Chapter 17 - Richard’s Counterattack
The Brooklyn rescue happened at dawn.
Police found Mark alive.
Thomas was gone.
Again.
But the kidnapping location contained documents Thomas had been preparing to destroy.
Passport copies.
Offshore accounts.
Payment schedules.
A list of names.
Judges.
Bankers.
Executives.
Doctors.
People Thomas had bought, frightened, or compromised.
The network began collapsing.
Vanessa was charged with conspiracy related to Amelia’s poisoning.
Mark accepted a plea arrangement for financial crimes in exchange for testimony.
Charles resigned from every Hale entity and publicly admitted covering up evidence after Amelia’s crash.
The Hale Meridian board begged Richard to return.
He refused.
“For now.”
That answer sent the stock down.
Richard slept perfectly that night.
For the first time in his adult life, a market price did not determine whether he believed he had done the right thing.
Thomas remained missing.
Then Amelia received an email.
One sentence.
YOU STILL DON’T REMEMBER THE BRIDGE.
She went pale.
Richard saw it.
“What bridge?”
“I don’t know.”
The email included coordinates.
Mara told them not to go.
They went with police surveillance.
The coordinates led to the road where Amelia crashed.
Near the guardrail was an old pedestrian bridge over the ravine.
Amelia stood beneath it.
Memory returned in flashes.
“I got out.”
Richard looked at her.
“What?”
“Before the crash.”
She touched her head.
“No.”
“After.”
Her breathing quickened.
“I remember waking.”
“In the car?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Someone came down.”
“Paramedics?”
“No.”
“Thomas?”
She shook her head.
“Vanessa.”
Richard stared.
“Vanessa was at the crash?”
Amelia closed her eyes.
“She climbed down.”
“What did she do?”
“She took my necklace.”
The sapphire pendant.
“She thought I was unconscious.”
Amelia’s breathing became shallow.
Richard took her hand.
“What else?”
“I heard her call someone.”
“Who?”
“She said, ‘It didn’t work.’”
Richard felt cold.
“Then?”
“She looked at me.”
Amelia opened her eyes.
“She knew I was alive.”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“Did she help you?”
“No.”
Amelia whispered,
“She walked away.”
That was the final moral line.
Vanessa had not cut the brakes.
Thomas had orchestrated the murder.
But Vanessa had found Amelia alive.
And chosen silence.
Then Amelia remembered another thing.
“A car stopped.”
“What car?”
“I don’t know.”
“A man came down.”
“Thomas?”
“No.”
“Mark?”
“No.”
“Charles?”
“No.”
She looked confused.
“Someone I knew.”
“Who?”
“I can’t see his face.”
Mara found tire impressions in old scene photographs that investigators had dismissed.
A second vehicle.
They traced a partial plate from a traffic camera.
The car had belonged to Thomas Bell’s firm.
Assigned driver:
Martin Reeves.
Richard stared at the report.
Martin.
The lawyer who supposedly knew nothing.
The man now injured in a car explosion.
Mara went directly to his hospital room.
Martin cried when confronted.
“I tried to save her.”
Richard stood at the foot of the bed.
“Tell me everything.”
Martin’s voice shook.
“Thomas called me.”
“When?”
“After the crash.”
“He said Amelia had been in an accident.”
“How did he know?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“You never ask the question that might cost you something, do you?”
Martin closed his eyes.
“No.”
Richard waited.
“I drove to the scene.”
“And?”
“I found Vanessa leaving.”
“Did you see Amelia?”
“Yes.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you take her to Mercer Ridge?”
“Thomas told me the local hospital was compromised.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“You believed him.”
“Yes.”
“Then he moved her.”
“I thought he was protecting her.”
“For two years?”
“I didn’t know where she went after St. Catherine’s.”
Richard looked away.
Another coward.
Another person who had handed power to Thomas by refusing to verify what was uncomfortable.
“Why did Thomas attack you?”
Martin looked confused.
“He didn’t.”
Richard turned.
“The explosion.”
“Wasn’t Thomas.”
“Then who?”
Martin stared at him.
“Mark.”
Richard went still.
“No.”
“He called me before it happened.”
Richard’s heart sank.
Mark.
His brother had still been hiding something.
Mara immediately checked phone records.
Mark had called Martin.
Six minutes before the explosion.
When confronted, Mark finally confessed.
“I didn’t order it.”
“Then what did you do?”
“I warned him.”
“Warned him about what?”
“Vanessa.”
Richard stared.
“What?”
Mark swallowed.
“She still has people outside.”
Richard felt a chill.
Vanessa was in custody.
But Thomas was not the only person who had built contingency plans.
The question changed.
What if Thomas was running?
What if Vanessa was still fighting?
Then the prison called.
Vanessa Cross had been found unconscious in her cell.
Beside her lay a note.
May you like
One sentence.
I WON’T LET THOMAS MAKE ME THE LAST LOOSE END.
