Chapter 7 - The Boathouse at Midnight
Claire walked toward the frozen lake alone.
The blood vial rested inside her coat.
A wireless microphone was hidden beneath her collar.
Luca and Adrian followed through the trees at a distance.
Victoria had threatened to kill Sophie if she saw security.
Claire believed her.
The boathouse lights glowed through the snow.
A black van stood beside the dock.
Claire entered.
Sophie sat near the wall.
Eleanor remained in her wheelchair beside her.
Catherine lay on a hospital stretcher.
Victoria stood between them.
Detective Pierce held a gun.
Malcolm Graves guarded the side door.
Claire stopped.
“You brought a police detective.”
Pierce smiled.
“Someone has to keep the peace.”
“You murdered peace thirty years ago.”
His expression hardened.
Victoria held out her hand.
“The sample.”
Claire removed the vial.
“Release Sophie first.”
“No.”
“You need me alive until the trust transfers.”
“I need your blood.”
“You already have it.”
Victoria looked toward Catherine.
“Her blood is less useful now.”
Claire’s pulse quickened.
“What did you give her?”
“Medication.”
Elise’s voice came through Claire’s hidden earpiece.
Ask how much.
Claire kept her expression still.
“How much?”
Victoria smiled.
“Enough to keep her quiet.”
Pierce moved closer.
“Give us the vial.”
Claire looked at Sophie.
The little girl’s hands were tied with plastic cord.
Her stuffed rabbit lay near her feet.
A tiny blue light blinked inside one eye.
Sophie had activated the tracker.
Luca now knew the exact room.
Claire tossed the vial toward Pierce.
It struck the floor.
Glass shattered.
Blood spread across the wood.
Victoria screamed.
“What did you do?”
“I ended your deadline.”
Victoria slapped Claire.
The sound cracked through the boathouse.
Sophie cried out.
Claire slowly turned her face back.
“That was your last free mistake.”
Pierce grabbed Claire’s arms.
Malcolm checked the broken vial.
“It is real.”
Victoria stared at the blood.
“You stupid woman.”
“You needed it.”
“You needed me afraid.”
Victoria looked toward Catherine.
“I still have another sample.”
She lifted a medical bag.
Claire’s hidden microphone transmitted every word.
Adrian and Luca moved closer outside.
Malcolm noticed a shadow through the window.
“We are not alone.”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed.
Pierce tore open Claire’s coat.
He found the microphone.
His face changed.
“You brought them.”
Claire drove her head backward into his nose.
Pierce released her.
She ran toward Sophie.
Victoria seized Eleanor’s wheelchair.
She pushed it toward the open lake door.
The dock waited beyond it.
“Stop!” Claire shouted.
Victoria shoved harder.
The wheelchair rolled toward the icy edge.
Eleanor gripped the brakes.
They did not work.
Adrian burst through the side entrance.
He caught the wheelchair one foot before the dock ended.
Luca tackled Malcolm.
Pierce raised his weapon toward Claire.
Sophie kicked the stuffed rabbit across the floor.
It struck Pierce’s ankle.
His aim shifted.
The shot hit the ceiling.
Claire pulled Sophie behind the hospital stretcher.
Victoria grabbed Catherine’s medical bag.
She ran toward the van.
Malcolm broke free from Luca.
He followed her.
Pierce fired again.
Adrian shielded Eleanor.
Luca returned fire.
The bullet struck Pierce’s shoulder.
He fell behind a crate.
Claire cut Sophie’s restraints with a broken piece of glass.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did they touch you?”
“Mrs. Ashford bit the man who carried me.”
Eleanor looked almost proud.
“He deserved it.”
Claire rushed toward Catherine.
Her mother’s face was thin.
A breathing tube rested beneath her nose.
Claire touched her cheek.
“Mom.”
Catherine did not move.
Elise and two medics entered.
Elise checked her pulse.
“She is alive.”
Victoria’s van crashed through the boathouse doors.
Adrian pulled Claire backward.
Wood exploded across the floor.
The van sped onto the service road.
Luca reached the second security vehicle.
“We will follow.”
Claire looked toward Catherine.
“Go,” Elise said.
“I will keep her alive.”
Claire entered Adrian’s vehicle.
They chased Victoria along the frozen lakeside road.
Snow reduced visibility.
The van turned toward the private airstrip.
A small jet waited with engines running.
Adrian’s vehicle drew closer.
Malcolm opened the rear van door.
He fired toward them.
The windshield cracked.
Adrian swerved.
Claire held the dashboard.
“Get closer.”
“He has a gun.”
“He also has my mother’s medical records.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Your priorities are alarming.”
“Drive.”
They reached the runway.
The van stopped beside the plane.
Victoria climbed out carrying the medical bag.
Malcolm covered her.
Luca’s vehicle blocked the jet.
Security officers surrounded the runway.
Victoria looked toward the dark tree line.
Then she raised a phone.
A loud explosion came from the lake house.
Fire illuminated the sky.
Claire turned.
“Sophie!”
Adrian grabbed her arm.
“She is with Elise.”
The fire spread through the estate.
Every security officer looked toward it.
Malcolm used the distraction.
He seized Claire from behind.
A gun pressed against her neck.
Victoria smiled.
“Your mother taught you courage.”
“She should have taught you obedience.”
Claire stared at her.
“My mother survived thirty-two years of you.”
Victoria’s smile faded.
“You do not know what she survived.”
“Tell me.”
Victoria’s eyes became cold.
“She survived because I allowed it.”
Catherine’s voice came from behind them.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
An ambulance had reached the runway.
Catherine stood beside it.
Elise supported her.
Claire stopped breathing.
Catherine’s eyes found Victoria.
“You kept me alive because you could never find the ledger.”
Victoria’s hand began to shake.
Catherine looked toward Claire.
Recognition moved slowly across her face.
“My little girl.”
Claire’s knees weakened.
“Mom?”
Catherine smiled through tears.
“You still have my eyes.”
Malcolm tightened his hold around Claire.
Victoria stepped toward her sister.
“You should have stayed asleep.”
Catherine pointed toward the cameras on Luca’s vehicles.
“You should have checked whether the microphone was still recording.”
Victoria froze.
Every confession from the boathouse had been transmitted.
Adrian looked at her.
“You kidnapped my grandmother.”
“You kidnapped a child.”
“You admitted controlling Catherine’s medication.”
Victoria glanced toward the waiting jet.
Federal vehicles appeared at the far end of the runway.
She turned toward Malcolm.
“Shoot Claire.”
Malcolm did not move.
“Do it.”
His gun remained against Claire’s neck.
Then he lowered it.
“No.”
Victoria stared.
Malcolm looked toward the federal agents.
“I am done dying for your family.”
Victoria raised her own weapon.
A shot cracked across the runway.
Claire closed her eyes.
When she opened them, Victoria was still standing.
Blood spread across Malcolm’s sleeve.
He had stepped between Victoria and Claire.
Luca tackled Victoria.
The gun slid across the snow.
Federal agents surrounded her.
Pierce was carried from the boathouse in restraints.
Claire ran toward Catherine.
Mother and daughter reached for each other.
Catherine’s arms felt impossibly thin.
Claire held her carefully.
“I thought you were dead.”
Catherine pressed her face against Claire’s hair.
“I thought she had killed you.”
Sophie ran from the ambulance.
Catherine looked down.
The child’s pink dress was dirty and torn.
The crescent mark showed beneath one shoulder.
Catherine began crying.
“My granddaughter.”
Sophie hugged her.
Victoria watched from the ground while agents cuffed her.
Her face held no regret.
Only calculation.
Then Malcolm spoke through clenched teeth.
“She planned this arrest.”
Adrian turned toward him.
“What?”
Malcolm looked at Victoria.
“She wanted federal custody.”
“She has evidence against people more powerful than the Ashfords.”
Victoria smiled from the snow.
Claire felt the victory disappear.
Malcolm continued.
“If she talks, they will move her into witness protection.”
“And every person connected to Catherine will become a target.”
Victoria looked directly at Sophie.
May you like
“You thought I was the monster.”
“You have not met the people who taught me.”
