Chapter 11 - THE WOMAN BEHIND LILA
Ortiz answered Adrian’s phone on speaker.
Gideon’s voice filled the security office.
“Bring Lila to Saint Alden before sunrise.”
Naomi moved closer.
“And if he doesn’t?”
A pause followed.
“Then Ethan dies a second time.”
The call ended.
Saint Alden Rehabilitation Center had closed twelve years earlier.
The property stood beside a frozen lake outside Chicago.
Its final owner was a company controlled by Gideon.
Police prepared to raid it.
Adrian denied knowing what was inside.
Celeste turned on him.
“You issued the order to disable the ballroom camera.”
“My father said he needed privacy.”
“You created the duplicate key to Arthur’s suite.”
“He said the trust documents were fraudulent.”
“You hired a woman to wear Miriam’s face.”
Adrian looked away.
Lila had been the distraction.
Celeste’s wedding placed every Caldwell trustee inside one building.
Arthur could be declared incompetent.
Warren could be provoked into committing a public crime.
Naomi could be framed.
Gideon would receive emergency authority over the trust.
“Did you know Warren would hit her?” Naomi asked.
“No.”
“Did you know he would accuse her?”
Adrian’s silence answered.
Celeste struck him once.
No one stopped her.
“You used our wedding to terrorize a child.”
Adrian touched his cheek.
His confidence disappeared.
Police found an encrypted map on his phone.
It showed Saint Alden’s medical wing and an underground chamber.
One room was marked E.C.
Ethan Caldwell.
Adrian claimed he had never opened it.
Evelyn enlarged a photograph stored with the map.
It showed Adrian standing outside the room six months earlier.
A hand was visible behind its narrow window.
Ethan’s hand.
Celeste stared at her husband.
“You saw him.”
“I heard someone inside. My father said he was dangerous.”
“And you chose not to look.”
That choice had cost Ethan six more months of captivity.
Naomi ordered Lila to remain with Evelyn.
Lila clung to her.
“You always tell me not to go somewhere alone when I’m scared.”
“I won’t be alone.”
“Promise?”
Naomi looked toward Arthur, Ortiz and the armed officers.
“I promise.”
As Naomi left, Lila reached into her cardigan.
She found something sewn beneath the lining.
A narrow piece of wire.
May you like
At its end was a tiny microphone.
Someone had been listening to every word since Warren planted the phone.
