Chapter 9 - THE EMPTY HOSPITAL BED
Florence’s bed was empty.
Her IV line lay on the floor.
A nurse was crying in the hallway.
“He said he was family.”
Edward grabbed the nurse’s shoulders before forcing himself to release her.
“Who?”
“Dr. Mason.”
Detective Mitchell cursed.
“He came in wearing a hospital coat.”
The security video confirmed it.
Mason entered Florence’s room with a wheelchair.
Four minutes later, he rolled her into a service elevator.
No one stopped him.
Edward felt physically sick.
“They took her because they need the key.”
Mitchell nodded.
“And because Florence can testify.”
Edward called Victoria.
Straight to voicemail.
He called again.
Again.
Again.
On the fourth attempt, she answered.
“Hello, husband.”
“Where is my mother?”
“Safe.”
“If you hurt her—”
“Stop making threats you won’t keep.”
Edward clenched his jaw.
“What do you want?”
“The original golden key.”
“You already know where the safe is.”
“The key opens more than the mansion safe.”
Edward frowned.
Victoria continued.
“Your mother never told you?”
“Told me what?”
“The Hale family has a vault.”
Edward looked at Julian.
His attorney’s expression confirmed it.
Edward whispered,
“You knew?”
Julian nodded reluctantly.
Victoria laughed.
“Oh, this family and its secrets.”
“What’s in the vault?”
“Bearer bonds.”
“Original trust instruments.”
“Family jewelry.”
“Enough portable assets to disappear forever.”
Edward looked at Julian again.
“How much?”
“Possibly eight million.”
Edward returned to the phone.
“You get the key when my mother is safe.”
“No police.”
“You don’t get to set terms.”
“Then Florence gets very lonely tonight.”
A sound came through the phone.
His mother.
“Edward!”
“Mom!”
Victoria disconnected.
Edward nearly threw the phone.
Mitchell grabbed it.
“She wants you emotional.”
“She has my mother!”
“And if you rush in, she may have two hostages.”
Julian opened his briefcase.
“There’s something Victoria doesn’t know.”
Edward looked at him.
“The golden key isn’t enough.”
“What?”
“The vault requires a second authentication.”
“What kind?”
Julian smiled grimly.
“A family phrase.”
“Who knows it?”
“You.”
Edward stared.
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.”
Julian leaned closer.
“Your father taught it to you when you were eight.”
Edward frowned.
Then he remembered.
A strange bedtime phrase Charles Hale used whenever Edward was scared.
Gold remembers the hand that earned it.
Edward slowly repeated it.
Julian nodded.
“That’s the phrase.”
Mitchell said,
“Good.”
“We give them the key.”
“We let them take us to the vault.”
“And we arrest them there.”
Edward shook his head.
“They’ll search me.”
“We’ll plan around that.”
His phone buzzed.
A photograph arrived.
Florence sat tied to a chair.
Behind her was a stone wall.
Edward recognized it.
Not the bank vault.
The old Hale family mausoleum on the northern edge of the estate.
Then another message appeared.
MIDNIGHT.
BRING THE GOLDEN KEY ALONE.
Edward looked at the clock.
11:14 P.M.
Forty-six minutes.
Then he zoomed in on the photograph.
Florence’s left hand rested strangely against her knee.
Two fingers extended.
One curled.
Edward stared.
It was a signal.
Something she had taught him when he was a child playing hide-and-seek.
Two-one.
Second level.
First door.
Edward looked at Mitchell.
“They’re not at the mausoleum.”
“Then where?”
He swallowed.
May you like
“The mausoleum has an underground passage.”
“And my mother just told me exactly where they took her.”
