Chapter 7 - SHEPHERD
Evelyn refused to explain Shepherd in front of police.
Vivienne refused to leave until she did.
They compromised inside an armored SUV traveling toward the Hartwell estate.
"Shepherd wasn't a person at first," Evelyn said.
"What was it?"
"A designation."
"For?"
"The person authorized to protect Project Meridian's original research."
Vivienne frowned.
"Protect it from whom?"
"Everyone."
"Who chose the Shepherd?"
"Your father."
Vivienne looked out the window.
"And who was it?"
"I never knew."
That answer sounded impossible.
"You were married to him."
"Charles compartmentalized everything after the car bombing."
"So Shepherd could be alive?"
"Yes."
"Could Shepherd have Dad's credentials?"
Evelyn looked at her.
"Yes."
The attempted bank override suddenly made sense.
Someone had not stolen Charles's identity.
Someone had inherited it.
The SUV arrived at the Hartwell estate shortly after dark.
Police had released the property.
The dining room still carried traces of the previous night.
The overturned photograph.
The shattered glass.
The abandoned dinner plates.
Vivienne stopped near the table.
She hated that the room looked normal.
Murder attempts should scar walls.
They should blacken ceilings.
They should leave physical evidence of betrayal.
Instead, sunlight would enter tomorrow morning exactly as it always had.
Elias joined them.
"We found the storage facility."
"And the phone?"
"Gone."
Vivienne's expression hardened.
"Sloane lied?"
"No."
"Then?"
"Security footage shows someone accessing the box forty minutes before police arrived."
"Who?"
Elias showed her the image.
A man in a baseball cap.
Face obscured.
Evelyn stared.
"Zoom in."
The photograph enlarged.
The man's left hand was visible.
He wore a ring.
Silver.
Hartwell crest.
Vivienne looked at her mother.
"Family ring?"
"Charles had three made."
"Who got them?"
"Charles."
"One."
"Me."
"Two."
Evelyn hesitated.
"The third disappeared after his death."
Vivienne stared at the image.
"Shepherd."
"Possibly."
A sound came from beneath the table.
Tiny.
Mechanical.
Vivienne rolled closer.
The dead switch panel had opened automatically.
Inside was a narrow slot.
Something had appeared within it.
A key.
Old-fashioned.
Brass.
Attached to a metal tag stamped with one number.
Evelyn went still.
"I've never seen that."
Vivienne picked it up.
Elias examined the tag.
"Locker?"
"Safe?"
Vivienne looked toward the library.
"My father loved puzzles."
They spent two hours searching.
Nothing.
Then Vivienne remembered the framed wedding photograph Adrian had knocked from the bookcase.
She picked it up.
The glass was cracked.
Behind the photograph was another image.
Charles and Vivienne.
She was twelve.
They stood beside an old train station.
Locker number 17 visible behind them.
Evelyn recognized it.
"Grand Central."
Vivienne turned the photograph over.
In Charles's handwriting were six words.
When the Shepherd fails, trust the daughter.
Vivienne's pulse jumped.
Then the mansion's alarm sounded.
Elias rushed toward the security screen.
A fire had started.
Not in the kitchen.
Not in the garage.
In Charles Hartwell's sealed private office.
Vivienne stared at the flames spreading across the camera feed.
May you like
Someone was destroying evidence.
And whoever it was had entered the house without triggering a single exterior alarm.
