Chapter 24 - The Price of the Truth
Nora refused to enter until state investigators secured the house.
The staircase led to a concrete chamber beneath the dining room. At its center stood a steel vault door equipped with three separate locks.
The first accepted Celeste’s fingerprint through a remote biometric system.
The second scanned Nora.
The third required the master deed.
Celeste guided them through the process from the video feed.
When the final lock opened, Nora found shelves of sealed testimony, property records, bank ledgers, and boxes marked with victims’ names.
At the back stood a computer terminal connected to the master trust.
A message appeared:
SELECT THE NEXT GUARDIAN.
Three names were listed.
Nora Hale.
Celeste Hale.
Elise Hale.
Ada had known about both granddaughters.
Celeste demanded that Nora select her. She argued that Voss would release Benjamin and Elise only if she controlled the accounts.
Benjamin shouted from the other room.
“She will give him the money!”
Celeste denied it.
Leah examined the trust documents and discovered an additional clause. The selected guardian would gain temporary access to all assets for seventy-two hours before the victims’ board could review any transaction.
That was enough time to empty every account.
Nora selected no one.
Instead, she activated a provision allowing all assets to freeze until a public hearing.
Elias Voss stopped the countdown.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then the feed showing Benjamin went dark.
Elise’s feed remained active.
She had escaped from her chair and was searching the room for a door.
Celeste screamed at Nora.
“You just sacrificed him!”
“No,” Nora replied. “I refused to pay a criminal with stolen lives.”
Celeste’s image disappeared.
Police traced Elise’s feed to a warehouse near the river. By the time officers arrived, the building was empty.
They found Elise’s restraints, Benjamin’s jacket, and Judge Sloan’s missing courthouse identification card.
On the wall was a fresh map of Westbridge.
A red circle surrounded Hale House.
Another surrounded the courthouse.
The largest circle surrounded Ruth Calder’s home.
Nora called Ruth.
No one answered.
Then Nora noticed that the final box inside the vault was already open.
Its label read:
RUTH CALDER — ORIGINAL WITNESS.
The box contained no documents.
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Only a note in Ruth’s handwriting:
I AM SORRY, NORA. I WAS THE ONE WHO TOLD VOSS WHERE ADA HID THE TRUST.
