Chapter 17 - The Pool Was Hiding More Than EvidenceAt 10:52 p.m., the Whitmore mansion looked almost exactly as it had when Ethan jumped the wall the night before.
Blue pool.
Garden lights.
Black sky.
Except this time, nobody wore a mask.
Grant entered through the front.
Lauren and Helen remained with Daniel and federal agents who were finally reviewing the evidence.
Mason stayed outside the estate with a detective team.
Ethan wasn't supposed to be anywhere near the property.
He went anyway.
Rex went with him.
Nolan's vehicle sat near the pool equipment building.
No sign of Kane.
Ethan found that concerning.
He moved through the service entrance using his old code.
Still active.
That couldn't be coincidence anymore.
Someone had deliberately preserved Ethan's access.
Caleb?
Impossible.
Mason?
Maybe.
Lauren?
She claimed she'd restored it only weeks earlier.
Ethan entered the equipment room.
Voices below.
Nolan had already opened the hidden chamber.
Ethan descended quietly.
Rex followed.
At the bottom, Nolan stood beside a large valve assembly.
Kane sat nearby.
The second dog saw Ethan first.
Its body stiffened.
Rex growled.
Nolan turned.
"Of course."
He looked almost amused.
"I wondered how long before you ignored everyone and came yourself."
"Where's Caleb?"
Nolan laughed.
"Still on that?"
Ethan moved closer.
"Grant told you to keep him alive."
"Grant told me many things."
"Did you?"
"For a while."
Ethan's chest tightened.
"How long?"
"Long enough."
"Where is he?"
Nolan looked toward the pipe.
"Your brother was always difficult."
"Runs in the family."
"He could've taken money."
"He wasn't Grant."
"He could've disappeared quietly."
"Maybe he did."
Nolan's expression shifted.
Tiny.
Ethan saw it.
"You don't know where he is."
Nolan smiled again.
"Maybe."
That meant Caleb escaped.
At least once.
Nolan pointed toward the pipe.
"He left me a problem, though."
"What's inside?"
"Something that belongs to me."
"Then why didn't you retrieve it three years ago?"
"Because your brother damaged the access mechanism before he left."
"He left?"
Nolan realized the wording too late.
Ethan stepped closer.
"So Caleb walked out of the river house."
Nolan's jaw tightened.
"Not exactly."
"Tell me."
"No."
Ethan's fists clenched.
Kane growled.
Rex answered.
Nolan glanced at the dogs.
"You know what was funny? Rex hated me after Caleb disappeared."
"Smart dog."
"I had to retrain him."
"You mean scare him."
"Training requires clarity."
Ethan wanted to hit him more with every sentence.
"What happened to Caleb?"
Nolan finally sighed.
"Fine."
He leaned against the pipe.
"Your brother woke up at the river house with a fractured skull and enough evidence to send Grant to prison."
"We know."
"Mason tried to help him."
"We know."
"Mason left to get a car. Caleb didn't wait."
Ethan listened.
"He escaped?"
"Through a basement window."
"Then?"
"He reached Thomas Wexler."
That explained the flash drive entering Wexler's records.
"I tracked them down two days later."
Ethan's blood froze.
"Did you kill him?"
"I killed Thomas."
Ethan stared.
Nolan said it casually.
As though discussing maintenance work.
"And Caleb?"
"Ran."
"Where?"
"I lost him."
Relief struck Ethan so hard it hurt.
Caleb had survived.
Nolan continued.
"Two years later, I found him again."
Ethan's relief vanished.
"California?"
Nolan's eyes narrowed.
"You know about that."
"What happened?"
"He'd built a nice little life."
Ethan stepped closer.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing."
"You're lying."
"I watched him."
"Why?"
"Because I wanted what he stole."
"The reservoir evidence."
Nolan nodded.
"Caleb told me if anything happened to him, it would be released."
"So you couldn't kill him."
"Smart boy."
Ethan almost lunged.
Nolan held up a hand.
"He's alive."
Everything stopped.
Even the dogs seemed silent.
Ethan whispered, "Where?"
"I don't know."
"You just said you watched him."
"Until eleven months ago."
The email.
HE FOUND ME AGAIN.
"Then Caleb vanished."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I don't care."
Nolan pointed upward.
"Whatever he left in that reservoir tells me where he went."
"How do you know?"
"Because he told me."
"When?"
"The last time we spoke."
Nolan removed a phone.
Played an audio clip.
Caleb's voice.
Older.
Tired.
"If you ever want to find me again, Nolan, go back to where this started."
Nolan stopped playback.
"The pool."
Ethan's heart hammered.
"He was baiting you."
"Maybe."
"Then why wait?"
"Because the reservoir remained inaccessible without tearing apart Grant's pool. I couldn't do that without raising questions."
"Until the mansion sale."
"Exactly."
A motor started above them.
Water began moving through pipes.
Nolan had initiated the draining process.
The pool slowly emptied.
Ethan said, "Turn it off."
"No."
Nolan lifted a handgun.
Rex growled.
Kane stood.
"Ethan, don't make the dog die for you."
"You're assuming he'll choose me."
Nolan looked at Rex.
Then gave the old hand command.
"Stay."
Rex looked at him.
For a second, Ethan wondered whether years of Nolan's retraining would win.
Then Rex moved.
Not toward Nolan.
Toward Ethan.
He stood directly beside him.
Nolan's face hardened.
"Fine."
A noise came from the staircase.
Grant appeared.
"Nolan."
Nolan turned.
Grant held no weapon.
Just a phone.
"It's over."
Nolan laughed.
"You've been saying that for twenty-six years."
"Federal agents have the files."
"Not all of them."
"They have the recordings."
Nolan's confidence flickered.
Grant held up the phone.
"And Rex's collar."
For the first time, Nolan looked genuinely afraid.
Then Kane barked toward the ceiling.
A metallic groan came from behind the reservoir wall.
The draining pool had lowered enough.
A hidden access panel slowly opened.
Inside the dark cavity was a waterproof case.
Nolan forgot everyone else.
He lunged for it.
Ethan moved too.
Both men reached the case simultaneously.
May you like
And from somewhere inside the case—
a phone began ringing.
