Chapter 9 - VICTORIA'S FIRST LIE
Victoria agreed to speak from a hospital bed.
Two deputies stood outside.
Detective Brooks placed the recorder on a table.
Richard sat beside Elena.
Samuel remained in the hallway.
Victoria looked smaller without her carefully constructed elegance.
A bruise darkened one side of her face.
Her left arm was in a sling.
Richard did not feel sorry for her.
“You knew Daniel when you were seventeen.”
Victoria stared at the ceiling.
“Yes.”
“You helped him hide Nora Beck’s body.”
“Yes.”
Elena flinched.
Richard leaned forward.
“Then you came into my house.”
“Years later.”
“You became Elena’s friend.”
“Yes.”
“You helped renovate our home.”
“Yes.”
“You found the cellar again.”
“I already knew where it was.”
Richard felt sick.
Elena asked the question he could barely say.
“Did you become my friend because of Daniel?”
Victoria finally looked at her.
“At first.”
Elena’s face tightened.
“At first?”
“I was supposed to watch you.”
“Why?”
“Daniel knew Jonathan trusted you.”
“With the password.”
“Yes.”
“So every lunch.”
Victoria looked down.
“Not all of it was fake.”
Elena laughed in disbelief.
“You locked me underground.”
“I know.”
“You watched my daughter cry for me.”
“I know.”
“You let Richard believe I abandoned them.”
“I know.”
“Do not tell me any part of our friendship was real.”
Victoria’s eyes filled.
“I said I know.”
Richard interrupted.
“Who took Lily?”
“Mercer.”
“Who ordered it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Daniel?”
Victoria shook her head.
“That is what I thought.”
“What changed?”
“At the quarry.”
“What happened?”
“Mercer made a phone call.”
“To whom?”
“He called someone ‘sir.’”
Richard frowned.
“Mercer works for Daniel.”
Victoria laughed bitterly.
“Mercer works for whoever pays him.”
“Then who paid him?”
“I don’t know.”
Brooks spoke.
“You expect us to believe that?”
Victoria turned toward her.
“I expected to die at that quarry.”
“She saved Lily.”
Elena said quietly.
Everyone looked at her.
Victoria’s expression cracked.
Elena continued.
“Lily said you untied her.”
Victoria looked away.
“Why?”
No answer.
“Why?”
Elena repeated.
Victoria swallowed.
“Because Daniel told me once that if the situation became unstable, Lily was expendable.”
Richard rose so quickly his chair fell.
“What?”
Brooks put a hand out.
Richard stayed where he was.
Victoria continued.
“I told him I would never hurt a child.”
“You hurt Lily every day her mother was beneath her.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get credit for drawing one line after crossing a hundred others.”
“I know.”
Elena watched her.
“Why keep me alive?”
Victoria looked at her.
“Because Daniel wanted you dead after the first six months.”
Richard’s face changed.
“You stopped him?”
Victoria nodded.
“Why?”
“I convinced him we still needed the password.”
“But you knew I was lying.”
Elena said.
“Eventually.”
“So why?”
Victoria stared at her.
For once, she had no clever answer.
“Because I couldn’t kill you.”
Elena’s expression turned cold.
“You did not spare me.”
“You preserved your own conscience.”
Victoria started crying.
“I know.”
Brooks tapped the table.
“Who is above Mercer?”
Victoria shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“Give us something.”
“There’s a name.”
“What name?”
“Calder.”
Richard frowned.
“First or last?”
“I don’t know.”
“Daniel used it when he was angry.”
“What did he say?”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“Calder owns Mercer.”
Brooks wrote it down.
Richard’s phone vibrated.
A company alert.
HALE DEVELOPMENT BOARD EMERGENCY SESSION.
He opened it.
A notice had been issued thirty minutes earlier.
Daniel was calling for Richard’s temporary removal as chief executive.
Richard almost laughed.
“My brother is trying to remove me from my own company while police are hunting him.”
Samuel entered.
“Not your company.”
Richard looked at him.
“What?”
Samuel handed him an old deed from the safe deposit box.
“Read it.”
Richard scanned the document.
His face changed.
Hale Development’s original controlling shares had been placed into a family trust.
Not Jonathan’s trust.
Samuel’s.
“This says you own controlling interest.”
“Owned.”
Samuel corrected.
“I transferred it.”
“To whom?”
Samuel looked at Elena.
Richard followed his gaze.
Elena stared.
“No.”
Samuel nodded.
“Jonathan restored the shares before he died.”
“To Elena?”
“No.”
Samuel looked at Lily through the glass wall of the family room.
“To her.”
Richard’s mouth went dry.
“My daughter owns the company?”
“Not yet.”
Samuel said.
“The trust activates when she turns eighteen.”
“Until then?”
Samuel pointed at Elena.
“Her mother is trustee.”
Richard understood why Elena’s signature mattered.
If Elena signed certain documents, Daniel could alter the trust.
If she died too soon, an external trustee would take control.
Keeping Elena alive had not been mercy.
It had been a legal necessity.
Victoria whispered, “That’s what Daniel needed.”
Richard turned.
“You knew?”
“Not all of it.”
“Enough.”
His phone rang.
Company security.
“Mr. Hale.”
“What?”
“We located your brother.”
Richard stood.
“Where?”
A pause.
“Inside headquarters.”
“How?”
“He never left.”
Richard looked at Brooks.
The security officer continued.
“He locked himself in the executive archive.”
“What is he doing?”
“We think he’s burning records.”
Richard grabbed his coat.
Brooks moved with him.
Then the officer said something that stopped everyone.
“He has a hostage.”
Richard looked at Elena.
“Who?”
May you like
The answer came quietly.
“Your mother.”
