Chapter 4 - THE EMPTY BEDROOM
Arthur reached the house in eleven minutes.
The front doors were open.
One security guard lay unconscious beside the staircase.
The second was bleeding from the forehead but conscious.
“Lucas.”
Arthur grabbed his shoulder.
“Where's my son?”
The guard pointed upstairs.
Arthur ran.
“Lucas!”
No answer.
He reached the boy's room.
Empty.
The blanket had been pulled from the bed.
A lamp lay shattered.
Arthur's heart slammed against his ribs.
“Maria!”
A weak sound came from the bathroom.
Arthur kicked the door open.
Maria was on the floor.
Her wrists had been tied with a phone charging cable.
Blood ran from a cut above her eyebrow.
Arthur dropped beside her.
“Where is Lucas?”
Maria struggled upright.
“They took him.”
The words almost broke Arthur.
“Who?”
“Two men.”
“Victor?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I've never seen them.”
Arthur cut the cable from her wrists.
“Which direction?”
“One carried Lucas through the service entrance.”
“Was he conscious?”
“Yes.”
Her voice cracked.
“He was screaming for me.”
Arthur stood.
Daniel entered with police behind him.
Arthur turned on Officer Morris.
“Find my son.”
“We will.”
“Now.”
Officers spread through the house.
Maria caught Arthur's sleeve.
“They weren't trying to kidnap him.”
Arthur stared at her.
“What?”
“One of them kept saying, ‘Find the book.’”
Arthur froze.
“They came for Claire's red book?”
“Yes.”
“And they took Lucas anyway?”
Maria nodded.
“Because he told them he knew where it was.”
Arthur stopped breathing.
“Does he?”
“I don't know.”
His phone rang.
UNKNOWN CALLER.
Everyone went silent.
Arthur answered.
“Where is my son?”
A distorted male voice replied.
“Bring what Claire left behind.”
“I don't have it.”
“Your boy says otherwise.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
“Let me speak to him.”
Silence.
Then Lucas.
“Dad?”
Arthur gripped the phone.
“I'm here.”
“I'm sorry.”
“No.”
Arthur forced his voice steady.
“You did nothing wrong.”
“I told them about the train.”
Arthur's eyes opened.
“What train?”
The call cut off.
Daniel stared at him.
“What did he say?”
“The train.”
Maria's face changed.
Arthur noticed immediately.
“You know something.”
“Maybe.”
She ran toward Lucas's playroom.
Arthur followed.
The room contained shelves of Lego sets, books, model cars, and a large wooden train table Claire had bought Lucas on his second birthday.
Maria dropped to her knees beside it.
“What are you doing?”
“When Lucas was little, did Claire hide things in his toys?”
Arthur stared.
“What?”
“My mother did.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“Think.”
Arthur tried.
Claire had been meticulous.
She had also been playful.
During her illness, she created scavenger hunts for Lucas because she couldn't chase him around the yard.
Clues inside books.
Notes under pillows.
Tiny prizes hidden in toy boxes.
Arthur looked at the train table.
His pulse quickened.
“Move it.”
Together, they shifted the heavy wooden table.
Nothing.
Arthur examined the tracks.
Maria removed the miniature station.
Still nothing.
Then Arthur noticed one of the train cars.
A red caboose.
Claire's favorite.
He picked it up.
The bottom felt heavier than he remembered.
Arthur turned it over.
Four tiny screws held the base.
Daniel handed him a pocket multitool.
Arthur unscrewed it.
Inside was a brass key.
And a strip of paper.
Three numbers.
814.
Daniel frowned.
“Safe deposit box?”
Maria nodded.
“Could be.”
“At which bank?”
Arthur looked at the red train.
Then remembered the note from Claire's grave.
SARAH BELL.
He searched the name on his phone.
Thousands of results.
Daniel made a call.
“I'll have my office run it.”
Arthur stared at the key.
Lucas had remembered Claire's games.
The kidnappers had apparently believed him.
That meant his son was alive.
For now.
Arthur's phone rang again.
Same unknown number.
He answered.
“I found a key.”
The distorted voice replied.
“Good.”
“If you hurt my son—”
“You have ninety minutes.”
“To do what?”
“Box 814.”
Arthur looked at Daniel.
The caller continued.
“North Harbor Private Bank.”
Maria's face went white.
Arthur covered the phone.
“They know where it is.”
Daniel whispered.
“Which means whoever is behind this has access to Claire's banking records.”
Arthur uncovered the phone.
“What am I supposed to bring?”
“You'll know when you open it.”
The call ended.
Officer Morris stepped forward.
“You are not going alone.”
“If they see police—”
“Your child has been abducted.”
“I understand that.”
“Then understand that kidnappers don't get to dictate police procedure.”
Arthur turned toward Daniel.
“What can they do?”
“Surveillance team.”
Arthur shook his head.
“I won't risk Lucas.”
Maria stood.
“Then don't.”
Everyone looked at her.
She wiped blood from her forehead.
“Let me go.”
Arthur stared at her.
“No.”
“They expect you.”
“Exactly.”
“And they will be watching you.”
“Yes.”
“They may not be watching me.”
Arthur's answer was immediate.
“Absolutely not.”
“Mr. Vance—”
“No.”
“They already attacked me.”
“That isn't an argument for letting them do it again.”
Maria stepped closer.
“It is if it gets Lucas home.”
Arthur looked at her cut forehead.
The torn sleeve.
The red marks on her wrists.
She was terrified.
But she was standing there asking to walk back toward the people who had hurt her.
Arthur understood something he should have understood years earlier.
Maria didn't protect Lucas because Arthur paid her.
She loved the boy.
That made Arthur trust her.
It also made him refuse.
“I am his father.”
His voice softened.
“I go.”
At North Harbor Private Bank, the manager took one look at the police credentials and brought them downstairs.
Box 814 sat behind three steel doors.
Arthur inserted Claire's key.
The bank used its master key.
The drawer opened.
Inside was a red leather notebook.
Arthur's throat tightened.
Claire's red book.
Beside it sat a flash drive.
A sealed envelope.
And a letter addressed to Arthur.
His hands shook as he opened it.
Arthur,
If you are reading this, someone has tried to use Lucas's inheritance before he was old enough to protect himself.
I hope I was wrong.
I hope Harold was right when he told me I was being paranoid.
But I saw documents I was never supposed to see.
Vance Meridian has been used to hide money that does not belong to us.
I don't believe you know.
I need you to believe that.
But someone close to you does.
Do not trust the company records.
Do not trust the trust amendments.
And if anyone tells you my death was simply bad luck, ask them why my brake inspection disappeared.
Arthur stopped reading.
The room tilted.
Daniel grabbed the edge of the table.
“Arthur?”
Arthur read the final lines.
Sarah Bell knows what happened.
Protect Lucas before you protect the company.
I love you.
Claire.
Arthur couldn't move.
Claire had died when her car went through a barrier on a rain-slick highway.
Police had ruled it an accident.
Brake failure had been mentioned only as a possibility.
Nothing had ever suggested sabotage.
Until now.
Officer Morris took the letter carefully.
“We need to reopen the case.”
Arthur looked at the red notebook.
The kidnapping suddenly had a different shape.
Lucas's trust.
The company.
Claire's death.
They weren't separate problems.
They were the same problem.
Arthur's phone rang.
The distorted voice.
“Do you have it?”
Arthur looked at the police.
“Yes.”
“Bring the red ledger to Pier 19.”
“Let me hear Lucas.”
A pause.
Then Lucas cried.
“Dad.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
“I'm coming.”
The caller returned.
“Forty minutes.”
The line ended.
Officer Morris leaned over the map.
“We'll set a perimeter.”
Arthur shook his head.
“They'll kill him if they see police.”
“You don't know that.”
“No.”
Arthur picked up the red notebook.
“But I know what Claire told me.”
Daniel stared at him.
“What?”
Arthur looked at the last sentence again.
Protect Lucas before you protect the company.
May you like
He slipped the notebook under his coat.
“I know exactly what matters now.”
