline would revoke her new directives, transfer Bellweather after the baby’s birth and state that Helen’s crash had been an accident. Luke would withdraw his custody petition and allow Caroline to remain in the east wing.
“You kidnapped her,” Caroline said.
“Helen drove while tired,” Adrian replied. “Luke found her wandering and brought her somewhere safe.”
Helen laughed once. “He struck my car from behind.”
Luke placed his spoon down. “Helen.”
She looked directly at Caroline. “Do not sign anything.”
Adrian pushed a folder across the table.
Caroline opened it. The transfer document had been revised. A new clause placed her unborn child under Luke’s sole guardianship if Caroline experienced mental incapacity.
“Who decides incapacity?” she asked.
“Two physicians,” Adrian said.
“From Westbridge?”
His eyes moved involuntarily toward Luke.
The microphone caught the silence.
Caroline placed the replica seal on the table. “Release Helen first.”
Luke examined the seal. “After you sign.”
“The trust requires her witness.”
“Not with the seal.”
He knew more about the trust than he should. Caroline remembered that only four people had possessed complete copies. One was dead. One was Helen. One was the court.
The fourth was Caroline’s mother.
“Where did you get the private schedule?” she asked Adrian.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“The pages that were never filed with the court.”
Adrian reached for his wine too quickly.
Luke stood. “Enough.”
At that moment, lights swept across the front windows.
Police vehicles came through the gates.
Luke seized Caroline’s microphone through the fabric and tore it free.
“You stupid woman.”
May you like
He pulled her into the service passage. Adrian dragged Helen in after them. By the time officers entered the dining room, four plates were still warm and every chair was empty.
Below the house, Luke pressed a knife to Caroline’s belly and whispered, “Tell them you made a mistake.”
