Chapter 11 - The House Beneath the Quarry)
Federal agents moved on all three locations before dawn.
Two were empty.
The third was an abandoned property near an old limestone quarry.
From the road it looked like a farmhouse.
Beneath it was something else.
A reinforced basement.
Six rooms.
Locks on the outside.
Medical supplies.
Burner phones.
Fake passports.
No people.
Grant arrived hours later after the scene was secured.
Ortiz did not want him there.
Grant insisted.
One room contained a child's drawing taped to a wall.
A yellow house.
A green tree.
Two stick figures.
Grant stared at it too long.
"Not Sophie's," he said.
Ortiz nodded.
"We know."
Another room contained hundreds of photographs.
People entering courthouses.
Airports.
Hospitals.
Schools.
Grant found photographs of himself.
Mason.
Daniel.
Then Amelia.
One picture showed her after the crash.
Grant stopped breathing.
She sat in a wheelchair outside a clinic.
A bandage covered her forehead.
Alive.
The date printed on the image was two days after her supposed death.
Grant touched the edge.
Amelia.
Alive.
Another photograph was taken four months later.
She wore sunglasses and walked beside an unknown woman through what appeared to be an airport.
Grant turned to Ortiz.
"Four months."
"Yes."
"She was alive four months after the funeral."
"At least."
Hope and anger collided inside him.
Why didn't she come home?
Why didn't she call?
What prevented her?
Or had she chosen not to?
Grant hated himself for even thinking it.
Then an agent called from another room.
"Detective."
They entered.
A ledger had been found behind a removable wall panel.
Names appeared with dates and status codes.
Some read RELEASED.
Some read TRANSFERRED.
Some read CLOSED.
Grant scanned for Amelia.
A.M. appeared twice.
First:
A.M. TRANSFERRED 11/14.
Then six months later:
A.M. STATUS UNKNOWN.
Grant pointed.
"What does that mean?"
Ortiz shook his head.
Vanessa had been arrested after the hotel shooting.
She agreed to cooperate in exchange for consideration at sentencing.
Grant met her inside an interrogation room later that afternoon.
A camera recorded everything.
He placed the photograph of Amelia on the table.
Vanessa stared at it.
"You've seen this."
"No."
"Don't lie."
"I'm not."
Grant pointed to the date.
"Four months after the crash."
Vanessa looked shaken.
"I stopped receiving information about her after the clinic."
"Then who moved her?"
"I don't know."
"Who could?"
"Vale."
"Anyone else?"
Vanessa hesitated.
"One person."
Grant waited.
"Mason."
Grant laughed.
"Mason claims he thought she was dead."
"He lied."
"About what?"
"Mason knew Vale's safe-house system."
"Did he know where Amelia was?"
"I don't know."
Grant stood.
"Everyone says that."
Vanessa looked at him.
"Grant."
He stopped.
"There is something I never told you."
He stared.
"What?"
"Amelia contacted me once after the crash."
Grant slowly sat down.
"When?"
"Seven months later."
"What did she say?"
"She called from an unknown number."
Vanessa's eyes filled.
"She said she knew what I had done."
"Saving her?"
"Everything."
Grant waited.
"She said Northstar was bigger than Vale. She said she had found someone inside the organization who wanted to bring it down."
"Who?"
"She wouldn't tell me."
"Did she mention me?"
Vanessa looked away.
"Yes."
Grant's voice softened despite himself.
"What did she say?"
"She asked if you and the children were safe."
Grant closed his eyes.
"And?"
"I said yes."
"Did she ask to speak to me?"
"No."
The answer hurt.
Vanessa continued.
"She said if she contacted you, Vale would use you to find her."
Grant opened his eyes.
"Was that true?"
"Probably."
"So she stayed away to protect us."
"That's what she believed."
Grant looked at the photograph.
"What happened after that?"
"Nothing. I never heard from her again."
The interrogation-room door opened.
Ortiz entered.
"We found Adrian Vale."
Grant stood.
"Where?"
Ortiz looked at Vanessa.
"Dead."
Vanessa went pale.
"How?"
"Vehicle explosion outside a warehouse."
Grant stared.
"Convenient."
Ortiz nodded.
"Very."
Vanessa whispered, "Then someone is cleaning the network."
Grant looked at her.
"Who?"
She shook her head.
"I don't know."
Ortiz placed a sealed evidence bag on the table.
Inside was a small metal object recovered from Vale's vehicle.
A key.
Around it was a faded blue ribbon.
Exactly like the one attached to Amelia's shed key.
Grant stared.
"There were two."
Vanessa whispered, "Amelia always made copies."
Ortiz nodded.
"This key has a number engraved on it."
Grant leaned closer.
214.
Ortiz continued.
"We think it's a locker."
"Where?"
"We checked train stations and airports."
"And?"
"Nothing."
Vanessa suddenly looked up.
"Not a locker."
Grant turned.
"What?"
"It's a room."
"Where?"
Vanessa's voice was barely audible.
"Northstar called their original facility The Harbor."
Ortiz frowned.
"Location?"
"I never knew."
Grant stared at the number.
"Room 214."
May you like
Vanessa nodded.
"And if Vale kept that key for three years, whatever is inside that room mattered more than he ever admitted."
