Chapter 15 - The Last Threat
For one impossible second Meline believed her mother had simply wandered away.
Then she saw the cut security cable.
Adrian grabbed her before she could run blindly into the corridor.
“Meline.”
“She’s gone.”
“I know.”
“My mother is gone.”
“I know.”
“You said this place was secure!”
Pain crossed his face.
“I know.”
Federal agents locked down the hall.
Security footage showed a nurse wheeling Norah through a staff exit ten minutes before the lights failed.
The nurse was not from Riverbend.
False identification.
The woman had escaped through an underground loading area.
A van waited.
Adrian’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Victor.
From federal custody.
Impossible.
Or recorded.
“Hello, Adrian.”
His voice came through a prerecorded message.
“If you’re hearing this, the old woman is still alive.”
Meline grabbed the phone.
“Where is she?”
The message continued.
“You always thought evidence was power. It isn’t. Fear is.”
Adrian looked at Meline.
“Victor arranged this before his arrest.”
The recording gave instructions.
Bring Elena’s original score.
No police.
No tracking.
Midnight.
The old Vance boathouse.
Meline’s hands shook.
“Why the score?”
Adrian understood first.
“Because he still thinks something is hidden in it.”
“Is there?”
“I don’t know.”
Norah’s final blank note.
Blue codes.
Perhaps more.
Adrian called the prosecutor.
Meline stared.
“He said no police.”
“I stopped obeying kidnappers after Eli.”
“You’ll get her killed.”
“No.”
“How can you know?”
“I can’t.”
His voice softened.
“But neither can Victor’s people know what we do.”
Federal teams built a plan.
Meline insisted on going.
Again.
Adrian fought.
Again.
She won.
Again.
“You are never meeting another dangerous person after this,” he said.
“Put it in the contract.”
“I will.”
At 11:58 p.m., they reached the boathouse.
Rain fell.
Of course.
Meline almost laughed at the universe’s lack of creativity.
Inside, Norah sat tied to a chair.
She looked annoyed rather than frightened.
A man stood behind her.
Not Victor.
Daniel Crest.
Victor’s attorney.
Adrian stared.
“You?”
Crest smiled.
“Lawyers know where everything is buried.”
Meline moved toward Norah.
“Stop.”
Crest raised a gun.
“Score.”
Adrian held up the folder.
“Release her.”
Crest laughed.
“No.”
Norah rolled her eyes.
“He’s very boring.”
Meline almost cried with relief.
“Mama.”
“I’m fine.”
Crest glared.
“Quiet.”
Norah looked offended.
“I survived Victor Hale. You are wearing loafers in a boathouse.”
Adrian almost smiled.
Crest waved the gun.
“Score.”
Meline stepped forward.
“You don’t even know what you’re looking for.”
“Victor said Elena encoded offshore accounts.”
“She encoded evidence.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Meline understood suddenly.
“You think there’s money.”
Crest’s eyes changed.
There.
Greed.
Victor had promised him access.
Meline opened the score.
“Which page?”
Crest hesitated.
He didn’t know.
Adrian noticed too.
Meline continued.
“There is no treasure.”
“You’re lying.”
“The accounts belonged to stolen company funds. Federal agents froze them.”
Crest’s expression broke.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
He pointed the gun at Norah.
“Give me the final page.”
Meline slowly removed it.
Norah stared.
Meline saw something in her mother’s expression.
A tiny shake of the head.
Not that page.
Interesting.
Meline handed Crest the sheet.
He snatched it.
Turned it over.
Blank back.
“What is this?”
“The ending.”
“Where are the numbers?”
“There aren’t any.”
Crest’s face twisted.
He aimed at Meline.
Adrian moved.
“Don’t.”
Crest smiled.
“You care about this one too.”
Adrian said nothing.
“That’s your weakness.”
“No.”
Adrian looked at Norah.
Then Meline.
Then the armed man.
“That’s what Victor never understood.”
Crest frowned.
“Caring makes you predictable.”
“Sometimes.”
Adrian took one step left.
Crest followed with the gun.
Exactly what Adrian wanted.
A red laser dot appeared on Crest’s chest.
Federal sniper.
Crest saw it.
Too late.
“Drop it.”
Agents flooded the building.
Crest surrendered.
Meline ran to Norah.
“You okay?”
“I need tea.”
Meline laughed and sobbed.
Adrian untied her.
Norah looked at him.
“You took long enough.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
On the drive home, Meline asked:
“What were you trying to tell me?”
Norah frowned.
“When?”
“At the boathouse. You shook your head when I gave him the last page.”
Norah smiled.
“Oh.”
“What?”
“That wasn’t the real ending.”
Meline stared.
Adrian nearly slammed the brakes.
“What?”
Norah looked delighted.
“I’m not stupid.”
“Mama!”
“I gave Elena two copies.”
“Where is the real one?”
Norah tapped her temple.
“Safe.”
Meline groaned.
“You don’t remember.”
“I do.”
Everyone went silent.
Norah pointed toward Eli, sitting in the rear seat.
“The boy has it.”
Eli blinked.
“I do?”
Norah smiled.
“Inside the bench.”
Back at the estate, they opened the piano bench lining.
A narrow envelope had been stitched beneath the leather.
Inside was the true final page.
And another note from Elena.
Adrian read it.
Then sat down.
Meline touched his shoulder.
“What?”
He handed her the note.
Elena had written:
If you found this, then you finally chose truth over revenge. I knew you could.
Below that:
Play the last page with Eli. Not for me. For whatever comes next.
Adrian covered his face.
Meline sat beside him.
Eli climbed onto the bench.
Norah stood behind them.
Four people.
One piano.
A family none of them had expected.
They played.
May you like
And for the first time, the ending sounded like a beginning.
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