Chapter 12 - The Price of Trust|
I watched the video until Evelyn took my phone away.
“It's designed to make you suspicious of Adrian,” she said. “That doesn't mean it isn't true, but we cannot treat a message from a captor as reliable evidence.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
I looked at Adrian.
He stood near the window, his hands clasped behind his back, listening without interrupting.
“I don't know what to believe anymore,” I admitted.
He turned toward me.
“Then don't believe me because you feel you owe me. Don't believe me because I helped you. Look at the evidence.”
“And what if the evidence points to you?”
“Then you should turn me in.”
The answer came without hesitation.
I wanted to ask why he had said it so easily, but Evelyn interrupted.
“The police have identified a likely location from the photograph. The wall behind Maureen appears to match an abandoned office building owned by a company connected to Northbridge Consulting.”
“Can they get there before Victor moves her?” I asked.
“They're preparing a warrant. We don't know whether he's still inside.”
Adrian reached for his coat.
“I'm going to coordinate with the detective.”
Evelyn nodded.
“And Nora stays here.”
“No,” I said.
Both of them looked at me.
“I am not sitting in this café while other people decide what happens to my family.”
Evelyn folded her arms.
“You could compromise the operation.”
“Then tell me what I can do that won't.”
She considered me for a moment.
“You know Maureen better than anyone here. If the police need to establish whether the woman in the photograph is actually her, you can help verify details. But you do not approach the building.”
I agreed.
An hour later, the detective called.
They had found the office building, but it was empty. A chair was overturned in the room where Maureen had apparently been held. White tape lay on the floor, and a small amount of blood had been found near the doorway.
There was no sign of Maureen.
The police recovered a disposable phone from a trash bin outside. It contained a single outgoing call to a number registered under Victor Hale's name.
“He's moving her,” I said.
“Possibly,” the detective replied. “We're tracing the call.”
After the conversation ended, I turned toward Adrian.
“What happens if he never contacts us again?”
“We keep looking.”
“What if he kills her?”
His eyes held mine.
“Then we'll have to live with the fact that we couldn't save her. But I won't pretend we can control every outcome.”
I looked away.
It was the first time anyone had admitted that we might fail.
Later that evening, the forensic technician returned with a partial recovery from the overwritten cassette.
The recovered audio was faint and fragmented, but one sentence was clear.
A man said, “The payment was authorized by Cole.”
Then my father's voice replied, “Adrian didn't sign this.”
I froze.
Adrian stared at the laptop.
The technician continued.
A second fragment played.
“Then someone used his name,” my father said. “And if he finds out, he'll destroy all of us.”
The recording ended.
Evelyn looked from the screen to Adrian.
“Did you authorize any payments to Larkspur Holdings?”
“No.”
“Could someone have used your credentials?”
“My credentials were controlled by the finance department before I took over the company. Victor had access to the old authorization system.”
“Then he could have forged your approval.”
“Yes.”
I watched Adrian carefully.
“You never told me your name was on the ledger.”
“I didn't know it was until you found it.”
“Your father and mine were investigating your company. Someone altered records using your name. My father died, and now Maureen is missing.”
“I know.”
“Why should I believe you aren't involved?”
He didn't move.
“You shouldn't accept my word. Evelyn can verify the records. The police can compare the signatures. I will give them every document they request.”
He took his phone from his pocket and placed it on the desk.
“Here are the company's financial archives. I have already authorized a full forensic audit.”
I stared at the device.
“You're handing over your own records?”
“Yes.”
“Even if they damage your business?”
“Especially if they do.”
For a long moment, neither of us spoke.
Then my phone buzzed.
The message came from the same unknown number.
A location.
A time.
And a final instruction.
MIDNIGHT. THE OLD RAIL DEPOT. BRING THE BLUE LEDGER OR YOU'LL NEVER SEE HER AGAIN.
I looked at Adrian.
“We have to go.”
He nodded.
“We do.”
Then he added, “But before we leave, there's something you need to know about my father.”
“What?”
Adrian's face tightened.
“The last person he spoke to before he died was Victor Hale.”
May you like
He paused.
“And the last person my father accused of betraying him was mine.”
