Chapter 8 - Richard’s Final Lie
The investigators fired first.
Daniel retreated behind the damaged doorway as bullets struck the metal shutters. Richard shouted from outside, ordering everyone to stop.
Lily pulled Ethan and Margaret through the concealed passage behind the studio wall.
The corridor led to a stairwell descending beneath the building.
“Where does this go?” Ethan asked.
“To the harbor.”
“And Jonathan?”
“He said he would intercept Richard before he reached the studio.”
“Then he failed.”
Lily looked at him.
“My father has survived men like Richard for twenty-three years. Do not decide he failed because he is not standing where you expected.”
They entered an underground storage room filled with photography equipment, emergency supplies and boxes of documents.
Lily locked the door behind them.
Above, footsteps crossed the studio floor.
Margaret stared at Lily.
“I did not hear Celeste’s message.”
“You were the only person with access to the answering machine.”
“Richard had access to everything.”
“He was not living with you then.”
“He had copied my apartment key.”
Lily’s expression shifted.
“How do you know?”
“Because I once woke and found him standing beside Ethan’s crib.”
The footsteps stopped above them.
Daniel’s voice came through the floor.
“Lily.”
She turned off the light.
Daniel continued.
“Your father has already left you again.”
Lily held her pistol toward the ceiling.
Ethan whispered, “He wants you angry.”
“He does not need to try.”
“Then he knows how you will react.”
Lily looked at him.
“You have known I exist for less than a day.”
“And I know Richard survives by making people blame each other.”
A heavy impact struck the storage room door.
Margaret moved toward a box near the wall.
“We need another exit.”
“There is a tunnel to the pier,” Lily said. “But Richard may be waiting there.”
Another impact bent the door inward.
Ethan searched the shelves and found several metal lighting stands.
He wedged them beneath the handle.
“Why did Jonathan send the photograph to Richard’s office?” he asked.
“He didn’t.”
“Who did?”
“I did.”
Margaret looked at her.
“You entered the archive?”
“No. Daniel did. I sent the photograph to his phone and let him place it.”
“You are working with Daniel?”
“I was tracking him.”
The door shook again.
Lily explained that she had discovered Daniel’s identity six months earlier. She followed him, intercepted his communications and learned he was preparing to impersonate Adrian.
She allowed the impersonation to continue because Daniel led her to Richard’s hidden apartment and the first key.
“Why didn’t you take it?” Ethan asked.
“I needed Richard to believe he still controlled it.”
“The key was stolen from the storage unit.”
“That was not part of my plan.”
“Daniel trapped us in a fire.”
Lily looked toward Margaret.
“I did not know you would be there.”
The door cracked.
Daniel had nearly broken through.
Lily opened a hatch in the floor.
Cold air entered from the tunnel.
They descended and moved toward the harbor.
At the end of the passage, Ethan heard voices.
Richard was waiting near the water.
He held Adrian at gunpoint.
Adrian’s face was bruised, and his hands had been tied behind him. Richard must have captured him after the lawyer separated from the investigators.
Daniel emerged from the tunnel behind Margaret.
Lily raised her pistol.
Richard pushed Adrian toward the edge of the pier.
“Put it down,” he ordered.
“You killed Celeste,” Lily said.
“Daniel lit the fire.”
“On your command.”
“No. On Victor’s.”
Daniel stepped from the tunnel.
“That is not what you said twenty-three years ago.”
Richard turned.
For the first time, Daniel was fully visible.
He resembled Adrian closely, but age had hardened his face. A scar ran from his left ear to his jaw.
Richard stared at him.
“You were supposed to secure the studio.”
“I did.”
“Then why are they alive?”
“Because I heard the recording at the board meeting.”
Daniel looked at Adrian.
“My brother finally knows.”
Adrian’s voice was steady.
“You let our parents bury a stranger.”
“They never searched for me.”
“They believed you were dead.”
“Victor made certain of it.”
Richard tightened his grip on the gun.
“This is not the time for a family reunion.”
Daniel faced him.
“You told me Celeste died before the fire reached the stairs.”
“She would have exposed us.”
“You said the house was empty.”
“You heard her recording. You knew she was inside.”
Daniel’s eyes changed.
“I heard a woman. You told me it was Margaret.”
Richard smiled coldly.
“And would that have stopped you?”
Daniel moved toward him.
Richard aimed the gun at Lily.
“Take another step and Jonathan loses his daughter.”
A voice came from the darkness beyond the pier.
“He already lost enough.”
Jonathan Mercer emerged from behind a fishing warehouse.
Ethan knew him immediately.
He was older than the man in company portraits, thinner than the figure in the recent photographs, but the eyes were the same.
Jonathan held no weapon.
Richard stared as if a dead man had walked from the lake.
“You should have stayed buried.”
“You tried twice.”
Lily lowered her gun slightly.
“Dad.”
Jonathan looked at her.
“I told you to leave the city.”
“You also told me Ethan was not ready.”
Jonathan’s gaze moved to his son.
“I was wrong.”
Ethan did not know what he felt. For twenty-two years he had imagined a father who died before choosing whether to love him. Now Jonathan stood twenty feet away, alive and speaking as if distance had been a strategy rather than an abandonment.
Richard pressed the gun against Adrian’s neck.
“You cannot testify without exposing your crimes.”
Jonathan continued walking.
“My crimes were helping two children survive you.”
“You stole from the company.”
“You created the transfers.”
“You disappeared.”
“Because Victor controlled the police, the bank and the prosecutors.”
Richard laughed.
“And now Victor is beyond your reach.”
“Victor’s plane never left the country.”
Richard’s smile faded.
Jonathan explained that federal agents had detained Victor before takeoff. Helen’s recording, the forged bank records and the renewed investigation into Celeste’s death had finally provided enough evidence for a warrant.
“You are lying,” Richard said.
Jonathan held up a phone.
Victor’s voice played from the speaker.
Richard arranged the lake attack. Richard authorized Celeste’s surveillance. Richard requested the money from Margaret’s trust.
Richard’s face became pale.
“You made a deal with him.”
“He made a deal for himself,” Jonathan said.
“Victor ordered the fire.”
“He denies it.”
“Of course he does.”
Daniel looked toward Richard.
“Who gave the order?”
Richard said nothing.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Who told me to light the stairs?”
“You knew what we were doing.”
“I knew we were destroying documents.”
“You believed what you needed to believe.”
Daniel moved suddenly.
Richard fired.
The bullet struck Daniel in the shoulder and spun him backward.
Lily fired at the pier beside Richard’s feet. He lost balance, and Adrian drove his shoulder into Richard’s chest.
The gun fell into the water.
Investigators emerged from the tunnel and surrounded them.
Richard attempted to run, but Jonathan blocked the pier.
For several seconds, the two former partners faced one another.
Richard’s expression became strangely calm.
“You think the company belongs to him now?” he asked, glancing toward Ethan.
“The shares belong to both children.”
“Not if the agreement is invalid.”
“It isn’t.”
Richard smiled.
“Ask Margaret who signed as witness.”
Ethan looked at her.
Margaret’s face changed.
Adrian retrieved a copy of the partnership agreement from his coat.
The final page contained two witness signatures.
One belonged to Adrian.
The other belonged to Margaret.
Richard continued.
“She knew there were two children. She knew before the fire.”
“That is not true,” Margaret said.
“Your signature says otherwise.”
“I signed a folded document Jonathan brought to my apartment. I did not read the beneficiary page.”
“Convenient.”
Jonathan stepped toward her.
“I told you it was a temporary ownership agreement.”
“You never told me about Lily.”
Richard laughed.
“Everyone protecting everyone with lies.”
The investigators placed him in handcuffs.
As they led him away, he looked at Ethan.
“You wanted a confession. Here it is. I stole the inheritance. I forged the transfers. I used your mother’s fear to build my company.”
Ethan waited.
Richard’s eyes moved toward Jonathan.
“But I did not order Celeste’s death.”
“Who did?” Ethan asked.
Richard smiled.
May you like
“The person who erased her first message.”
Then he looked directly at Margaret.
