Chapter 8 - Eleanor’s Bargain
Snow collected on Eleanor’s silver hair.
Her hand remained steady around the pistol.
Arthur stood beside her, blood running from a cut above his eyebrow.
Detective Ruiz aimed her weapon.
“Put the gun down, Mrs. Vance.”
Eleanor pressed the barrel harder against Arthur’s ribs.
“Tell your officers to leave.”
“No one is leaving.”
“My son will die.”
Arthur looked at Clara.
The boys were behind an armored vehicle with a state trooper.
They were safe.
That knowledge changed him.
“Do it,” he told Ruiz.
Eleanor turned toward him.
“What?”
“Let her shoot me.”
Clara shook her head.
“Arthur.”
He did not look away from his mother.
“You have controlled this family through fear for decades.”
“You threatened my wife.”
“You stole from children.”
“You framed an innocent woman.”
“You kidnapped my sons.”
Arthur leaned slightly toward the pistol.
“If killing me is the only power you have left, use it.”
Eleanor’s hand began to tremble.
“You do not understand what I sacrificed for you.”
“You sacrificed everyone except yourself.”
Victor appeared behind them.
He still held the rifle.
Gabriel stood near the fireplace, shouting orders.
Owen had disappeared into the tunnel.
Victor glanced toward the police.
“This is finished.”
Gabriel grabbed his shoulder.
“Get back inside.”
Victor pulled away.
“I agreed to destroy records.”
“I did not agree to murder children.”
Gabriel struck him across the face.
Victor stumbled.
The rifle discharged into the porch ceiling.
Eleanor flinched.
Arthur seized her wrist.
The pistol fired into the snow.
Detective Ruiz and two officers rushed forward.
Gabriel dragged Eleanor back through the doorway.
Victor dropped the rifle and raised his hands.
“I surrender.”
Arthur was pulled behind cover.
“Where is Gabriel?” Ruiz demanded.
“Taking the rear passage.”
Clara pointed toward the lake.
“Owen knows the tunnel.”
Ruiz divided the officers.
Half entered the lodge.
The others moved toward the trees.
Arthur found Leo and Toby beneath a blanket inside an ambulance.
They threw themselves into his arms.
Toby touched the blood on his forehead.
“Did Grandmother hurt you?”
“No.”
Arthur held them tightly.
“She cannot hurt us now.”
But Eleanor and Gabriel were still missing.
Victor was placed in handcuffs.
Before Ruiz led him away, he asked to speak with Arthur.
“You want the truth about Evelyn?”
Arthur stepped closer.
“You are going to tell it to the police.”
“I will.”
Victor glanced toward the lodge.
“But Eleanor will lie.”
“And Gabriel will kill anyone who contradicts him.”
“Then start talking.”
Victor looked exhausted.
“The night before the crash, Eleanor ordered me to frighten Evelyn.”
“How?”
“She wanted the brake line weakened.”
Arthur’s face went still.
“Enough to force her car into a ditch.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Victor looked down.
“I knew it could kill her.”
“Then why did you do it?”
“Because Gabriel had evidence tying me to the foundation thefts.”
Arthur wanted to strike him.
Instead, he asked the question that had haunted him since seeing the garage video.
“Did you cut the brake line?”
Victor shook his head.
“I loosened a fitting.”
“Gabriel changed it afterward.”
“He cut through the line completely.”
“Did Eleanor know?”
“Not before the crash.”
“And after?”
Victor looked toward the snow.
“She helped us bury it.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
Eleanor may not have intended Evelyn’s death, but she had created the plan, protected the killer, and allowed Arthur to mourn beneath a lie.
A shot sounded from the forest.
Ruiz’s radio crackled.
“Suspect heading toward the lake.”
Arthur turned.
Through the trees, Gabriel was dragging Eleanor across the snow.
Owen followed several yards behind them.
Gabriel held a gun against Eleanor’s back.
She was no longer his partner.
She was his hostage.
Ruiz ordered Arthur to remain with the children.
He did not.
Clara followed him toward the lake.
The frozen surface stretched beneath a gray sky.
Gabriel stepped onto the ice with Eleanor in front of him.
Owen limped behind them.
“Stop!” Ruiz shouted.
Gabriel fired.
The bullet struck the ice near the officers.
Cracks spread across the surface.
Eleanor slipped and fell.
Gabriel grabbed her coat and hauled her upright.
“Keep moving.”
Owen stopped at the shoreline.
“Gabriel, the ice is too thin.”
“Then stay there.”
Arthur stepped into view.
“Let her go.”
Gabriel laughed.
“You still want to save her?”
“No.”
Arthur’s voice carried across the lake.
“But I want her alive long enough to answer for what she did.”
Gabriel aimed at him.
Before he could fire, Leo’s voice rang from the hill.
“Dad!”
Arthur turned instinctively.
Gabriel pulled the trigger.
Eleanor struck his arm.
The bullet missed Arthur.
Gabriel shoved her away.
The ice beneath Eleanor cracked.
She fell through.
For one moment, only her hands remained visible above the black water.
Arthur ran onto the lake.
Clara grabbed a rescue rope from the police vehicle and followed.
Gabriel fled toward the opposite shore.
Owen hesitated.
Then he ran after him.
Arthur reached the broken ice and dropped to his stomach.
His mother surfaced, gasping.
“Take my hand!”
Eleanor looked at him.
For the first time in Arthur’s life, she appeared completely helpless.
“You should let me go,” she whispered.
Arthur stretched farther.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I am not you.”
Eleanor reached for him.
Clara wrapped the rope around Arthur’s waist.
Together, they pulled Eleanor from the frozen lake.
As officers covered her with blankets, she looked past Arthur toward the trees.
“Owen will not catch Gabriel.”
Arthur followed her gaze.
May you like
“Why not?”
“Because Owen has been working for him from the beginning.”
