Chapter 11 - BEHIND THE WALL|
They returned to the Vale residence before dawn.
Dominic ordered the staff to remain in their quarters while Victor searched the house's architectural plans. Emma walked through the corridors, studying every wall and doorway.
The house was enormous, but its design was surprisingly consistent. Cream walls, dark wood, gold-framed paintings. Nothing was blue.
Then Emma noticed a portrait hanging above a narrow console table.
It showed Dominic's mother, Elizabeth, standing in a garden. Behind her was a small building with a blue-painted door.
“What's that?” Emma asked.
Dominic examined the picture.
“The old music room. It was demolished before I was born.”
“Are you sure?”
“My father said it had been damaged in a fire.”
Emma moved the portrait aside.
The wall behind it had a narrow seam.
“Dominic.”
He came closer.
They found a concealed latch beneath the console table. When Dominic pressed it, a section of paneling shifted inward, revealing a narrow passage.
At the end was a door painted a faded shade of blue.
Emma inserted the key Dr. Shaw had given her.
The lock turned.
Inside was a small room lined with shelves and covered furniture. Dust floated through a beam of morning light. A piano stood against one wall, its keys yellowed with age.
On a desk lay a box marked with Margaret's initials.
Emma opened it.
There were letters, a small voice recorder, and a notebook filled with dates and names. The first letter was addressed to Elizabeth Vale, Dominic's mother.
Elizabeth, I know what Arthur has done. I know what happened to Daniel. If you cannot stop him, I will.
Dominic read over her shoulder.
“My mother knew about your father?”
“Maybe she tried to help him.”
He opened the notebook. Several entries referred to payments made to a private security company. Others listed dates of meetings with a name that appeared repeatedly.
VINCENT VALE.
“Who is Vincent?” Emma asked.
“My uncle. Arthur's younger brother.”
“Is he alive?”
“Yes. He runs the legitimate side of the business.”
“Then he had access to all of this.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“Vincent has always claimed he stayed out of the family disputes.”
Emma picked up the recorder.
A woman's voice filled the room.
“Emma, if you're hearing this, then I'm no longer able to protect you.”
Her mother's voice.
Emma covered her mouth.
“I need you to understand that I didn't leave because I stopped loving you. I left because the people who killed your father wanted to know what I had seen. I thought disappearing would keep you safe.”
A pause. A faint sound of breathing.
“Daniel's death was not an accident. Arthur ordered it, but he did not act alone. Someone inside the family gave him Daniel's route. Someone who knew the meeting was supposed to happen.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
The recording continued.
“I made a mistake trusting that person. I believed they wanted to save the family. They wanted the family for themselves.”
The tape clicked off.
Emma looked at Dominic.
“Your uncle.”
“Maybe.”
“Or someone he works with.”
Dominic picked up the notebook.
“We need proof before we accuse anyone.”
A sound came from the corridor.
Footsteps.
Victor appeared in the doorway, pale and breathless.
“Boss, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“Someone has sent the police a recording of you threatening a man at the shipping office.”
Dominic's face darkened.
“That's impossible. We were the ones being threatened.”
“There's more,” Victor said. “The recording has been edited. It sounds like you ordered a murder.”
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Emma felt the ground shift beneath her.
Outside, sirens began to rise.
