Chapter 12 - The Evidence Maya Hid
The Coast Guard searched.
Gabriel waited.
Waiting was worse than pain.
At 3:12 a.m., Maya’s phone signal appeared near Cape Mercy Lighthouse.
Then vanished.
Gabriel joined investigators.
Inside the lighthouse, they found blood.
Not much.
A torn piece of Maya’s sleeve.
And another message scratched into dust:
B14.
Gabriel understood.
Beacon 14.
An abandoned navigation station offshore.
They reached it by boat at dawn.
Richard was gone.
Maya was there.
Alive.
Locked inside a maintenance room.
Gabriel opened the door.
She looked up.
For one second, neither spoke.
Then Maya ran to him.
Gabriel caught her.
He almost lost his balance.
He did not care.
She buried her face against his chest.
“You came.”
“Always.”
The word escaped before he could think.
Maya looked up.
Gabriel did not take it back.
Police searched the station.
They found Richard’s discarded phone.
And something else.
A waterproof case.
Inside were human remains records, old accounting files, and Carlos Torres’s watch.
Maya sat down when she saw it.
Her father had not abandoned her.
Richard had killed him.
For twenty-two years Maya had carried the wound of believing she had not been worth staying for.
Now she knew.
He had never left willingly.
Gabriel knelt beside her.
Maya held the watch.
“He tried to expose Richard.”
“So did my father.”
“They both died.”
Gabriel took her hand.
“We didn’t.”
Maya looked at him.
“No.”
“We finish what they started.”
She nodded.
The files gave investigators enough evidence to connect Richard to Carlos’s disappearance.
But Richard remained free.
Then Gabriel discovered one final file.
A list of offshore accounts.
At the bottom was a scheduled transfer.
Two hundred million dollars.
Execution date:
Friday.
Destination:
Switzerland.
Gabriel understood.
Richard was not simply escaping.
He was waiting for the money.
If investigators froze the transfer, Richard would know the files had been recovered.
Gabriel proposed something else.
Let it appear to proceed.
Follow the destination.
Force Richard to surface.
The authorities agreed.
Friday arrived.
The transfer began.
Minutes later, a banking terminal in Montreal attempted to access the account.
Richard.
Investigators moved.
But the terminal was remote.
Decoy.
Then Maya noticed the authentication code.
“Wait.”
She recognized the number.
The vault.
Gabriel stared.
Richard was using the old Harbor Crown vault protocol.
Why?
Because he believed something remained there.
Gabriel and Maya rushed back to the hotel with police.
Vault 317 stood open.
Inside was Richard.
He smiled when Gabriel appeared.
“You finally learned to follow clues.”
Police raised weapons.
Richard did not resist.
Instead, he held up a small envelope.
“You arrest me, this disappears.”
Gabriel stared.
“What is it?”
“The truth about your mother.”
Gabriel’s heart stopped.
Richard smiled.
“You thought your father was my only secret?”
Maya whispered, “Don’t listen.”
Richard looked at her.
“Your father made the same mistake.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“What about my mother?”
Richard’s smile widened.
“She knew everything.”
May you like
And for the first time, Gabriel wondered whether the woman he had worshiped all his life had been protecting him—
or protecting Richard.
