Chương 10
Noah was silent.
“What?”
Adrian said.
“I already found your name.”
Daniel stood.
“Where?”
Noah spoke more slowly.
“There’s a box marked CROSS.”
Adrian’s grip tightened around the phone.
“Open it.”
“The officer says wait.”
“Put him on.”
“No.”
“Noah.”
“He says it may be evidence.”
“He’s right.”
That surprised Noah into silence.
Adrian continued.
“Don’t touch it.”
“You just told me to open it.”
“I changed my mind.”
Daniel looked at him approvingly.
Adrian found the look irritating.
Noah said, “There’s something sitting on top.”
“What?”
“A photograph.”
“Of what?”
Noah went quiet.
Adrian could hear movement on the other end.
Then Noah said, “Your mother.”
The room seemed to contract.
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Describe it.”
“She’s outside a restaurant.”
“Alone?”
“No.”
“Who is she with?”
Another pause.
“Julian Vance.”
Adrian shut his eyes.
Daniel whispered, “What?”
Adrian put the call on speaker.
Noah continued.
“They look like they’re arguing.”
“Anything written on the back?”
“The officer won’t let me touch it.”
“Good.”
Noah let out an incredulous breath.
“Who are you and what have you done with Adrian?”
“Stay there.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“Listen to the officer.”
“That part seems less likely.”
The call ended.
Daniel stared at Adrian.
“Eleanor met Vance.”
“Apparently.”
“She never told me.”
Adrian turned.
“You’re not enjoying being excluded much either.”
Daniel did not answer.
His phone buzzed.
Rebecca Sloan had finally responded.
YELLOW.
Daniel looked at the message.
The sealed envelope had been blue.
His face changed.
Adrian saw it immediately.
“What?”
Daniel showed him.
“She got the color wrong.”
“Could be memory.”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“I sealed it myself.”
Adrian reached for his coat.
Daniel stood.
“Where are you going?”
“To Rebecca’s.”
“You don’t know where she is.”
“You said her daughter’s rehearsal.”
“That doesn’t mean I have the location.”
Adrian gave him a look.
Daniel sighed and opened his contacts.
“I hate what money has done to your expectations of logistics.”
Before he could search, Adrian’s phone rang from an unknown number.
He answered.
No distortion this time.
Only breathing.
Then Elena’s voice.
“Adrian?”
Everything in him stopped.
“Elena.”
Her next words came fast and low.
“Don’t sign anything.”
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Are you safe?”
A pause.
“No.”
Daniel was already signaling Ruiz’s number on his own phone.
Adrian kept his voice level.
“Who’s with you?”
Elena inhaled shakily.
“Mason.”
“Is he holding you?”
Another pause.
“No.”
That answer confused him.
“Elena.”
“He got me out.”
“Out of what?”
“Cross House.”
“You left with him willingly?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because someone was going to kill me.”
Adrian looked at Daniel.
Daniel stopped moving.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Her voice broke slightly.
“I don’t expect you to believe anything I say right now.”
“Then give me something I can verify.”
She was silent.
Adrian waited.
Finally she said, “The red folder is real.”
His hand tightened.
“And?”
“I put it in your room.”
“Why?”
“Because I was told to.”
“By whom?”
“Julian.”
Adrian looked at Daniel.
There it was.
The name Lily had never heard.
The name the source of the recorder had made inevitable.
“Why were you talking to him?”
Elena whispered, “Because he’s my father’s brother.”
Adrian went completely still.
Daniel’s mouth opened.
Elena continued before either man could speak.
“And because for three years, I thought he was helping me prove you destroyed my father.”
Adrian sat down.
Across the room, the antique clock ticked once.
Then again.
Elena’s voice trembled.
“But my father wasn’t trying to expose you.”
“What was he doing?”
“He was trying to protect your mother.”
Adrian looked toward the rain-streaked windows.
“From whom?”
Elena breathed in.
Then the line went dead.
Adrian called back immediately.
The number went straight to voicemail.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Daniel was already speaking to Ruiz, relaying the call in clipped phrases while Adrian stared at Elena’s name on the screen as if concentration could force the phone to ring.
“Say that last part again,” Ruiz said through Daniel’s speaker.
Daniel looked at Adrian.
“He said Elena claimed her father was trying to protect Eleanor Cross.”
“From whom?”
“She didn’t say.”
Ruiz swore softly.
“We’re tracing the call.”
“Can you find her?”
“We’re trying.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“No, Mr. Cross, it’s police work.”
The old impulse to push harder rose in him.
He swallowed it.
“What do you need from me?”
Ruiz paused.
“Everything you have on Julian Vance, your mother’s trust, Elena’s father, and anyone with access to your private security systems.”
“You’ll have it.”
“Not the cleaned version your lawyers like to give people.”
Daniel gave Adrian a pointed look.
Adrian said, “You’ll have everything.”
“Good.”
She ended the call.
For several seconds, neither man spoke.
Then Daniel said, “Her father’s name was Thomas Marlowe.”
“I know his name.”
“Do you know his employment history?”
“Apparently not.”
Daniel opened his laptop.
Adrian paced once across the office and back.
“Find it.”
“I’m doing that.”
“Faster.”
Daniel looked up.
“You have spent the afternoon criticizing everyone around you for not producing certainty on command.”
“I haven’t criticized everyone.”
“You criticized a forensic examiner for using the word sometimes.”
“He was irritating.”
“He was accurate.”
Adrian stopped at the desk.
Daniel typed.
Thomas Marlowe’s obituary appeared first.
Beloved father of Elena and Noah.
Devoted husband to Claire, deceased.
Longtime financial consultant.
Volunteer treasurer for a youth sailing foundation.
No mention of Vance Logistics.
Daniel clicked through archived corporate filings.
“There.”
A regulatory filing from twelve years earlier listed Thomas as senior director of restructuring analytics for Vance Maritime Group, the predecessor to Julian’s current company.
“Fifteen years,” Adrian said.
“According to Noah.”
Daniel scrolled.
“Promoted twice.”
“Why leave it out of the obituary?”
“Families omit things.”
“Fifteen years?”
“Maybe Elena didn’t want Vance associated with him.”
Adrian folded his arms.
“Or Julian didn’t.”
Daniel looked at him.
“That’s a theory.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
May you like
Adrian almost told him where to put the compliment.
Instead, he leaned over the screen.
