Chapter 4 - VICTOR HAD BEEN IN THE PLANE HANGAR THAT NIGHTHospital security removed Garrett and Eleanor after Evelyn demanded it.
Garrett protested.
Eleanor threatened lawsuits.
Neither mattered.
For the first time since marrying into the Blackwood family, Evelyn said no and watched the door close on them.
Then she turned to Victor.
“Explain.”
Victor remained standing.
“Eleanor believed I died seven years ago.”
“Why?”
“Because someone tried to kill me.”
“Who?”
“I assumed Richard Blackwood.”
“Garrett’s father?”
“Yes.”
“You knew him?”
“I worked for him.”
Evelyn went cold.
Victor pulled a chair toward the bed.
“I was Richard’s security director before I worked for your father.”
“How convenient.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Why did my father hire Richard’s security man?”
“Because he needed someone who understood how Richard operated.”
Evelyn studied him.
“You were spying.”
“Eventually.”
“On the Blackwoods?”
“Yes.”
“Did Garrett know?”
“He was young.”
“He was twenty-seven when my father died.”
Victor said nothing.
Evelyn caught it.
“You knew Garrett.”
“Yes.”
“How well?”
“Well enough to know your relationship with him wasn’t an accident.”
The words hit harder than expected.
“What does that mean?”
“Garrett met you at your father’s memorial.”
“I know.”
“He was supposed to.”
Evelyn stared.
“Supposed to?”
“Richard had been monitoring you.”
“My father was dead.”
“That made you more valuable, not less.”
Victor continued.
“After the plane crash, I tried to contact you. Letters disappeared. Calls were blocked. Samuel attempted through your attorney.”
“Martin Keene.”
“Yes.”
“Martin later became Garrett’s corporate attorney.”
Victor nodded.
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Pieces that had never seemed connected began shifting together.
Garrett meeting her when she was vulnerable.
Garrett being patient.
Garrett insisting she stop dealing with her father’s former associates because they “only wanted money.”
Eleanor constantly warning her that old Mercer employees were manipulative.
They had isolated her.
Slowly.
Elegantly.
Without Evelyn noticing.
“What happened to my father’s plane?”
Victor looked toward the window.
“The official report was mechanical failure.”
“And unofficially?”
“Someone entered the hangar the night before.”
“Who?”
“We never identified him.”
“But you suspected Richard.”
“Yes.”
“Did my father know?”
“I warned him.”
Evelyn’s voice rose.
“And he still flew?”
“He changed planes.”
“What?”
“The aircraft originally scheduled was removed.”
“Then how did the second plane crash?”
“That was the question that made me realize we were dealing with more than one person.”
Evelyn felt a chill.
“Two planes were sabotaged?”
Victor nodded.
“The first definitely. The second, we could never prove.”
“Why didn’t you tell police?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“Evidence disappeared.”
“Because of Richard?”
“Possibly.”
“Stop saying possibly.”
Victor looked at her.
“Because I don’t know.”
At least he admitted it.
“What happened after the crash?”
Victor hesitated.
“Your father called me.”
Evelyn’s heart stopped.
“What?”
“Twenty-four minutes after the plane went down.”
“No.”
“He survived the initial impact.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“Where was he?”
“In the water.”
“Then why wasn’t he rescued?”
“The coast guard received the wrong coordinates.”
Her grief, eight years old, became fresh and violent.
“You spoke to him?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Victor looked away.
“Victor.”
His voice dropped.
“He said the crash wasn’t an accident.”
“What else?”
“He told me to protect you.”
Evelyn fought tears.
“And?”
Victor swallowed.
“He said never let Evelyn trust a Blackwood.”
Silence.
Evelyn stared at the wall.
Her father had warned her.
And four months later she started dating Garrett Blackwood.
Victor continued.
“The call disconnected.”
“You never found him?”
“No.”
“His body?”
“No.”
Evelyn felt dizzy.
“There’s more.”
Victor removed an old photograph.
A security camera still.
Richard Blackwood’s mansion.
Timestamp seven months after Charles Mercer’s plane crash.
Victor was entering the house.
“What is this?”
“The night Richard died.”
Evelyn looked up.
“You were there?”
“Yes.”
“How did he die?”
“Blunt-force injury followed by a fall down the main staircase.”
Her pulse quickened.
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Were you accused?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I was the last confirmed visitor.”
Evelyn stared at him.
Victor continued.
“I confronted Richard about your father.”
“Did you threaten him?”
“Yes.”
“Did you hit him?”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Victor’s expression became grim.
“I never knew.”
Evelyn’s phone suddenly buzzed.
Garrett.
A text.
Ask your hero why my father died eleven minutes after he left the house.
Then another.
A photograph appeared.
Victor standing over Richard.
Richard’s face covered in blood.
Evelyn looked slowly toward Victor.
He had stopped breathing.
She held up the phone.
“You said he was alive when you left.”
“He was.”
“Then explain this.”
Victor looked at the photograph.
“That image was never in the police file.”
“Is it real?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn’s grip tightened.
“What happened eleven minutes later?”
Victor stared at Richard’s bloody face.
May you like
Then said something that made her skin crawl.
“Someone deleted eleven minutes of security footage.”
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