Chapter 5 - The Lie Gideon Paid to Believe
Gideon did not answer immediately.
That frightened Marcus more than anger would have.
Silas continued through the phone.
“You found Hannah’s recording.”
“Yes.”
“And now you want to kill me.”
“Yes.”
At least Gideon did not lie.
Silas chuckled.
“That is the Gideon I remember.”
“You remember a man who trusted you.”
“You trusted nobody.”
“I trusted you.”
For the first time, Silas became quiet.
Gideon looked at Ava and Sophie.
“Let Hannah go.”
“Bring me the pendant.”
“You already know it opened the compartment.”
“It opens something else.”
“What?”
“You’ll discover that eventually.”
Gideon’s eyes moved toward Ren’s bookshelf.
“Where is Hannah?”
“Alive.”
“Prove it.”
Several seconds passed.
Then a woman spoke.
“Gideon?”
Ava gasped.
“Mommy!”
Sophie ran toward the phone.
“Mommy!”
Hannah’s breathing came quickly.
“Girls?”
“We’re here!”
“Oh God. Are you safe?”
Gideon looked at them.
“Yes.”
Hannah began crying.
“Thank you.”
Silas took the phone back.
“Pier 17. Midnight.”
“No.”
Silence.
Gideon continued.
“You spent a year controlling the board. Tonight it’s my turn.”
“You misunderstand.”
“No, Silas. You misunderstand. You came to my home. You threatened children under my roof. And now you’re asking me to walk into a place you prepared.”
Gideon looked at the sunflower pendant.
“I won’t.”
Silas’s voice hardened.
“Then Hannah dies.”
Ava covered her mouth.
Gideon’s expression did not change.
“If Hannah dies, you lose the only leverage keeping you alive.”
A pause.
“You think I’m bluffing?”
“I think you planned my murder once and failed. Now you’re improvising.”
Silas said nothing.
Gideon pressed.
“You need the pendant. Which means you do not have everything you need at Pier 17.”
Another pause.
Gideon smiled without humor.
“So here’s what happens. You keep Hannah alive. I decide where we meet.”
“Gideon—”
“Call me in one hour.”
He disconnected.
Ava stared at him.
“You made him mad.”
“He was already mad.”
“What if he hurts Mommy?”
Gideon knelt.
“He wants something more than he wants to hurt her.”
“How do you know?”
“Because if he only wanted revenge, he would not have spent a year hiding.”
That answer seemed to help very little.
Sophie approached Gideon.
“Are you going to save her?”
“Yes.”
“Promise?”
Gideon looked into her eyes.
Promises had become dangerous things after Ren.
He had once promised his daughter he would always protect her.
He had failed.
But Sophie was waiting.
“Yes,” he said. “I promise.”
Marcus waited until the girls were taken into the adjoining dressing room with a trusted female security officer.
Then he said, “You know promises to children are legally binding.”
Gideon gave him a look.
Marcus became serious.
“What now?”
“We find every compromised employee.”
“In one hour?”
“We don’t need everyone. We need whoever is feeding Silas live information.”
Marcus nodded.
“The call about the wall came too quickly.”
“Yes.”
“Camera?”
“Could be.”
They searched Ren’s room.
Within four minutes, Marcus found a tiny wireless transmitter hidden inside a smoke detector.
“Recent installation.”
Gideon looked at it.
“Who has maintenance access?”
“Six people.”
“Bring all six.”
Three were on the estate.
Two had gone home.
One was Caleb Ross.
Gideon smiled grimly.
“There.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Too easy.”
“What?”
“If Caleb planted this and opened the gate, why run?”
“Because he was exposed.”
“Maybe.”
Marcus looked at the transmitter.
“But Silas is too careful to rely on one man.”
Gideon knew Marcus was right.
They moved downstairs.
Peter Voss sat handcuffed in a small security room.
He looked tired but calm.
Gideon entered alone.
“You have one opportunity to leave this house alive and free.”
Peter laughed.
“Generous.”
“Where is Hannah Reed?”
“I don’t know.”
Gideon pulled out a chair.
“I believe you.”
That surprised Peter.
“Then why ask?”
“Because you know something else.”
Peter watched him.
Gideon placed the sunflower pendant on the table.
Peter’s eyes dropped toward it.
There.
Recognition.
“What does this open?”
Peter said nothing.
“Silas wants it badly.”
Still nothing.
Gideon leaned back.
“Peter, if Silas survives tonight, what do you think happens to you?”
“I work for him.”
“No. You failed to retrieve the girls. You let me get the necklace. You were captured.”
Peter’s jaw tightened.
“You think he rewards failure?”
“You don’t know him.”
Gideon almost smiled.
“I knew him before you learned to shave.”
Peter looked away.
Gideon continued.
“You were never his partner. You are disposable.”
Silence.
“Help me save Hannah, and you disappear tonight with money and protection.”
Peter looked back.
“You don’t forgive betrayal.”
“I’m not asking you to betray me.”
“You know what I mean.”
Gideon leaned closer.
“A year ago I would have killed you for entering my property.”
Peter swallowed.
“And now?”
“Now two little girls are upstairs wondering whether their mother will live until morning.”
Gideon stood.
“That changed the math.”
Peter studied him.
Finally he said, “There’s a vault.”
Gideon stopped.
“Where?”
“Pier 17.”
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know.”
“What does the pendant do?”
“There are two locks. One physical. One electronic.”
“And?”
“Silas has the code for one.”
“The pendant activates the other.”
Peter nodded.
“Why?”
“I heard him say Evelyn designed it that way.”
Gideon’s head turned.
“Evelyn?”
“Your ex-wife.”
That made no sense.
Peter continued.
“Whatever is in that vault wasn’t hidden by Hannah alone.”
Gideon stared.
Evelyn had known far more than her letter admitted.
“Does Silas know what’s inside?”
“He thinks there are financial ledgers, recordings, and something from the night of the crash.”
“Where is Hannah being held?”
Peter hesitated.
Gideon waited.
“Old Lake Street terminal.”
Marcus, listening through the glass, immediately stepped inside.
“That property was condemned.”
Peter nodded.
“Silas uses the basement.”
“Security?”
“Six men, maybe eight.”
Gideon turned to leave.
Peter called after him.
“Crosswell.”
Gideon looked back.
“You’re still missing the part that matters.”
“What?”
Peter’s face had lost its confidence.
“Silas didn’t decide to kill you because he wanted your empire.”
“Then why?”
“He was afraid of what Ren saw.”
Gideon felt the room change.
“Ren was four.”
“I know.”
“What could she have seen?”
Peter shook his head.
“I don’t know. But Silas used to say the whole thing began because your daughter opened the wrong door.”
Gideon walked out.
Marcus followed.
“What door?”
Gideon’s mind moved through memories.
Ren loved exploring Crosswell House.
She opened cabinets.
Closets.
Office doors.
Once she had wandered into a meeting room and interrupted a conversation with three city officials.
But nothing dangerous.
Nothing worth murder.
Then Gideon remembered something.
Three weeks before the crash, Ren had entered his study while Silas was there.
She was carrying a yellow toy camera.
A child’s instant-print camera Evelyn had bought her.
Ren took pictures of everything.
Walls.
Shoes.
Food.
People.
That afternoon she had taken one picture.
Silas standing beside a man Gideon did not recognize.
Gideon had barely looked at it.
Ren later complained that Uncle Si took the photograph away.
At the time, Gideon thought nothing of it.
Now his stomach tightened.
He rushed upstairs.
Ren’s toy camera sat on a shelf.
He opened the compartment beneath it.
Empty.
Ava stood in the doorway.
“What are you looking for?”
“A photograph.”
She frowned.
“My mom had photographs.”
Gideon turned sharply.
“What photographs?”
Ava thought.
“One had that man in it.”
“Silas?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“She said he was important.”
Ava looked frightened.
“She said if anyone found out he was there, lots of people would go to prison.”
Gideon walked closer.
“Did she tell you his name?”
Ava nodded.
“What was it?”
Before she could answer, every light in Crosswell House went out.
The mansion fell into darkness.
A second later, an emergency alarm screamed.
Marcus’s radio came alive.
“Breach! East corridor!”
Gideon grabbed Ava.
“Sophie!”
A child screamed from the floor below.
Gideon ran toward the sound.
When emergency lights finally flickered on, he reached the dining room.
The trusted security officer lay unconscious beside an open service door.
Sophie was gone.
On the floor beside the fallen officer lay one fresh sunflower.
And a note.
ONE GIRL FOR ONE MOTHER.
May you like
MIDNIGHT.
PIER 17.
