Chapter 8 The Woman in the Lobby
Chapter 8 — The Man Who Smiled at Every Family Christmas
The pickup truck raced through the deserted coastal road.
No one spoke.
The only sound inside the cab was the engine and Charlie occasionally fluttering his wings on the dashboard.
Daniel couldn't take his eyes off the photograph.
Victor Langford.
The man who had practically helped raise him.
The man Richard Brooks had trusted more than anyone.
Samuel kept both hands firmly on the steering wheel.
Finally, Daniel broke the silence.
"You're telling me Victor murdered my parents..."
"...then helped raise me?"
Samuel nodded.
"He stayed close because he needed to know one thing."
"What?"
"Whether you remembered."
Daniel frowned.
"Remembered what?"
Samuel looked ahead.
"When you were four years old..."
"You saw something."
Daniel searched his memory.
Nothing.
Only scattered images.
A beach.
A burning boat.
Someone carrying him through smoke.
"I don't remember anything."
Samuel gave a sad smile.
"Exactly."
"Richard made sure of that."
Olivia turned around from the passenger seat.
"You mean... he erased Daniel's memory?"
Samuel hesitated.
"Not erased."
"Buried."
Charlie suddenly spoke in Richard Brooks's voice.
"Protect the boy."
Daniel's hands tightened around the photograph.
Samuel continued.
"After the explosion..."
"You suffered severe head trauma."
"When you woke up..."
"You kept repeating Victor's name."
Daniel looked confused.
"Why?"
"Because Victor was there."
Silence.
Samuel's voice became quieter.
"You saw him."
"You watched him sabotage the yacht."
Daniel stopped breathing.
"But I was only four."
"You remembered enough."
"So Richard did the only thing he could."
"He moved you."
"Changed your identity."
"And spent the next thirty years pretending nothing had happened."
Daniel stared out the window.
Everything he believed about his childhood had been a carefully constructed lie.
Not because Richard wanted to deceive him.
Because Richard wanted him alive.
The truck suddenly swerved.
Samuel cursed.
Two black SUVs appeared in the rearview mirror.
"They found us."
Daniel looked back.
The same men.
Closing fast.
Charlie screamed.
"They're here!"
Samuel accelerated.
The narrow coastal road offered nowhere to hide.
One SUV pulled alongside them.
A masked gunman leaned out of the passenger window.
He raised an assault rifle.
"Down!"
Glass exploded as bullets tore through the rear window.
Charlie flew into the air.
Olivia ducked beneath the dashboard.
Samuel jerked the steering wheel hard.
The pickup slid across loose gravel before regaining control.
Another burst of gunfire.
This time the front tire exploded.
The truck spun violently.
Metal screamed against asphalt.
Everything became a blur.
The vehicle finally crashed sideways into an abandoned fishing pier.
Silence.
Daniel slowly opened his eyes.
Blood trickled from a cut above his eyebrow.
Olivia was alive.
Samuel was still breathing.
Charlie landed on a broken wooden post nearby.
The SUVs stopped twenty yards away.
Their doors opened.
Seven armed men stepped out.
One man remained inside the lead vehicle.
Then...
He stepped out.
Expensive black suit.
Silver hair.
Calm smile.
Victor Langford.
Exactly as Daniel remembered him.
Victor removed his leather gloves and smiled warmly.
Almost affectionately.
"There you are."
His voice sounded exactly the same as it had at every Christmas dinner.
He slowly walked toward Daniel.
"I've been looking for you..."
"...for thirty years."
Daniel struggled to his feet.
Victor stopped only a few feet away.
His smile never faded.
"I never wanted to kill you, Daniel."
"I only wanted the recording."
Charlie suddenly landed on Daniel's shoulder.
The macaw looked directly at Victor.
Then, perfectly imitating Richard Brooks's voice, spoke words that made Victor's smile disappear for the first time.
"Victor..."
"I always knew it was you."
For several seconds...
No one moved.
Victor's face turned pale.
Because only two people had ever heard Richard Brooks say those words.
Richard himself...
And the man who murdered him.
