Chapter 9 - The Chapel Floor
The tunnel ended beneath the Hawthorne family chapel.
Claire pushed open a trapdoor and climbed into darkness.
The chapel stood at the edge of the private cemetery, half hidden by cypress trees. Moonlight entered through stained-glass windows. Dust covered the pews.
The storm had weakened, but thunder still rolled in the distance.
Claire helped Arthur through the opening.
Clara climbed out behind him.
Mason immediately searched the chapel.
“Dad.”
No answer.
Rebecca followed, trembling.
Margaret and Elias remained near the tunnel entrance.
Elias had regained some strength, but the injury to his head required medical attention.
Claire checked the outer door.
Locked.
Clara searched the windows.
“All sealed.”
Arthur looked toward the altar.
“Eleanor’s letter said to look beneath the chapel floor.”
Mason turned.
“You think the missing manifest is here?”
“I think something is.”
Arthur walked toward the front pew.
He counted six floorboards from the altar and tapped the wood with his cane.
One board sounded hollow.
Claire and Clara knelt together.
Using a metal candle holder, they lifted the plank.
Inside was a narrow compartment.
Claire reached down and removed a waterproof case.
Arthur stared at it.
“I never knew.”
Clara opened the case.
Inside were several cassette tapes, a packet of photographs, a hospital bracelet, and a sealed envelope addressed to Arthur.
His hands shook as he opened it.
Father,
If you are reading this, then Daniel has already acted.
He believes the second manifest is hidden here. It is not.
Rose followed me to the harbor tonight. She knows about the twins. She says one child will destroy the Hawthorne name and two will destroy it faster.
Daniel is meeting Victor Lang at Pier 17. I am taking a recorder.
If I do not return, do not believe Daniel’s version.
Eleanor
Arthur sat in the pew.
Claire picked up the hospital bracelet.
The name had faded, but she could still read part of it.
Baby A Vale.
Clara found a second bracelet.
Baby B Vale.
Their names had been written beneath the hospital numbers.
Clara.
And Celeste.
Claire stared at the second bracelet.
“My name was Celeste.”
Arthur looked at her with grief.
“Your mother chose it.”
Claire closed her hand around the bracelet.
All her life, Claire had felt that something about her identity had been decided by others.
Now she understood.
Even her name had belonged to a lie.
Clara inserted one cassette into an old recorder found inside the case.
Static filled the chapel.
Then Eleanor’s voice emerged.
Calm at first.
“This is Eleanor Vale. December eighteenth, 2003. Ten thirty-two in the evening. I am recording this because I believe Daniel Hawthorne is involved in illegal transfers through Hawthorne Maritime.”
Footsteps sounded on the tape.
A man’s voice spoke.
Daniel.
“You should not have come here.”
Eleanor answered.
“You used my father’s ships.”
“I moved cargo. I did not choose what was inside.”
“You took money.”
“I had debts.”
“You forged Arthur’s authorization.”
“I was going to repay it.”
A second man spoke.
Victor Lang.
“There is no reason for this to become unpleasant.”
Eleanor said, “The police already have copies.”
Daniel laughed.
“No, they don’t.”
“You searched my office?”
“We searched everything.”
“You will never find the original manifest.”
A sound of metal scraping followed.
Then Rose Hawthorne’s voice appeared.
“Give me the recorder, Eleanor.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
Clara increased the volume.
Eleanor said, “You followed me.”
Rose answered, “I warned Arthur about you.”
“You warned him that his daughter was inconvenient.”
“You are not his daughter. You are his shame.”
Arthur lowered his head.
The tape continued.
A baby cried in the background.
Then another.
Claire looked at Clara.
They had been at the harbor.
Eleanor’s voice changed.
“Stay away from them.”
Daniel said, “Why did you bring the babies?”
“Because someone entered my apartment.”
Rose said, “Those children cannot enter our family.”
“They are already part of it.”
“You expect Arthur to claim all three of you?”
“I expect him to tell the truth.”
A sudden struggle erupted.
Someone shouted.
Glass shattered.
Then came a gunshot.
The recorder dropped.
Screaming followed.
A second gunshot.
Then fire roared through the background.
Eleanor cried out.
Daniel shouted, “Rose, what did you do?”
The recording ended.
No one in the chapel moved.
Rebecca looked at Arthur.
“Rose had the gun.”
Arthur stared at the recorder.
“I did not know.”
Mason shook his head.
“You expect us to believe Grandma killed Eleanor?”
Clara rewound the tape.
“We heard two shots.”
Claire examined the photographs.
One showed Victor Lang standing near a cargo container.
Another showed Daniel handing him an envelope.
The final image showed Rose holding one of the twins.
Behind her, barely visible in a warehouse window, stood a fifth person.
Claire brought the photograph closer to the moonlight.
The face was blurred, but the person wore a Hawthorne Maritime security uniform.
Arthur looked at it.
“That is not one of our guards.”
“How can you tell?” Claire asked.
“The insignia is reversed.”
Clara stared at the figure.
“A disguise.”
A sound came from the altar.
The wooden cross shifted.
A hidden door opened behind it.
Daniel stumbled into the chapel.
Blood ran from a cut above his eye.
Rebecca rushed toward him.
“What happened?”
Daniel pushed her away.
“Where is Claire?”
Claire stepped forward.
“I’m here.”
Daniel looked terrified.
“She wants you.”
“Who?”
He shook his head.
“I never saw her face.”
“Did she say she was Eleanor?”
“She said Eleanor died at the harbor.”
Clara gripped the recorder.
“Then who is she?”
Daniel looked toward Arthur.
“She said she is the daughter you forgot twice.”
Arthur went pale.
“I had only one daughter.”
Daniel laughed weakly.
“That’s not what Rose believed.”
Before Arthur could answer, the chapel bell began ringing.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
No one was pulling the rope.
The outer doors unlocked with a heavy click.
A black car waited beyond the cemetery gate.
Its headlights came on.
Someone sat behind the wheel.
On the chapel steps lay the stolen red evidence box.
Claire opened it.
The original second manifest was inside.
So was a fresh photograph of Claire asleep in her Boston apartment.
May you like
On the back, a message had been written.
CELESTE WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO SURVIVE.
