Chapter 8 - Victoria’s Perfect Alibi
Claire did not go to the marina with Julian.
At least, that was her first decision.
It lasted seven minutes.
Then she realized remaining at Bellweather meant trusting everyone Julian did not.
So she went.
Gabriel drove.
Julian sat behind him in a reinforced van designed for wheelchair transport.
Claire occupied the seat opposite.
No one spoke for the first ten minutes.
Finally she looked at Julian.
“How long did you know Andrew?”
“Six years.”
“You said he came to your hospital room six months after the crash as though that was your first real interaction.”
“It wasn’t.”
“What was?”
“My father introduced us.”
“Why?”
Julian looked through the window.
“Andrew discovered something during a freight audit.”
“The missing money.”
“Yes.”
“He went to your father.”
“Yes.”
“Not you.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because six years ago I was not the man you think I was.”
Claire crossed her arms.
“What does that mean?”
“I spent more time collecting expensive cars than reading corporate reports.”
“Convenient.”
“Embarrassing.”
At least he admitted it.
“My father wanted me protected from certain things.”
“Such as?”
“The truth about how he built our company.”
Gabriel glanced in the mirror.
Julian continued.
“Matteo Vescari wasn’t a criminal king. He also wasn’t clean. He bribed officials. He purchased political access. He buried investigations. By the time I understood the scale of it, he was trying to dismantle parts of the machine.”
“And Andrew helped.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t Andrew tell me?”
“He believed knowledge would endanger you.”
Claire looked away.
That sounded exactly like her brother.
It also made her angry.
Everyone protected Claire by deciding what she did not deserve to know.
Andrew.
Julian.
Perhaps Gabriel.
She was tired of protection that felt like imprisonment.
The marina was empty when they arrived.
Too empty.
Gabriel’s team swept the area.
Victoria sat alone on the end of a long dock.
Still wearing cream.
Still perfectly composed.
Claire wondered if she had changed since the party.
Apparently not.
Julian rolled toward her.
“Where are your guards?”
“I sent them home.”
Gabriel stayed twenty feet back.
Claire remained beside Julian.
Victoria looked at her.
“The swimmer.”
“My name is Claire.”
“I know exactly who you are.”
Claire did not respond.
Victoria turned toward Julian.
“You brought her.”
“You expected that.”
“I hoped.”
She placed the object taken from the hidden compartment on a table.
Not a photograph.
A microcassette.
Old.
Nearly obsolete.
Julian stared.
“Father?”
Victoria nodded.
“He recorded it three weeks before his stroke.”
“What’s on it?”
“The reason Andrew disappeared.”
Claire stepped closer.
“Then play it.”
Victoria looked at her.
“You think I tried to kill my brother.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Did you arrange the service on his wheelchair?”
“My office did.”
“So—”
“I approved routine service. Somebody altered the request afterward.”
“You told guests Julian might hurt himself.”
Victoria’s expression tightened.
“I repeated what Doctor Hartwell told me.”
“Why?”
“Because Julian has refused psychological evaluations for two years.”
Julian said, “Because Hartwell reports to you.”
“He reports to the board.”
“Same difference.”
Victoria ignored him.
Claire asked, “Were you disappointed when Julian survived?”
Victoria finally lost her composure.
“What?”
“At the lake.”
Claire held her gaze.
“For half a second, you looked disappointed.”
Victoria laughed.
Not pleasantly.
“You’re interpreting my face after watching my brother nearly drown?”
“Yes.”
Victoria stood.
“You arrogant little—”
“Answer.”
Julian surprised both of them.
“Answer her.”
Victoria stared at him.
Then something in her expression broke.
“I wasn’t disappointed that you lived.”
Her voice lowered.
“I was disappointed that it happened.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Yes, it does.”
She looked toward the lake.
“Because I knew what came next.”
“What?”
“Everyone blaming me.”
Julian said nothing.
Victoria turned back.
“Your accident. Dane. Andrew. Father’s stroke. Every disaster points conveniently toward me.”
“Because you steal from the company.”
Victoria did not deny it.
Claire noticed.
Julian did too.
“So that part is true.”
Victoria’s chin lifted.
“I used information I shouldn’t have used.”
“How much?”
“Thirty million.”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“Thirty?”
“Not four hundred eighty.”
Silence.
“I bought property before Vescari announcements. I hid profits through shell companies. It was illegal, unethical, and stupid.”
Victoria looked at Claire.
“But I did not kill anyone.”
Claire asked, “Victor Dane?”
“No.”
“Julian’s crash?”
“No.”
“Andrew?”
“No.”
“The lake?”
“No.”
Julian pointed toward the cassette.
“Play it.”
Victoria inserted it into a portable recorder.
Static filled the dock.
Then an elderly man’s voice.
Matteo Vescari.
“If Julian hears this, then I failed to tell him myself.”
Julian went rigid.
“I built an empire using men I should never have trusted. One of them became family long before I understood what he wanted.”
Static.
Claire leaned closer.
Matteo continued.
“Victoria has stolen money. She believes I don’t know. Let her think that. Her greed makes her predictable.”
Victoria flinched.
“Andrew Bennett found the larger network.”
Claire’s chest tightened.
“He found transfers hidden inside my early businesses. Accounts older than Victoria’s schemes. Someone had been using Vescari companies before either of my children entered management.”
Julian looked at Gabriel.
“Who?”
The recording answered.
“If anything happens to me, do not trust the person who controls access to the house.”
Everyone looked at Gabriel.
His face went pale.
Then Matteo’s voice continued.
“I do not mean security.”
Gabriel exhaled.
“I mean the person who controls who becomes family.”
Static.
Then:
“Eleanor knows.”
Julian froze.
Claire frowned.
“Who’s Eleanor?”
Victoria whispered, “Our mother.”
Claire looked between them.
Julian’s mother was alive.
She lived in Europe and had not attended the party.
Or so Claire had been told.
The cassette continued.
“Andrew believes Eleanor has been communicating with the original architect of the scheme.”
Claire waited.
Matteo’s final words arrived through heavy static.
“The man you should fear is not a Vescari.”
Click.
Tape ended.
No one spoke.
Claire replayed the sentence.
Not a Vescari.
Gabriel.
Doctor Hartwell.
Executives.
Lawyers.
Hundreds of possibilities.
Victoria removed another item from her bag.
A flight itinerary.
“Our mother landed in Bellweather yesterday.”
Julian stared.
“What?”
“She didn’t tell you.”
“No.”
“She didn’t tell me either.”
“Where is she?”
Victoria looked toward the dark water.
“Missing.”
Claire felt dread settle over the dock.
Julian asked, “How do you know she arrived?”
“Airport security.”
“And after?”
“A car collected her.”
“Whose?”
Victoria slid a photograph across the table.
A black sedan.
The driver stood beside it.
Claire recognized him immediately.
Evan Mercer.
The security guard who claimed he had heard the command at the lake.
The man who had asked specifically for Claire.
The man currently being protected inside Bellweather.
Claire grabbed her phone.
Gabriel was already calling.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
He contacted the estate.
A guard answered.
Gabriel’s expression changed.
“What happened?”
He lowered the phone.
“Evan’s gone.”
Claire whispered, “How?”
“He told them Julian requested him upstairs.”
“I didn’t,” Julian said.
Gabriel nodded.
“I know.”
Victoria looked at Claire.
“There’s your perfect witness.”
Claire understood.
Evan had supplied exactly the information they needed.
Enough truth to earn trust.
Enough lies to guide suspicion.
And now he had vanished.
Claire’s phone buzzed.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
A video.
She opened it.
Andrew sat in a dim room.
Alive.
Looking directly into a camera.
His voice was weak but unmistakable.
“Claire, if you’re seeing this, stop trusting the person who keeps surviving.”
The video ended.
Claire looked toward Julian.
Toward Gabriel.
Toward Victoria.
All three had survived events that destroyed others.
But Andrew had not named any of them.
Then another message appeared.
THE NEXT ACCIDENT HAPPENS AT MIDNIGHT.
Claire checked the time.
11:41 P.M.
May you like
Nineteen minutes.
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