Chapter 12 - THE CHAPLAIN’S CONFESSION
Chaplain Gabriel Rowe had disappeared six months after Amelia and Nathaniel’s wedding.
His service records stated that he retired to a monastery in northern Italy.
The monastery had never heard of him.
Blackwood facial-recognition systems found no recent trace.
Nathaniel’s attorney, Thomas Reed, remained easier to locate.
He was found dead inside his apartment the morning after the chapel fire.
The police called it suicide.
Amelia found two glasses on his dining table.
One contained traces of a rare sedative.
“He had a visitor,” she said.
Nathaniel examined the security camera near the building entrance.
The footage from the previous night had been replaced with a loop.
“Whoever killed him controlled the building system.”
“Or Blackwood systems.”
Nathaniel looked at her.
“Yes.”
Their marriage had become a bridge crossed under gunfire.
Neither knew whether it would hold.
Cassandra survived the wound.
Victor moved her to a secure location against her will. Julian remained with her, though he no longer appeared certain whether he was protecting his wife or guarding a criminal.
Amelia questioned Victor.
He sat in a Blackwood interrogation room with no restraints.
“You knew Gabriel Rowe,” Amelia said.
“I knew the name he used.”
“What was his real name?”
“I do not know.”
“You said he attended our wedding.”
“I saw the security photograph after Nathaniel’s father died.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
Victor smiled faintly.
“Because at the time, I intended to take Blackwood Strategic from my nephew. His secret marriage was useful leverage.”
Nathaniel stood behind the glass wall.
Amelia continued.
“Did you recruit Cassandra?”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell her Theodore killed her father?”
“I told her Theodore knew more than he admitted.”
“That is not the same.”
“She heard what she wanted.”
“Did you order her to steal Hart Meridian funds?”
“I instructed her to trace Orpheus accounts.”
“She transferred millions into Vale Capital.”
“Cassandra developed expensive ambitions.”
“Did you approve the bridge safety report?”
Victor looked confused.
“What bridge?”
Amelia placed the document before him.
He read Julian’s signature.
“I have never seen this.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No. But it remains true.”
Amelia watched his face.
Victor was a practiced liar.
Yet the confusion seemed genuine.
“Why did Julian mention the bridge in Theodore’s study?”
“I suggest you ask Julian.”
They did.
Julian sat alone in another room, looking as though he had aged ten years in two days.
Amelia placed the audio transcript before him.
“What bridge were you discussing?”
Julian rubbed his face.
“Cassandra asked me to approve an inspection.”
“Why?”
“She said the bridge project needed urgent insurance clearance.”
“Did you review it?”
“No.”
“You signed without reading.”
“Yes.”
“Who gave Cassandra the document?”
“I don’t know.”
“She is your wife.”
A bitter laugh escaped him.
“I am beginning to understand how little that means.”
Amelia felt no satisfaction.
“Did you know she intercepted my letters?”
Julian looked down.
“I suspected.”
“You suspected.”
“She always collected the mail at Hart Manor.”
“And when my letters stopped?”
“She said you had moved on.”
“You received one directly from me every week.”
“At first.”
“Then?”
His silence answered.
Cassandra had likely intercepted his letters too.
“Why didn’t you contact my command?”
“I was angry.”
“You preferred to believe I abandoned you.”
“Yes.”
“Because it made your choices easier.”
Julian closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Amelia gathered the papers.
“Who suggested proposing to Cassandra?”
His eyes opened.
“A chaplain.”
Amelia stopped.
“What?”
“At a veterans’ charity event. I told him about you. He said some people are married to duty and can never belong to another person.”
“His name?”
“Gabriel Rowe.”
Amelia and Nathaniel searched every event record involving Gabriel.
They found him near Theodore after Amelia left.
Near Cassandra before she established Vale Capital.
Near Julian before the affair.
Near Nathaniel’s father during the Blackwood succession battle.
Gabriel had not simply attended Amelia’s wedding.
He had shaped the relationships around it.
Nathaniel restored part of Theodore’s damaged recording.
The three possible identities of Sebastian appeared as encrypted initials.
G.R.
S.K.
T.R.
Gabriel Rowe.
Samuel Kane.
Thomas Reed.
Samuel had disappeared.
Thomas was dead.
Gabriel was missing.
One of them might be Sebastian.
Or all three names might belong to the same network.
Then Amelia received a call from Evelyn Kane.
Her voice was weak.
“I escaped.”
“Where are you?”
“I cannot say.”
“Who took you?”
“A man who called himself Gabriel.”
Amelia activated the trace.
“What did he want?”
“The account number.”
“Did you give it to him?”
“No.”
“Why release you?”
“He did not. Someone helped me.”
“Who?”
Evelyn began crying.
“My father.”
Amelia looked at Nathaniel.
“Samuel Kane is alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“He said Theodore is about to be moved.”
“Moved from where?”
Evelyn’s answer came through static.
“From the hospital.”
Amelia ran toward the door.
At that exact moment, alarms sounded throughout the Blackwood facility.
Theodore’s medical room appeared on the security screen.
The bed was empty.
A nurse lay unconscious on the floor.
On the pillow, someone had left a folded funeral program.
May you like
Theodore Hart’s name was printed across the front.
The date of death was tomorrow.
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