Chapter 6 - The Fourth Witness
Rachel refused to enter Adrian’s car until Mrs. Bell did.
They sat in the back with Emily between them. Adrian drove along the river road without headlights for nearly a mile before turning onto an abandoned service route.
“Where are we going?” Rachel asked.
“To a place Victor does not control.”
“Does such a place exist?”
“Fewer every year.”
Adrian checked the mirror.
“You still have the photograph?”
“Yes.”
“Did Thomas see it?”
“Yes.”
Adrian exhaled slowly.
“That complicates things.”
“Thomas may have just been shot.”
“He planned that diversion.”
“You knew?”
“He sent me a message at 8:44.”
Rachel remembered the timeline.
At 8:44, Adrian had left the ballroom.
“What did it say?”
“Take the river road. Bring Rachel.”
“Not Emily?”
“No.”
“Then why did Victor target her?”
“I don’t know.”
Rachel leaned forward.
“You have lied to me since I arrived.”
“I am trying to keep you alive.”
“Try using the truth.”
Adrian’s hands tightened on the wheel.
“The fourth man in the photograph, Jonah Vale, is not dead.”
Mrs. Bell made a quiet sound.
Adrian continued.
“Jonah survived the warehouse fire. His injuries were severe, and Victor’s people believed he died inside. We moved him before the bodies were identified.”
“Where is he?”
“You are about to meet him.”
The car turned through the gates of an abandoned monastery outside the city. The main building had collapsed years earlier, but one stone cottage remained lit.
A woman opened the door before they knocked.
She was tall, with short gray hair and a scar crossing her left cheek.
“Inside,” she ordered.
Adrian drove the car into an old carriage house.
The woman locked the doors.
“Are we safe?” Rachel asked.
“No,” she replied. “But we are harder to find.”
She introduced herself as Mara Vale.
Jonah’s older sister.
Inside the cottage, medical equipment surrounded a narrow bed. A man lay beneath blankets, his face and arms marked by old burns.
Rachel recognized his eyes from the photograph.
Jonah Vale was alive.
He opened them as Rachel approached.
“Daniel’s wife,” he whispered.
Rachel sat beside him.
“You knew my husband.”
“I failed him.”
“What happened?”
Jonah’s damaged fingers trembled.
“Victor found out about the investigation. He offered each of us money. Then threats. Then accidents.”
“Daniel’s crash was not an accident.”
“No.”
Rachel had known since Thomas spoke the word murder.
Hearing it confirmed still tore something open inside her.
“Who forced his car off the road?”
“I do not know. Marcus arranged it, but another vehicle struck Daniel’s car. The driver vanished.”
“Was Daniel killed instantly?”
Jonah looked away.
Rachel seized his wrist.
“Was he?”
“We never found his body.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because it matters.”
Adrian stepped between them.
“Rachel, there is something you need to understand.”
She stood.
“No more careful explanations. Tell me everything.”
Jonah pointed toward a locked metal case.
Mara brought it to the table.
Inside were notebooks, photographs, memory cards, and sealed envelopes.
One envelope bore Rachel’s name in Daniel’s handwriting.
Her knees weakened.
She opened it.
The paper inside contained only one sentence.
Trust Thomas with the evidence, but do not trust him with Emily.
Rachel looked up.
No one spoke.
“Why would Daniel write this?”
Jonah closed his eyes.
“Because Thomas was keeping his own secret.”
“What secret?”
The cottage lights flickered.
Mara crossed to the window.
A vehicle had stopped beyond the monastery gates.
Then another.
Adrian drew a pistol from beneath his coat.
“Victor found us.”
Mara turned off the lights.
“No. Victor’s men use black vehicles.”
Through the rain, Rachel saw three white vans.
Their doors opened.
Men and women wearing federal insignia emerged.
A loudspeaker activated.
“Adrian Bennett, come outside with your hands visible.”
Adrian looked genuinely shocked.
Rachel held Daniel’s note.
“Are they real agents?”
Jonah whispered from the bed.
“They are not here for Adrian.”
May you like
A red laser dot moved across the wall.
It stopped on Emily’s chest.
