Chapter 7 - The Camera That Went Dark
Gabriel did not attempt to run.
That almost made Claire trust him less.
A guilty man might flee.
A prepared man might understand that staying looked better.
Julian ordered the guards out.
The vault door remained open.
Gabriel stood with his hands visible.
“Start talking,” Julian said.
“Five years ago, Andrew discovered a set of freight invoices that didn’t match any physical shipments.”
“Money laundering?”
“Initially.”
“Initially?”
“He eventually realized the invoices were being used to disguise purchases of distressed property.”
Claire frowned.
“Why?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Influence.”
Julian said nothing.
Gabriel continued.
“Companies tied to Victoria were buying properties before major Vescari development announcements.”
Claire understood.
“If she knew where your company planned to build, she could buy cheap land first.”
“Yes.”
“And sell later for a fortune.”
“Exactly.”
Julian’s expression darkened.
“Insider dealing.”
“Only the beginning.”
Gabriel turned toward him.
“Andrew found government officials receiving money through consulting firms.”
“How many?”
“Enough.”
“Names.”
“Some are in the notebook.”
“Why were you involved?”
“Andrew approached me because I was still working corporate investigations.”
“You were not my security chief.”
“No.”
“When did you become it?”
“After your crash.”
Julian laughed once.
Coldly.
“Convenient.”
“I asked for the job.”
“Why?”
“To stay close to you.”
“To protect me?”
“Yes.”
“Or monitor me?”
Gabriel held his gaze.
“Both.”
Claire thought of Andrew’s warning.
Don’t trust Gabriel until he tells you about the second car.
“You followed them that night,” she said.
Gabriel nodded.
“Andrew called me. Dane had contacted Julian unexpectedly. Andrew believed the confession might expose Victoria.”
“So you followed Andrew?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you stop the crash?”
Gabriel’s face tightened.
“Because I was too far behind.”
Julian stared at him.
“What did you see?”
“Your vehicle entered the curve. Brake lights flashed. Then the front wheels turned the wrong direction.”
“Remotely controlled.”
“That’s what Andrew suspected.”
“What about the black SUV?”
“I saw it leave.”
“Did you follow?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because Andrew stopped beside your wreck.”
Gabriel’s voice roughened.
“He went down the embankment. I called emergency services.”
Julian asked, “And Dane?”
“Alive.”
“Did he say anything?”
“Yes.”
Julian became still.
“What?”
Gabriel glanced at Claire.
“Not Victoria.”
Julian frowned.
“That’s what he said?”
“Twice.”
Not Victoria.
The room shifted again.
If Dane had believed he was dying and chose those words, perhaps Victoria was not the person who caused the crash.
Or perhaps he meant something else.
Claire opened Andrew’s notebook.
“Did Andrew write it down?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel pointed.
Claire found a page marked with the crash date.
DANE: NOT V.
Underneath:
ASK WHO BENEFITS IF THEY THINK IT’S HER.
Claire looked at Julian.
Someone wanted suspicion directed toward Victoria.
Yet Victoria’s current behavior still made her suspicious.
Both things could be true.
Victoria could be guilty of financial corruption without causing Julian’s crash.
Or she could have later joined a conspiracy someone else began.
Julian rubbed his forehead.
“Who else knew about the investigation?”
“Andrew. Me. Dane.”
“Anyone else?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“Your father.”
Julian’s hand stopped.
Claire knew little about Matteo Vescari.
He had founded Vescari Holdings.
He had died two years earlier after a stroke.
“The old man knew?”
Gabriel nodded.
“He ordered me to continue investigating quietly.”
“Why not tell me?”
“He didn’t trust anyone after your crash.”
“His own son?”
“He trusted you emotionally.”
Gabriel paused.
“Not strategically.”
Julian gave a bitter smile.
“That sounds like him.”
Claire flipped pages.
Near the back, she found dates from after Julian’s crash.
One repeated several times.
October 14.
“What happened October fourteenth?”
Gabriel looked.
“Dane met Andrew.”
“Where?”
“Warehouse 17.”
Claire checked the image Andrew had sent earlier.
Abandoned building.
Metal siding.
Broken loading door.
“What does Warehouse 17 look like?”
Gabriel stared at the phone.
“Like that.”
Claire’s pulse accelerated.
“Andrew is there.”
“Maybe.”
Julian said, “We go.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No.”
Julian’s gaze sharpened.
“You misunderstand our relationship.”
“And you misunderstand that you’re currently the easiest man in Bellweather to kill.”
“I’m not sitting here while—”
Claire interrupted.
“I’ll go.”
Both men said no simultaneously.
Claire stared.
“That was impressive.”
Julian ignored the comment.
“You are not going alone.”
“I didn’t say alone.”
“Then who?”
Claire looked at Gabriel.
“Not him.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
“Smart.”
Julian said, “Claire—”
She leaned toward him.
“If Andrew is alive, whoever sent that photograph expects us to react.”
“Yes.”
“So we react differently.”
“How?”
“We don’t go to Warehouse 17.”
Julian watched her.
“We make them think we are.”
Gabriel nodded slowly.
Claire continued.
“Send vehicles. Security. Make it obvious.”
“And us?” Julian asked.
“We find out who watches.”
An hour later, three black SUVs left Bellweather toward Warehouse 17.
Gabriel remained visibly in one vehicle.
At least, cameras saw him enter it.
He switched cars inside the underground garage.
Julian appeared to remain at Bellweather.
He did not.
Claire and Julian moved to an unused guesthouse across the property through underground service corridors.
From there they watched internal security feeds.
If someone at Bellweather reacted to the convoy, they would see it.
For twenty minutes, nothing happened.
Then a camera went dark.
East corridor.
Claire leaned forward.
“That’s near the archive.”
A second camera failed.
Then a third.
Someone was moving through the house while deliberately disabling surveillance.
Julian spoke into a radio.
“Do not intercept.”
Gabriel answered from somewhere on the estate.
“Copy.”
The intruder reached Julian’s study.
Camera dark.
Claire stared at the map.
“Why go there?”
Julian said, “To check whether I’m home.”
The study camera returned.
A figure appeared.
Claire’s breath caught.
Blonde hair.
Cream clothing.
Victoria.
She entered Julian’s private office and moved directly to his desk.
No searching.
No hesitation.
She opened a hidden drawer.
Julian’s expression changed.
Claire whispered, “Does she know about that?”
“She shouldn’t.”
Victoria removed a small device.
A flash drive.
Then she went to the fireplace.
She pressed something along the mantel.
A concealed panel opened.
Claire looked at Julian.
“You have another safe?”
“No.”
On-screen, Victoria reached inside.
Whatever she removed was small enough to fit in her hand.
Then she turned.
For an instant she looked directly into the camera.
And smiled.
Claire’s skin prickled.
“She knows we’re watching.”
Julian did not answer.
Victoria walked toward the desk.
She picked up a sheet of paper.
Wrote something.
Then left.
The camera remained active.
Gabriel entered two minutes later.
He held up the note to the feed.
Three words.
COME FIND ME.
Below them was an address.
Not Warehouse 17.
A private marina on the opposite side of Lake Bellweather.
Julian stared at it.
Claire said, “It’s a trap.”
“Yes.”
“You still want to go.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Julian looked at her.
“Because Victoria just removed something from a safe I didn’t know existed in my own study.”
“And?”
“And that panel was built by my father.”
Claire understood.
Whatever Victoria had taken had been hidden by Matteo Vescari.
Possibly for years.
Possibly since before Andrew disappeared.
Julian turned his wheelchair.
“Get Gabriel.”
Claire remained seated.
“What?”
She pointed at the screen.
“Rewind.”
The footage returned to Victoria entering.
Claire slowed it.
Frame by frame.
Victoria opened the panel.
Reached inside.
When her hand returned, Claire paused.
A photograph.
She enlarged the image.
Four people stood beside Lake Bellweather years earlier.
Matteo Vescari.
Victoria.
Julian.
And a fourth person.
Claire stared.
Andrew Bennett.
The timestamp was six years old.
Three years before Julian claimed he had first met Andrew.
Claire turned slowly.
“You knew him.”
Julian’s face went pale.
“Claire—”
“You knew my brother years before the crash.”
“Yes.”
Every instinct told Claire to leave.
Instead she asked one question.
“Who are you really protecting?”
Julian did not answer.
May you like
And in that silence, Claire finally realized Julian Vescari had been lying to her from the moment she jumped into the lake.
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