Chapter 17 - Maria's SecretRichard didn't shout.
That frightened Maria more than if he had.
“You've had another file for six years?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“In a safe-deposit box.”
Richard looked away.
Detective Ward stepped between them.
“What is in it?”
“I don't know everything.”
“You never opened it?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“The week after Claire died.”
“What did you see?”
Maria forced herself to remember.
“Financial records. Photographs. A letter.”
Richard turned.
“A letter to whom?”
“You.”
Silence.
Richard looked as if she had struck him.
“You had a letter from my dead wife addressed to me?”
“She told me not to give it to you unless someone came after Ethan.”
Richard's face changed.
“They almost killed him yesterday.”
“I know.”
“You still didn't tell me.”
“I was going to.”
“When?”
Maria's eyes filled.
“When I knew who I could trust.”
Richard stared.
“You didn't trust me.”
“No.”
That hurt.
Maria did not soften it.
“Claire didn't either, at the end.”
Richard looked away.
Ward spoke.
“We don't have time for this. Nathan believes the file can still damage him.”
Maria nodded.
“It probably can.”
“Can you retrieve it?”
“Yes.”
The bank branch had a twenty-four-hour private vault service for select clients.
Claire had established the box under Maria's name.
Ward arranged access.
Inside was a plain envelope.
Richard's name written across the front.
A second package contained a flash drive.
Ward examined everything.
The letter remained sealed.
Richard looked at Maria.
“Did you read it?”
“No.”
He opened it.
Claire's handwriting.
Richard,
If you're reading this, something has happened to me or someone has gone after Ethan.
Please don't hate Maria. I made her promise.
Nathan has been stealing from the company for years. Tom Keller knows. I don't know whether Tom helped from the beginning or became involved later.
There is also a woman named Vanessa Hart.
Richard stopped.
His hands shook.
Claire continued.
Nathan uses her to follow people, gather information, and frighten anyone who gets too close.
If I am wrong, I hope you burn this letter and laugh about how paranoid I became.
But if I am right, protect our boy.
Nathan knows Ethan is the one thing you would destroy yourself to save.
Do not let him use that.
Richard sat down.
Maria stood silently.
The final paragraph was different.
More personal.
I know you've been frustrated with me. I know work has taken you away. But I never stopped loving you.
If I don't get to come home tonight, tell Ethan his mother loved him more than anything.
And please forgive yourself.
Richard covered his face.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Then Ward examined the flash drive.
It contained the missing piece.
Video.
Claire had secretly recorded Nathan and Keller meeting inside a parking garage.
Nathan discussed transferring money.
Keller discussed altering records.
Vanessa appeared near the end.
Nathan handed her an envelope.
“Keep Claire frightened,” he said.
Vanessa answered,
“How far?”
Nathan smiled.
“Until she stops looking.”
That video alone could bury them.
But Nathan had Ethan.
Ward looked at Maria.
“We'll make a copy and use the original as bait.”
Richard shook his head.
“No.”
Ward stared.
“He asked for the file.”
“He'll kill Ethan anyway.”
“You don't know that.”
“I know Nathan.”
“So do I now.”
Richard looked at the screen.
“His entire life is over. Money, company, reputation, freedom. Ethan can identify him.”
Ward understood.
“You think he intends to eliminate the witness.”
“Yes.”
Maria went pale.
“Then why arrange a trade?”
“To bring us somewhere he controls.”
Richard looked toward the clock.
10:47 p.m.
Nathan had given them until midnight.
Ward began organizing tactical units.
Maria looked at the video message again.
Something bothered her.
She replayed it.
Richard glanced over.
“What?”
“The background.”
Behind Ethan was darkness.
A faint mechanical hum.
A tiny strip of blue light.
Maria raised the volume.
Hum.
Click.
Hum.
She knew that sound.
“I've heard this.”
“Where?”
Maria replayed it.
Then her eyes widened.
“The old cold-storage warehouse.”
Richard stared.
“What?”
His company owned an abandoned food-distribution warehouse in Bridgeport, inherited through a commercial acquisition.
Nathan had overseen the property for years.
Huge industrial freezers.
Richard felt sick.
“He took Ethan to another freezer.”
Maria shook her head.
“Not yet.”
“How do you know?”
“The compressor is running.”
Richard stared.
“So?”
“So the building hasn't been used in four years.”
May you like
She looked at him.
“Someone turned the system back on.”
