Chapter 18 - Grace’s Last Secret
Grace did not move.
Olivia stared.
“What does he mean?”
Grace looked at Vale.
“You’re lying.”
Vale smiled.
“Am I?”
Mason stepped toward Grace.
“What does he know?”
Grace shook her head.
“Nothing.”
Derek watched her.
“You reacted.”
“Because he’s manipulating us.”
Adrian laughed.
“He is.”
Then he added.
“But that doesn’t mean he’s wrong.”
Grace looked at Olivia.
“I was twelve when your mother died.”
Olivia frowned.
“So?”
“I couldn’t have caused anything.”
Vale called from across the station.
“Tell her about your father.”
Grace closed her eyes.
Olivia’s heart sank.
“Who was your father?”
Grace whispered, “Michael Holloway.”
Derek recognized the name.
“Federal investigator.”
Nora looked stunned.
“My supervisor’s predecessor.”
Vale nodded.
“And the man driving the government sedan behind Evelyn.”
Olivia stared at Grace.
“You knew.”
“Not when we met.”
“When?”
“Last year.”
“You found out your father was following my mother.”
“Yes.”
“And didn’t tell me.”
Grace’s eyes filled.
“I didn’t know why.”
Vale interrupted.
“He ordered the road stop.”
Grace shouted.
“Shut up.”
Olivia looked at Vale.
“What road stop?”
Vale’s expression became serious.
“Evelyn was supposed to be intercepted.”
“By federal agents?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She had evidence implicating them.”
Grace shook her head.
“My father said he was trying to protect her.”
Vale laughed.
“Of course.”
Olivia looked at Grace.
“Did you speak to him?”
“He died when I was nineteen.”
“Then how do you know?”
“I found his journals.”
Another journal.
Another hidden record.
Olivia almost laughed at the absurdity.
Grace opened her bag.
She pulled out a worn notebook.
“I brought it.”
Olivia stared.
“You’ve had that all night.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because every page made my father look worse.”
Olivia stepped back.
Grace continued.
“I needed to know whether it was true.”
“How?”
“By finding the archive.”
“So that’s why you stayed close to me.”
Grace flinched.
“At first.”
Olivia laughed bitterly.
Of course.
Everyone had an “at first.”
Derek.
Grace.
Perhaps Mason too.
She looked at him suddenly.
Mason raised his hands.
“I genuinely met you in college.”
She almost smiled.
Then didn’t.
Vale walked away.
“See you in court.”
He disappeared through the station exit.
Olivia turned to Grace.
“Read it.”
“What?”
“The journal.”
Grace hesitated.
“Read what happened that night.”
Grace opened the notebook.
Her hands shook.
She found the page.
“My father wrote that Evelyn Bennett contacted him at 8:14 p.m.”
Olivia listened.
“She said she was ready to testify.”
Nora looked confused.
“Against Vaughn?”
Grace continued.
“Against Vaughn, Vale, and three federal officials.”
Adrian stared.
Grace read.
“He arranged a controlled stop on Highway 18.”
Derek asked, “Why?”
“To move her into protective custody.”
Olivia whispered, “She was leaving us.”
Thomas had never said.
Grace continued.
“She was supposed to stop at mile marker forty-two.”
“She didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Grace swallowed.
“Someone called her.”
“Who?”
“The journal says Thomas.”
Olivia felt cold.
“My father?”
Grace nodded.
“He told her not to trust the agents.”
Nora cursed.
“So she kept driving.”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“Vale followed her.”
Adrian asked, “And your father?”
“He followed too.”
Grace turned the page.
“Then another vehicle entered.”
Everyone waited.
“Black sedan.”
Derek asked, “Who?”
Grace looked up.
“Unknown.”
Olivia stared.
“That car caused the crash?”
Grace nodded slowly.
“According to my father.”
“Did he see the driver?”
“No.”
“License?”
“Stolen plates.”
Silence.
They still did not know.
Olivia closed her eyes.
So many people had been on that road.
Her mother trapped between them.
Then Grace whispered.
“There’s more.”
Olivia opened her eyes.
“My father reached the crash first.”
“What did he do?”
“He pulled Evelyn out.”
Olivia’s heart raced.
“She survived?”
“For several minutes.”
Everything changed.
Her mother had not died instantly.
Grace continued.
“She gave him a cassette tape.”
The confession.
Olivia stared.
“What did he do with it?”
“He gave it to Thomas.”
Silence.
Thomas had the recording.
Vale was right.
Grace looked devastated.
“My father wrote that Evelyn’s last words were, ‘Tell Olivia I chose wrong, but not about her.’”
Olivia felt tears.
Not about her.
Her mother had wanted her to know the mistakes were not about her.
Grace closed the journal.
“I’m sorry.”
Olivia looked at her.
“For what?”
“For becoming your friend under false reasons.”
There it was.
Another confession.
Grace continued.
“I found you because I was investigating my father.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“Before Derek.”
“Yes.”
Derek looked surprised.
Grace ignored him.
“I thought you might know something.”
“I didn’t.”
“I learned that quickly.”
“Then why stay?”
Grace’s voice broke.
“Because you became my friend.”
Olivia stared at her.
The answer sounded like Derek’s.
But it felt different.
Maybe because Grace had eventually helped her escape.
Maybe because Grace had risked herself.
Maybe because friendship and manipulation could exist together.
That frightened Olivia.
People were rarely one thing.
She looked at Grace.
“We’ll deal with us later.”
Grace nodded.
Olivia turned to Daniel.
“We need the tape.”
He nodded.
“Dad.”
They returned to the church.
Thomas was gone.
Rebecca stood beside Samuel.
“What happened?”
Rebecca looked terrified.
“He left.”
“When?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
“Why?”
“He got a call.”
“From who?”
“I don’t know.”
Samuel held up Thomas’s phone.
“He left this.”
Olivia looked at the screen.
One voicemail.
She played it.
A distorted voice.
“Thomas, bring Evelyn’s confession to Pier Nine.”
Olivia recognized the voice.
Not Adrian.
Not Vale.
Nora went pale.
Grace looked at her.
“What?”
Nora whispered.
“My former supervisor.”
The federal official from the highway.
The man whose corruption had spanned more than a decade.
He was alive.
And Thomas had gone to meet him alone.
Olivia looked at Daniel.
“We go.”
Derek immediately said, “Yes.”
For once, no one argued.
Pier Nine sat along the industrial river.
They arrived at 10:27.
The court hearing was thirty-three minutes away.
Thomas’s car sat abandoned.
Olivia saw him near the water.
Across from an older man.
Gray suit.
Gray hair.
The same face from Derek’s photograph.
Former Deputy Director Charles Mercer.
Thomas held a cassette tape.
Mercer held a gun.
Olivia stopped.
Mercer looked at her.
Then smiled.
“Evelyn’s daughter.”
Thomas shouted.
“Stay back.”
Mercer aimed at him.
“Give me the tape.”
Thomas looked at Olivia.
Then threw the cassette toward the river.
Mercer turned instinctively.
Thomas lunged.
The gun fired.
Olivia screamed.
Thomas fell.
Daniel ran forward.
Mason tackled Mercer.
Derek kicked the weapon away.
Grace grabbed the cassette before it reached the water.
Olivia dropped beside her father.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Dad.”
Thomas looked at her.
His breath was weak.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“Listen.”
She pressed her hands against the wound.
“Don’t talk.”
He smiled faintly.
“Your mother said that too.”
Tears blurred Olivia’s vision.
Thomas touched her cheek.
“The tape.”
Grace held it.
Thomas whispered.
May you like
“Play it in court.”
Then his hand fell.
