Chapter 7 - PRESTON VALE'S PRICE
Preston Vale was arrested before sunrise.
Assaulting Emily had been enough.
Lying during the investigation made everything worse.
His connection to the Mercer Trust changed the case completely.
Under questioning, Preston’s confidence lasted seventeen minutes.
Then Detective Torres placed the trust document in front of him.
His face collapsed.
“I didn’t know she was the girl.”
“You witnessed the document.”
“Eleven years ago.”
“You expect us to believe you forgot the name Blackwood?”
“I knew the name.”
“You called her a beggar.”
Preston lowered his eyes.
Torres leaned forward.
“Why?”
No answer.
“Why did you break the violin?”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“You kicked it after it broke.”
Silence.
“Were you looking for the brass endpin?”
Preston looked up.
That was enough.
Torres sat back.
“Who paid you?”
“No one.”
“Wrong answer.”
Preston stared at the table.
Then he whispered.
“Twenty thousand.”
“From?”
“I don’t know.”
“You assaulted a child for someone you don’t know?”
“They said there would be a girl.”
“What girl?”
“A kid with a violin.”
Torres stopped writing.
“What were your instructions?”
“Get her out.”
“How?”
“Make a scene.”
“Why?”
“To separate her from the instrument.”
Torres’s eyes hardened.
“So the cruelty was planned.”
Preston shook his head.
“Not like that.”
“Explain the acceptable version of throwing an eleven-year-old child onto marble.”
He couldn’t.
“They said someone would retrieve something from the violin.”
“Evelyn Cross?”
“I didn’t know who.”
“Who hired you?”
“All communication came through an encrypted app.”
“Payment?”
“Cash.”
“Where?”
“Locker at South Station.”
Torres slid a photograph of Victor across the table.
“Him?”
“No.”
Lydia.
“No.”
Daniel.
Preston looked offended.
“No.”
Then Torres placed Raymond’s picture down.
Preston reacted.
Barely.
But he reacted.
Raymond was still recovering from the gunshot.
When Daniel learned Preston recognized him, his first instinct was denial.
“Raymond has protected Emily since she was born.”
Torres remained calm.
“He also had access to your credentials.”
“He was shot.”
“That does not make him innocent.”
Emily listened from the doorway.
Daniel turned.
“You’re supposed to be upstairs.”
“I heard.”
“Emily.”
“Was Raymond with Mom the night she died?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Yes.”
The answer hurt.
“Where?”
“He was driving the second security vehicle.”
“Did he see the crash?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked at Torres.
Then back at Emily.
“Grace changed routes.”
“Why?”
“She said she wanted privacy.”
“Who knew the new route?”
Daniel became silent.
Raymond.
Only Raymond.
At the hospital, Raymond denied contacting Preston.
He admitted something else.
Grace had become suspicious of Blackwood security weeks before her death.
“She believed someone was tracking her through company software,” Raymond said.
“Was someone?” Daniel asked.
Raymond looked away.
“Yes.”
Emily stepped closer.
“Who?”
Raymond’s eyes filled with shame.
“I was.”
Daniel grabbed the bed rail.
“Why?”
“Your father ordered it.”
“My father was dead.”
Raymond nodded.
“He left instructions before he died.”
Charles Blackwood had believed Grace was in danger.
He had ordered Raymond to monitor her locations secretly and alert him if she visited three specific places.
The Grand Halcyon.
Commonwealth Conservatory.
And an abandoned property outside Concord.
“What property?” Torres asked.
Raymond gave the address.
They searched land records.
The building belonged to a shell corporation.
The shell corporation belonged to the Mercer Trust.
Daniel, Emily, and Torres arrived before sunset.
It looked like an old farmhouse.
Inside were no personal belongings.
No furniture.
Only a basement.
And in the basement, behind a steel door, were eleven locked storage cases.
Each case contained documents.
Hotel guest lists.
Bank transfers.
Encrypted drives.
Photographs.
Grace had used the missing eleven million dollars to build an archive.
An insurance policy.
Evidence against whoever had been using Blackwood systems.
Emily stared at the cases.
“My mom made this.”
Daniel nodded.
Then Torres opened Case Number Eleven.
Empty.
Nothing inside.
Except one envelope.
It was addressed to Emily.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
Inside was a single page in Grace’s handwriting.
My sweet girl,
If you are reading this before your twelfth birthday, then I failed to keep the worst secret in this family buried long enough to protect you.
Emily stopped.
Daniel slowly sat down.
She continued reading.
The next sentence made her father close his eyes.
May you like
The person who betrayed me is someone you love.
And the person who saved me is someone you have been taught to hate.
