Chapter 10 - The Friend Who Lied)
Mia wanted the profile to be wrong.
It was not.
Payment records showed deposits into an account linked to Tessa.
Photographs showed her meeting Owen outside work.
Messages included details about Mia.
When she arrived.
When she left.
What she searched online.
Whether she asked questions about Thomas.
Mia sat alone in Bellrose's empty dining room with Tessa's profile open on a tablet.
Nora stood across from her.
"Do you want me to bring her in?"
Mia stared at the screen.
"No."
"She may run."
"No."
"Mia."
"I want to ask her myself."
Tessa was still at Mia's apartment.
When Mia arrived, her mother was asleep.
Tessa sat on the sofa watching television.
She smiled.
"How did it go?"
Mia placed the tablet on the coffee table.
Tessa saw the screen.
Her face collapsed.
Mia said nothing.
Tessa began crying.
"How long?"
Tessa wiped her face.
"Eight months."
"Before I found the photograph."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I needed money."
"So did I."
"I know."
"You reported everything I did."
"At first it was stupid things. When you arrived. Whether you talked to customers. Owen said the owners were worried about staff theft."
Mia laughed bitterly.
"And later?"
Tessa looked down.
"After you found the picture, he told me to watch you."
"You sent me the second photograph."
"I was trying to help."
"After eight months of spying."
"I know."
"Did you tell Owen I searched the warehouse fire?"
Tessa nodded.
Mia closed her eyes.
That hurt more than she expected.
"Did you tell him about my mother?"
"No."
"Tessa."
"I swear."
"Black Harbor had her medical schedule."
"I never gave him that."
Mia studied her friend.
She believed that part.
"Why did you take the key card?"
"Because I realized Owen was dangerous."
"When?"
"The night he asked me if your mother always walked home from the pharmacy alone."
Mia's anger sharpened.
"I told him I didn't know."
Tessa wiped her eyes.
"Then I went into his office."
"You could have told me."
"I was ashamed."
"You could have stopped."
"I tried."
Mia looked at the woman she had worked beside nearly every day.
Friendship did not disappear in one dramatic moment.
It broke unevenly.
A memory at a time.
Shared lunches.
Jokes in the kitchen.
Covering shifts.
Birthday cupcakes.
Now each memory had a question attached.
Was that real?
"Why did you warn me at the hospital?"
Tessa whispered, "Because when I saw you run outside to Elias, I realized you were the only person in that building who wasn't afraid."
"That's not an answer."
"I was afraid all the time."
Tessa looked at her.
"And I hated who it made me."
Mia sat back.
She understood fear.
That did not erase betrayal.
But it complicated it.
"Federal investigators will want to talk to you."
"I know."
"They'll see the payments."
"I know."
"Tell them everything."
Tessa nodded.
"Will you ever forgive me?"
Mia looked away.
"I don't know."
It was the truth.
Tessa left with investigators that evening.
She eventually agreed to cooperate.
Her evidence helped identify three additional Black Harbor operators.
But the most important discovery came from the server room.
A technician recovered deleted audio recorded two nights before Elias collapsed.
Owen's voice.
And another voice.
Female.
Older.
Elegant.
Unknown.
Owen said, "Vance has Thomas Dawson's bag."
The woman replied, "Then take it."
"He isn't his father."
"No. Elias has something Arthur never had."
"What?"
"A conscience. Which makes him predictable."
Owen asked, "And the girl?"
"Mia Dawson may lead us to the tunnel."
"What if she doesn't?"
"Then her mother will."
Mia listened twice.
Nora looked pale.
"You recognize her."
Nora nodded slowly.
"Margaret Bell."
Elias entered.
He listened to the recording.
His expression became unreadable.
"She's alive."
Mia looked at him.
"You sound surprised."
"I watched her funeral."
"What?"
"Seven years ago."
Nora explained.
"Closed coffin. Private service. No public death certificate because she supposedly died overseas."
Mia stared at the speaker.
Margaret Bell had staged her death.
Then continued running Black Harbor from the shadows.
"Where is she?"
Elias shook his head.
"We don't know."
A technician called from the server room.
"We found something else."
They hurried downstairs.
On the largest monitor was a live connection.
One remote user remained logged into the Black Harbor network.
Location data flickered on screen.
The technician zoomed in.
Nora whispered, "That's impossible."
Mia recognized the address.
So did Elias.
It was Vance House.
The mansion where Elias and Nora had grown up.
May you like
Margaret Bell was not hiding overseas.
She was inside the Vance family home.
