Chapter 6 - The Passenger Nobody Reported)
Margaret's house sat behind an old stone wall forty minutes outside the city.
No staff.
No visible security.
No electronic gates.
Daniel had chosen well.
Inside, Margaret locked the doors and took Vivienne and Ethan to a small office.
Three computers sat on a long wooden table.
One was already active.
The protocol timer showed twenty two hours remaining.
Vivienne looked at Margaret.
"You can access it too?"
"Not the archive. Only the status."
"Then tell me who was with Daniel."
Margaret sat.
"His younger brother."
Vivienne stared.
"Thomas?"
Margaret nodded.
Thomas Hale had disappeared from Vivienne's life a month after Daniel died.
He had suffered from addiction for years.
Unreliable.
Angry.
Often jealous of Daniel's success.
Sebastian had told Vivienne that Thomas stole money from the company and fled overseas.
She had believed him.
"Thomas was on the boat?"
"He left the marina with Daniel."
"Why didn't investigators find that?"
"Because the marina camera system was altered."
"By Sebastian?"
"We couldn't prove it."
"We?"
"Daniel and I had already begun investigating Sebastian."
Vivienne stood abruptly.
"You were helping Daniel before he died?"
"Yes."
"And neither of you told me."
"Daniel ordered me not to."
"Ordered you?"
"He believed the safest thing was for you to know nothing."
Vivienne laughed once without humor.
"And how did that work out?"
Margaret looked down.
"Badly."
Ethan sat quietly in a nearby chair.
Vivienne lowered her voice.
"What happened to Thomas?"
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I know he returned to shore."
Vivienne stared.
"How?"
"A fuel dock employee remembered seeing him."
"Then why didn't he come forward?"
"He did."
"When?"
"The day after Daniel disappeared."
Margaret leaned forward.
"Thomas told Detective Pike that Daniel confronted Sebastian on the water."
Vivienne's heartbeat accelerated.
"Sebastian was there?"
"According to Thomas."
"Then why was none of this in the report?"
"You already know the answer."
Pike.
Bought.
Corrupt.
Vivienne pressed both hands against the desk.
"What did Thomas see?"
"Daniel had arranged to meet Sebastian offshore because he believed there were no microphones, cameras, or employees around them."
"Why bring Thomas?"
"Protection."
Vivienne almost laughed.
Thomas, the unreliable younger brother, had been Daniel's protection.
Margaret continued.
"Daniel underestimated Sebastian. A second boat arrived."
"Marcus?"
"We think so."
"What happened?"
"Thomas claimed there was an argument. Sebastian demanded the evidence. Daniel refused."
"And then?"
"Thomas said Marcus attacked him."
Vivienne's throat tightened.
"Daniel?"
"Daniel intervened."
Margaret paused.
"Thomas was struck and thrown into the water."
Vivienne closed her eyes.
"He survived."
"Yes. A fisherman found him nearly an hour later."
"What about Daniel?"
"Thomas did not see what happened after he went overboard."
Vivienne whispered, "But Daniel died."
Margaret nodded.
"And Sebastian returned home dry and told everyone he had spent the afternoon at a private club."
Vivienne remembered.
Sebastian had called her that night.
He had sounded shocked when she told him Daniel was missing.
He had come to the mansion immediately.
He had held her while she cried.
Her stomach turned.
"Where is Thomas now?"
Margaret hesitated.
That hesitation mattered.
"Where is he?"
"Alive."
Vivienne stared at her.
"You know where he is."
"Yes."
"Then why did you tell me you didn't?"
"I said I didn't know what happened to him after Daniel's death. I eventually found him."
"When?"
"Eighteen months ago."
Vivienne stepped back.
"You have known Daniel's brother was alive for eighteen months."
"Thomas was terrified."
"So was I."
"He believed Sebastian would kill Ethan if he resurfaced."
Vivienne looked at her son.
Ethan had heard.
He looked frightened again.
She crouched.
"Sweetheart, go to the kitchen with Margaret's grandson."
"No."
"Ethan."
"I want to stay."
Vivienne studied him.
He had been shoved toward a staircase hours earlier.
He had discovered a message from his dead father.
He had learned the man living in his home might be responsible for Daniel's death.
Perhaps pretending he was too young to understand was no longer protection.
"Stay beside me."
Ethan nodded.
Vivienne stood.
"Call Thomas."
Margaret exhaled slowly.
"He won't answer a normal phone."
"Then how do we reach him?"
"We don't."
"Margaret."
"He contacts me every forty eight hours."
"When?"
"Tonight."
"How convenient."
"Vivienne, he has spent four years hiding under different names."
"Because of Sebastian?"
"And because Thomas believes he helped cause Daniel's death."
Vivienne frowned.
"How?"
Margaret opened a locked drawer.
She removed an envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Daniel.
Thomas.
Sebastian.
All three standing beside Daniel's boat.
The timestamp showed forty minutes before departure.
Vivienne stared at Sebastian.
"He was at the marina."
"Yes."
"Why wasn't this in Daniel's archive?"
"Because I took the photograph."
Vivienne looked up.
"You were there too?"
Margaret nodded.
Daniel's secrecy became larger with every answer.
"What else aren't you telling me?"
Margaret reached into the drawer again.
A second photograph.
This one showed a man standing behind Sebastian near the parking lot.
Vivienne recognized him.
Deputy Commissioner Pike.
Margaret said, "Pike wasn't just paid afterward."
"He was part of it."
"We believe so."
Vivienne studied the image.
Sebastian.
Pike.
Marcus.
A network.
Then her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone froze.
Margaret checked the screen.
"Don't answer."
Vivienne answered.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then a distorted male voice.
"Vivienne?"
She stopped breathing.
She knew that voice.
Older.
Rougher.
But familiar.
"Thomas?"
Margaret stood.
Ethan looked between them.
The man on the phone spoke quickly.
"Is Ethan with you?"
"Yes."
"Then get away from Margaret."
Vivienne looked at the older woman.
"Why?"
May you like
Thomas's voice broke.
"Because Daniel didn't trust her at the end."
