Chapter 12 - The Aunt Who Had Been Running
Marlene had not been kidnapped.
She had been hiding.
That fact alone transformed the investigation.
Thomas Vale was injured.
The blood in his abandoned rental car was his.
But he told investigators Marlene had helped him escape after someone tried to force his vehicle off the road.
When Emily and Alexander arrived at the secure hospital where Thomas was being treated, Marlene sat outside his room looking smaller than Emily had ever seen her.
No wine.
No jewelry.
No insults.
Emily stopped in front of her.
Marlene looked down.
“You came.”
“You stepped on my dress yesterday.”
Marlene closed her eyes.
“I know.”
“And today you’re apparently helping a missing witness.”
“Yes.”
Emily sat across from her.
“Explain.”
Marlene laughed weakly.
“I don’t know where to begin.”
“Try the truth.”
Marlene looked toward Thomas’s room.
“We’ve known each other thirty years.”
Emily stared.
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother would have known I helped him.”
“With what?”
“Charles’s records.”
Emily felt her pulse accelerate.
Marlene wiped her eyes.
“I was horrible to you.”
“That’s an understatement.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Marlene looked ashamed.
“Because Victoria watched me.”
Emily frowned.
“Watched you?”
“She knew Thomas and I had been involved years ago. After Meridian collapsed, she suspected I helped him disappear.”
“So you treated me like garbage to convince her you were loyal?”
Marlene hesitated.
“Partly.”
Emily stood.
“Partly?”
Marlene looked up.
“And partly because I became like her.”
There it was.
No excuse.
No convenient redemption.
“I spent so many years pretending cruelty was camouflage that eventually I stopped knowing the difference.”
Emily stared at her aunt.
Marlene continued.
“The money from your trust that reached my company wasn’t for me.”
“Where did it go?”
“Thomas.”
Emily turned toward the hospital room.
“He took my money?”
“To build evidence.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
Emily laughed in disbelief.
“Everyone apparently had excellent reasons for controlling my life.”
Marlene lowered her eyes.
“You’re right.”
Thomas asked to see Emily alone.
Alexander resisted.
Emily insisted.
Thomas looked frail beneath hospital lights.
“You’re angry.”
“I’m tired of men telling me secrets were kept for my protection.”
“Fair.”
“Why did you take money from my trust?”
“To track Adrian.”
“You could have come to me.”
“You were nineteen.”
“I’m twenty-six now.”
“I know.”
“You watched me?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Yes.”
“The photographs at Blackridge?”
“Some were mine.”
Emily’s stomach tightened.
“Some?”
“Others weren’t.”
“Whose?”
“Adrian’s.”
Emily went cold.
“He watched me too?”
“For years.”
“Why?”
Thomas’s expression darkened.
“Because Charles left you something Adrian has never found.”
“The ledger?”
“No.”
“What?”
Thomas looked at the door.
Then back at her.
“A key.”
Emily almost laughed.
“I’ve had enough keys.”
“Not metal.”
He touched his temple.
“Information.”
“I don’t know anything.”
“You might.”
“What does that mean?”
“Charles believed he told you something when you were young.”
“What?”
“A phrase. A location. Maybe numbers.”
“I don’t remember.”
“That’s why Adrian watched you.”
Emily’s throat tightened.
“For seventeen years?”
“Yes.”
“To see if I remembered?”
“Yes.”
She stood.
“This is insane.”
Thomas grabbed her wrist.
His strength surprised her.
“Emily.”
She looked down.
“Adrian did not disappear after Blackridge.”
“I know.”
“He built something much larger.”
“What?”
“A network.”
“Of companies?”
“People.”
Thomas’s voice dropped.
“Judges. bankers. attorneys. politicians.”
Emily thought of her father dying while Victoria waited forty minutes.
“How do we find him?”
Thomas slowly released her.
“You don’t.”
“I’m done hiding.”
“This isn’t about courage.”
“Then what?”
“Survival.”
Emily leaned closer.
“Where is Adrian Cross?”
Thomas looked directly into her eyes.
Then whispered:
“At your brother’s wedding.”
Emily froze.
“What?”
“He was there yesterday.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know what name he’s using.”
“You saw him?”
Thomas nodded.
“Before I left Hawthorne.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I wasn’t sure.”
“Sure of what?”
Thomas’s next words turned her blood cold.
“Whether he was watching you…”
May you like
He paused.
“…or Alexander.”
