Chapter 4 - THE FIRST DEAD MAN
Conrad Vale had supposedly died of a heart attack at fifty-eight.
No scandal.
No suspicious circumstances.
No investigation.
Mara had attended the funeral beside Julian.
Beatrice had stood at the front of the cathedral in black, perfectly composed.
Celia hadn't cried.
Mara remembered that now.
At the time, she had assumed shock.
Now everything looked different.
“Celia signed the death certificate?”
Mara asked.
Elias nodded.
“She was listed as consulting physician.”
“She was a psychiatrist.”
“She still held a medical license.”
Theo examined the service entrance.
“This conversation needs to happen somewhere that isn't surrounded by armed men.”
Mara agreed.
They abandoned the sedan.
A second vehicle was waiting three blocks away.
Phase two included redundancies.
Julian had taught her that without realizing it.
Never trust a single account.
Never trust a single route.
Never trust a single story.
By dawn, three separate teams were operating.
Evelyn Shaw was freezing corporate accounts.
Elias was tracing Sable.
Theo was trying to identify the unknown surveillance team.
Mara had one responsibility.
Find Celia.
Because if Daniel had connected Celia's survival to Conrad's death, the entire structure of the Vale empire might have begun with murder.
They reached a converted warehouse on the south side.
The safehouse belonged to Evelyn.
When Mara entered, Evelyn Shaw was standing before six monitors.
Sixty-one.
Silver hair.
Black suit.
The kind of attorney who could make billionaires feel like defendants before anyone filed a lawsuit.
She turned.
“You're late.”
“I got distracted by a kidnapping.”
Evelyn saw Elias's bloodied shirt.
“Bathroom. First aid kit.”
“Nice to see you too.”
“Try getting shot somewhere less expensive next time.”
Elias disappeared.
Mara placed the brass disk on the table.
Evelyn stared.
“You got it.”
“What's it unlock?”
“We thought a vault.”
“It unlocks Room 317.”
“That's impossible.”
“So was Celia Vale being alive.”
Evelyn went completely still.
“What?”
Mara told her.
Everything.
When she finished, Evelyn removed her glasses.
“This changes phase two.”
“No.”
“Mara.”
“No. We keep going.”
“Your original goal was to stop the Ellison Trust transfer.”
“My original goal was to discover what Julian and Beatrice were stealing.”
“You have evidence of fraud.”
“Not enough.”
“We have enough to destroy Julian.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
Evelyn studied her.
Mara understood the concern.
Revenge was dangerous because it could masquerade as strategy.
“I don't want Julian destroyed.”
Evelyn's eyebrow rose.
“I want the truth.”
“Those goals may end in the same place.”
“Then they do.”
A monitor beeped.
Evelyn turned.
One of the frozen accounts had attempted an emergency transfer.
$86 million.
Destination: Saint Kitts.
Rejected.
Another.
$42 million.
Rejected.
Another.
“Someone's panicking,” Elias said as he returned.
Mara studied the transactions.
“They're too obvious.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Exactly.”
“Decoys.”
Mara pointed toward another screen.
“Show every account that hasn't moved.”
Evelyn adjusted the filter.
Hundreds disappeared.
Seven remained.
Dormant.
Unremarkable.
One belonged to a company named Alder Maritime Holdings.
Mara recognized it.
“Open that.”
Transaction history appeared.
Almost empty.
A transfer once every year.
Exactly $1.
“Why would a shell company move one dollar annually?”
Elias asked.
Mara looked at the incorporation date.
Fourteen years earlier.
Two weeks after Conrad Vale died.
“It's not an account.”
“What is it?”
“A signal.”
Evelyn zoomed in.
The receiving account changed each year.
Different banks.
Different countries.
But when they mapped the destinations, Theo noticed the pattern.
Zurich.
London.
Singapore.
New York.
Dubai.
Monaco.
Paris.
Seven cities.
Seven financial centers.
The Circle.
“Can we identify the owners?”
Mara asked.
“Not quickly.”
Evelyn hesitated.
“But I recognize one receiving institution.”
She enlarged a name.
MORROW PRIVATE BANK.
Theo cursed.
Mara turned.
“You know it?”
“Daniel did.”
The room went quiet.
Theo approached.
“He believed Morrow was where the Circle stored blackmail material.”
“Money?”
“Information.”
Mara stared.
Money could be replaced.
Information could control people indefinitely.
“What did Daniel find there?”
“I don't know.”
Mara's phone rang.
Unknown.
Everyone went silent.
She answered on speaker.
A woman's voice.
Beatrice.
“Mara.”
Perfectly calm.
“Beatrice.”
“You've caused a remarkable amount of inconvenience.”
“You locked Celia in a basement.”
“Did she tell you that?”
“She didn't need to.”
Beatrice laughed softly.
“You always were too eager to believe wounded women.”
Mara's jaw tightened.
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
“Where's Julian?”
A pause.
“Also safe.”
“You kidnapped your own son?”
“Kidnapping is such an emotional word.”
Elias mouthed, She's insane.
Beatrice continued.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
“The disk.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you give it to Julian?”
“I wanted to see whether he could still follow instructions.”
“And?”
“He disappointed me.”
Mara thought of Daniel's letter.
“Who killed Conrad?”
Silence.
For the first time, Beatrice stopped sounding amused.
“Who told you to ask that?”
“Daniel.”
Beatrice said nothing for several seconds.
Then:
“Your brother was clever.”
Mara's pulse thundered.
“So you knew him.”
“Briefly.”
“You told Julian you'd never met him.”
“I tell Julian many things.”
“Did you kill Daniel?”
“No.”
The answer came instantly.
Too instantly?
Mara couldn't tell.
“But,” Beatrice continued, “I know who did.”
Mara gripped the phone.
“Tell me.”
“Bring the disk.”
“Where?”
“I'll send instructions.”
“Celia comes first.”
“No.”
“Then we have nothing to discuss.”
Beatrice laughed.
“Oh, Mara.”
The softness disappeared.
“You still don't understand your position.”
A photograph arrived on Evelyn's monitor.
Julian.
Tied to a chair.
Celia beside him.
Sable on the floor.
Three hostages.
Beatrice's voice continued.
“Midnight.”
“If you hurt them—”
“You'll what?”
Mara looked around the safehouse.
At Evelyn.
Theo.
Elias.
At fourteen years of lies beginning to collapse.
Then Beatrice added:
“And Mara?”
“Yes?”
“Ask Evelyn why Daniel was investigating her.”
Mara's eyes moved slowly toward the attorney.
Evelyn's face had turned white.
Beatrice hung up.
No one spoke.
Mara looked at Evelyn.
“Why was my brother investigating you?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
And said:
“Because before I became your attorney…”
May you like
She opened them.
“I worked for Beatrice.”
