Chapter 14 - Under Hawthorne House.
Grant's eyes moved toward the floor for only a fraction of a second.
Chris used the moment to step between him and Vanessa.
"Do not," Grant warned.
Chris stopped.
"You have Thomas under the boathouse?"
Grant laughed softly.
"Thomas put himself down there years ago."
"What does that even mean?"
"It means you never understood the Vale family."
Vanessa pulled against the ties around her wrists.
"He brought Thomas here tonight."
Grant glared at her.
"Be quiet."
"He is lying to you, Chris."
"That is enough."
Grant stepped closer.
The gun remained steady.
Through the hidden earpiece, Brooks whispered a single word.
"Hold."
Chris forced himself not to look toward the door.
Grant pointed at the bag.
"Kick it over."
Chris did.
Grant opened it with one hand.
He found the silver key and photocopied ledger.
His expression changed.
"Where is the brass key?"
Chris said nothing.
Grant looked up.
"Natalie gave it to Thomas."
"We know."
"Then you found the bank box."
Chris realized too late that he had confirmed more than he intended.
Grant smiled.
"Thank you."
A heavy impact sounded beneath the floor.
Thomas called again.
"Grant, stop this."
Grant kicked a loose board aside.
Beneath it was a metal hatch.
"Your father-in-law has developed a conscience," he said.
Chris stared at the hatch.
"Open it."
"You are not in a position to give orders."
A flash of blue light moved across the far window.
Grant saw it.
His face changed instantly.
"You brought police."
Chris did not answer.
Grant grabbed Vanessa by the hair and pulled her chair backward.
She screamed.
"Grant!"
"Get down!" Brooks shouted through Chris's earpiece.
The boathouse exploded into movement.
Chris dropped behind a workbench.
The side door crashed open.
Police shouted commands.
Grant fired once toward the ceiling, then kicked the floor hatch open and disappeared down a narrow stairwell.
Chris ran to Vanessa.
An officer cut her restraints.
"Thomas is down there," Chris said.
Brooks grabbed his arm.
"You stay here."
"That is my family."
"And that is an armed suspect in a tunnel."
She pointed toward Vanessa.
"Help her outside."
Chris wanted to argue.
Then he saw Vanessa trying to stand.
Her legs buckled.
He lifted her by the arm and helped her toward the door.
She looked at him with tears running down her face.
"Why are you helping me?"
Chris kept moving.
"Because Lily is watching what kind of man I become after what you did."
Vanessa looked away.
Outside, paramedics took her.
Chris turned back toward the boathouse.
Brooks was already underground with two officers.
Minutes passed.
Then ten more.
The rain grew harder.
Finally, an officer emerged supporting an elderly man.
Thomas Vale looked thin and exhausted.
His left leg dragged slightly.
Elena, who had been waiting with police farther up the road, broke through the line before anyone could stop her.
"Thomas."
He looked up.
His face crumpled.
"Elena."
She stopped several feet away.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then Thomas opened his arms.
Elena did not go to him.
"Did you hurt Natalie?" she asked.
The question cut through the rain.
Thomas lowered his arms.
"No."
"Were you there when someone touched her car?"
Thomas closed his eyes.
"Yes."
Elena's face hardened.
"Then tell the truth."
Thomas nodded.
"I will."
Grant had escaped deeper into the tunnel.
Police found a second exit near the old greenhouse, but he was gone by the time officers reached it.
The tunnel itself contained more than anyone expected.
Metal shelving held old survey maps, corporate records, hard drives, and boxes of contracts.
A locked steel cabinet sat at the far end.
The brass key opened it.
Inside were original deeds to nearly every parcel Silver Lake Holdings had purchased.
There were also signed agreements showing Thomas and Grant had been partners in the land scheme.
One folder was labeled HAWTHORNE ACCESS.
Chris opened it under Brooks's supervision.
The first page was an unsigned contract offering Thomas and Grant more than two hundred million dollars if they delivered clear access rights by a certain deadline.
The deadline had expired years earlier.
A handwritten note at the bottom said the buyer would reopen negotiations if the trust obstacle was removed.
Another document listed three possible legal strategies.
The third strategy made Chris's blood run cold.
MINOR BENEFICIARY DECEASED BEFORE AGE 25.
TEMPORARY CONTROL TO EXECUTOR.
EXECUTOR AUTHORIZES SALE.
The wording matched the missing section nine.
Vanessa had not imagined the financial motive.
Someone had written Lily's death into a business plan.
Thomas was taken to the hospital under guard.
He requested to speak to Chris and Elena together.
Brooks allowed it after a physician cleared him.
Thomas looked at both of them from the bed.
"Grant did not sabotage Natalie's brakes," he said.
Chris stared at him.
"Then who did?"
Thomas's hands began to shake.
"I did."
Elena made a sound somewhere between a gasp and a sob.
Thomas lifted one hand.
"But I did not know the car was hers."
Chris stepped forward.
"Explain that very carefully."
Thomas looked at him with tears in his eyes.
"Grant told me we were disabling his own car to create an insurance problem and delay a meeting."
"The car was parked in your office garage."
"I loosened the fitting because he told me a mechanic would repair it before anyone drove."
Chris felt rage rising.
"And you believed him?"
"I wanted to believe him."
Thomas looked at Elena.
"That is the worst thing I have ever done."
"Not loosening the line."
"Believing what was convenient."
Chris moved closer.
"When did you learn Natalie drove the car?"
Thomas closed his eyes.
"The morning after she died."
"And you stayed silent for four years."
"Grant showed me footage of myself in the garage."
"He said if I spoke, I would be charged with murdering my own daughter."
"So you let me bury her believing it was an accident."
Thomas began to cry.
"Yes."
Chris walked out before he did something he would regret.
In the hallway, Brooks stopped him.
"We found something else in the tunnel."
She handed him a plastic evidence bag.
Inside was a small audio recorder.
May you like
A label in Natalie's handwriting read:
IF THOMAS CONFESSES, PLAY THIS FOR CHRIS.
