Chapter 15 - The Lowest Point
The Maryland property looked abandoned from the road.
A farmhouse.
Two barns.
A private hangar.
Federal vehicles stopped half a mile away.
Adrian rode with investigators.
Claire remained in Washington because Rebecca refused to let her walk into a possible hostage situation.
Every minute became unbearable.
Two hours.
Then ninety minutes.
Then one.
Finally, Adrian saw his mother through binoculars.
Evelyn stood near the farmhouse porch.
No Noah.
No Malcolm.
Agents approached.
Evelyn did not resist.
Adrian ran toward her.
“Where is he?”
She stared at her son.
“Your father said this was necessary.”
“Where is Noah?”
“Claire is destroying the family.”
Adrian grabbed the porch railing instead of his mother.
“WHERE IS MY SON?”
Evelyn began crying.
“I don’t know.”
Adrian froze.
“What?”
“Malcolm took him.”
“Where?”
“He said he needed insurance.”
Adrian stepped backward.
His own mother had helped abduct Noah.
And Malcolm had deceived her too.
Then an engine roared inside the hangar.
Agents rushed toward it.
A small aircraft sat with its door open.
Empty.
The flight log showed a departure forty minutes earlier.
Destination blank.
Claire received the news at 5:52 p.m.
The deadline had expired.
She sat at Eleanor’s desk.
For several seconds she heard nothing.
Not Rebecca.
Not Ethan.
Not the officers in the room.
Only Noah’s voice.
Mommy?
Claire had believed she prepared for everything.
Divorce.
Corporate retaliation.
Character assassination.
Even Malcolm.
She had not prepared for an empty room without her child.
Then her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Claire answered.
Noah was crying.
“Mommy.”
Claire stood so fast the chair fell.
“Noah, baby, listen to me.”
Malcolm took the phone.
“You missed your deadline.”
“Malcolm.”
“You wanted the company.”
“I don’t care about the company.”
“You sound like Eleanor.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“What do you want?”
“Transfer your shares to the Vale family trust.”
“I will.”
Rebecca looked sharply at her.
Claire raised one hand.
“Send whatever you want.”
“And the server?”
“Yes.”
“And the recordings?”
“Yes.”
Malcolm paused.
“You’d surrender all of it?”
“For my son.”
Malcolm laughed softly.
“Your mother said the same thing once.”
Claire’s eyes opened.
The room froze.
“What did you say?”
Silence.
Then Malcolm realized his mistake.
Claire’s voice dropped.
“You threatened me with Noah exactly the way you threatened her with me.”
Malcolm disconnected.
But he had already revealed something no document had proven.
He had used Claire as leverage against Eleanor.
Twenty-four years earlier.
And Claire suddenly remembered one line in her mother’s letter.
The third copy is with a person whose name you will not recognize until you need him.
Not Thomas Cole.
Someone else.
Claire grabbed the letter.
At the very bottom, beneath Eleanor’s signature, a second name had been pressed into the paper.
A witness.
May you like
Daniel Reed.
Savannah’s father.
