Chapter 4 - The Fiancée Who Came Back Smiling
The Baron estate had forty-three rooms.
On the morning after Elias left the hospital, only one felt unsafe.
His bedroom.
He sat near the window while Daniel searched the room a second time.
Clara had been taken to an apartment owned under a private holding company Victor knew nothing about.
At least Elias hoped he knew nothing about it.
Hope was not a strategy.
But for one night it would have to do.
Daniel emerged from the dressing room.
“Nothing.”
“No devices?”
“None we didn't install.”
Elias stared out at the grounds.
“Margot?”
“In the east wing.”
“She came back?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
Elias almost smiled.
“Of course she did.”
Daniel hesitated.
“You want her removed?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“If someone thinks I know the truth, they become careful.”
“And?”
“If they think I'm still confused, they make mistakes.”
Daniel nodded.
“You’re going to let her believe you forgave her.”
“I’m going to let her believe I’m considering it.”
“That's colder.”
“It’s safer.”
Margot knocked twelve minutes later.
She entered carrying coffee.
No flowers this time.
“Peace offering?”
Elias took the cup.
Did not drink.
Margot sat across from him.
“I know you hate me.”
“I don't.”
That unsettled her.
“You should.”
“Hate wastes attention.”
She looked down.
“I deserve that.”
Elias let silence work.
Margot filled it.
“I don't know what happened to me yesterday.”
“I do.”
She looked up.
“You wanted to hurt me.”
Tears appeared.
“I was angry.”
“No. Angry people shout. They slam doors. They say things they regret.”
“I did.”
“You drove away very calmly.”
Her lip trembled.
“Are you trying to punish me?”
“I’m trying to understand you.”
That frightened her more than anger would have.
Margot reached for his hand.
He allowed it.
“Elias, I love you.”
Four years earlier those words had done something to him.
Today they sounded rehearsed.
“I know.”
Relief moved across her face.
“But I need time.”
“Of course.”
“And no wedding plans until this is resolved.”
The relief disappeared.
Margot withdrew her hand.
“How much time?”
“I don't know.”
“We have six weeks.”
“Then cancel the venue.”
Her eyes hardened.
“For one argument?”
“For leaving me in a cemetery during a medical emergency.”
“I came back.”
Elias looked at her.
“No, you didn't.”
“I called Victor.”
“When?”
Her mouth opened.
Elias waited.
“What time did you call him?”
“I don't remember.”
“Try.”
“After I got home.”
“You arrived at the estate forty-seven minutes after leaving the cemetery.”
Margot swallowed.
“Fine. Around then.”
“Victor told the hospital he knew I was there because paramedics contacted security.”
Her face changed.
Another mistake.
Small.
Beautiful.
Elias smiled slightly.
“Interesting, isn’t it?”
“What are you doing?”
“Talking.”
“No. You're interrogating me.”
“Does it feel different?”
Margot stood.
“I will not live like this.”
“Then leave.”
“You keep saying that like you want me to.”
“I want you to choose.”
Her eyes searched his.
“What happened at that cemetery after I left?”
There it was.
Not Are you okay?
Not Who found you?
What happened?
Elias leaned back.
“A groundskeeper found me.”
Margot blinked.
“Groundskeeper?”
“Older man.”
“What was his name?”
“I didn't ask.”
Her shoulders relaxed almost imperceptibly.
She had expected Clara.
Elias was certain now.
“You should rest,” Margot said.
“I will.”
She kissed his forehead.
The gesture almost made him sick.
At the door she turned.
“I really do love you.”
Elias waited until she left.
Then he poured the untouched coffee into a plant.
Daniel stepped from the adjoining office.
“She bought it.”
“For now.”
“She knows Clara?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“That’s what we're going to learn.”
His phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A message:
She’s leaving the estate. Alone.
Elias replied:
Follow her. Do not approach.
Daniel looked at him.
“Who?”
“A man Victor fired last year.”
“You trust him?”
“No.”
Daniel laughed softly.
“That seems to be the theme.”
Margot drove downtown.
She parked beneath the Hawthorne Hotel.
Entered through the garage.
Twenty minutes later Elias received a photograph.
Margot at a private elevator.
Beside her stood Victor Hale.
Elias enlarged the image.
Neither appeared surprised to see the other.
The next photo was worse.
Victor’s hand rested against Margot’s back.
Familiar.
Possessive.
Daniel studied the screen.
“How long?”
“I don't know.”
“You want me to bring them in?”
“No.”
Elias looked at the photograph again.
“Let them talk.”
That evening Clara called.
“I found something.”
“What?”
“Your father’s envelope.”
Elias touched the folded paper inside his coat.
“The one about my mother?”
“You opened it?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“Because Dominic used a tamper system on certain documents.”
Elias frowned.
“What kind?”
“Wax fibers embedded in the seal. If someone opens it, we’ll know.”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because I think someone already tried.”
Elias retrieved the envelope.
The seal looked intact.
Then Clara instructed him to hold it beneath a lamp.
A hair-thin line appeared inside the paper.
Broken.
Resealed.
Someone had opened Dominic’s message before Elias found it.
“Can we tell when?”
“No.”
“Can we tell who?”
“Maybe.”
“How?”
“There should be trace material beneath the wax.”
Elias looked toward the door.
“Come here.”
“No.”
“Clara.”
“I’m not walking into the Baron estate.”
“You walked into a cemetery in a freezing storm.”
“A cemetery had fewer criminals.”
Despite everything, Elias laughed.
It surprised both of them.
Clara went quiet.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Say it.”
“I didn't expect you to laugh.”
“People have many incorrect expectations about me.”
“I’m noticing.”
He looked again at the envelope.
“Where do we meet?”
Clara gave him an address.
An hour later Elias entered a closed veterinary clinic owned by one of Daniel’s relatives.
Clara placed the envelope beneath a magnifier.
“You ready?”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Good answer.”
She carefully opened it.
Inside was a single sheet.
Dominic’s handwriting.
Elias read aloud.
“Your mother discovered who Victor really served.”
He stopped.
Clara leaned closer.
Elias continued.
“She tried to tell me. I did not believe her until it was too late.”
His throat tightened.
His mother had died when he was thirteen.
Official cause: automobile accident.
A drunk driver.
Dominic had never spoken about it.
The letter continued.
“If Victor remains beside you when you read this, then I failed twice.”
Elias felt cold.
“At Elena’s grave, beneath the angel on the eastern side, you will find what she died protecting.”
Clara whispered, “Elias…”
He looked up.
“My mother's grave is in Holy Rude.”
“The same cemetery.”
“Yes.”
“And your father told you to go there.”
Elias suddenly understood something.
The annual visits.
The specific grave.
The hidden office.
Clara's presence.
Perhaps Dominic had constructed a trail years before his death, waiting for the day his son would finally be forced to question everything.
Then Daniel called.
His voice was urgent.
“Elias, Margot and Victor left the hotel.”
“So?”
“They're heading toward Holy Rude Cemetery.”
Elias looked at Clara.
“Which entrance?”
“East.”
Clara’s face drained of color.
The eastern section.
Where Elena Baron was buried.
Elias wheeled backward.
“They know about the grave.”
Daniel asked, “What do you want me to do?”
Elias's answer came without hesitation.
“Get there before they do.”
Outside, thunder rolled across the city.
May you like
And for the second night in a row, Elias Baron raced toward the cemetery where his family had buried far more than its dead.
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