Chapter 9 - What Owen Wanted)
The detention center interview room smelled like disinfectant and old coffee.
Mia sat behind reinforced glass.
Owen entered wearing a gray uniform.
Without his tailored shirts and silver watch, he looked smaller.
But not harmless.
He picked up the phone.
Mia did the same.
"You look tired," he said.
"You look unemployed."
His mouth tightened.
"You always were disrespectful."
"You threatened to fire me for helping a dying man."
"You should have listened."
"That advice didn't age well."
Owen leaned closer.
"You think this ends with Price?"
Mia said nothing.
"Price was never the top."
"Elias's father is dead."
"I'm not talking about Arthur Vance."
Mia studied him.
"Then who?"
Owen smiled.
"You want answers? Get me a deal."
"I don't control prosecutors."
"Elias does."
"No."
Owen laughed.
"You really believe he's legitimate now?"
"I believe he has better lawyers than you."
The smile disappeared.
Owen tapped the glass.
"There is one file missing from your father's evidence."
Mia's pulse changed.
"What file?"
"Ask Elias about Black Harbor."
Mia did not react.
She had learned that giving Owen emotion was giving him control.
"What is Black Harbor?"
"Ask Elias."
"If you know, tell me."
"I want relocation. Reduced sentence. New identity."
"You drugged Elias. You kidnapped Elena. You tried to burn four people alive."
"Then I guess information is expensive."
Mia stood.
Owen's confidence wavered.
"Sit down."
"No."
"Your father died because he discovered money laundering."
"I know."
"No."
Owen's voice sharpened.
"He died because he discovered what the money was funding."
Mia stopped.
Owen smiled again.
"Black Harbor."
"What was it?"
"A private network."
"For what?"
"People."
Mia's stomach tightened.
"What people?"
"Politicians. Judges. Business owners. Police. Criminals. Anyone useful."
"A corruption network."
"More than corruption."
Owen leaned toward the glass.
"Information."
Mia understood.
"Blackmail."
"Now you're listening."
"Who ran it?"
Owen's smile disappeared.
"Someone who still does."
"Name."
"Deal first."
Mia hung up.
Owen slammed his hand against the glass.
She walked out.
Nora waited in the hallway.
"You heard?"
"Every word."
"Elias?"
"Waiting downstairs."
Mia found him beside a black sedan.
"What is Black Harbor?"
Elias became very still.
That was enough.
"You know."
"Yes."
"And you didn't tell me."
"I wasn't sure it still existed."
"What was it?"
Elias looked toward the detention center.
"My father collected information on everyone he did business with."
"Blackmail."
"Insurance."
"That's the word bad people use for blackmail."
"Fair."
"Was Price part of it?"
"Yes."
"Who runs it now?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
Elias looked at her.
Mia continued.
"You do that thing with your jaw when you don't want to answer."
"What thing?"
"That."
Nora covered a smile.
Elias sighed.
"My father had a partner."
"Who?"
"Margaret Bell."
Mia blinked.
"Bell?"
"As in Bellrose?"
"Yes."
"Who is she?"
"Founder of Bellrose Hospitality."
Mia stared.
The cafe.
The investment company.
The expensive cars arriving every Thursday.
Owen's locked meetings.
The entire time, Bellrose had not merely been connected to the conspiracy.
It had been one of its meeting points.
"Where is Margaret Bell?"
Nora answered.
"Switzerland, supposedly."
"Supposedly?"
"No confirmed public appearance in seven years."
Mia looked at Elias.
"Dead?"
"Maybe."
"Then who's running Black Harbor?"
"We don't know."
Mia thought about all the hidden records.
The employee photographs.
The monitoring.
Bellrose was not just a cafe.
It was surveillance.
"Was Owen watching customers?"
Elias nodded.
"Likely."
Mia remembered small details.
A microphone Owen insisted remain plugged in behind the bar.
The new security system.
A private WiFi network.
Thursday meetings.
She felt sick.
"How many people did they record?"
Nora said, "Potentially hundreds."
"Why hasn't anyone found the servers?"
"We searched Bellrose."
Mia thought.
Then remembered something.
The basement wine storage room had one wall that always remained unusually cold.
Owen once became furious when a repair technician tried to drill near it.
Mia looked at Nora.
"I know where they are."
They entered Bellrose with federal investigators that afternoon.
The cafe was closed.
Chairs stood upside down on tables.
Sunlight crossed the empty floor.
For eleven months, Mia had walked through this room believing it was simply a job she disliked.
Now every corner felt different.
They entered the basement.
Mia pointed to the cold wall.
A contractor scanned it.
"There is a void behind this."
They opened the wall.
Behind it was a reinforced server room.
Rows of machines blinked in the darkness.
An investigator whispered, "My God."
Nora looked at Elias.
"Black Harbor."
Mia walked between the server racks.
One monitor remained active.
A login screen showed a list of user profiles.
Politicians.
Executives.
Police officials.
Judges.
Journalists.
Elias Vance.
Thomas Dawson.
Mia Dawson.
She stared at her own name.
Her profile had been updated three days ago.
A note read:
Subject displays high resistance to intimidation.
Potential leverage: Carol Dawson.
Mia's blood turned cold.
They had been watching her mother.
Nora moved beside her.
"We'll protect Carol."
Mia nodded.
Then she noticed another profile.
Tessa Reed.
Status:
ACTIVE ASSET.
Mia stopped breathing.
May you like
Tessa was not only her friend.
According to Black Harbor, Tessa had been working for them.
