Chapter 10 - A Trap in the Rain
Roman refused to let me accompany him to Vermont.
I refused to let him go without me.
We argued in his office until Dominic finally suggested that the safest solution was to send a separate team ahead and keep our location hidden.
Roman agreed to a controlled meeting at a roadside inn, with surveillance covering every entrance.
I went because Lydia had been the only other person inside Blackmere House who had tried to uncover the missing records.
And because I recognized the fear behind her silence.
Rain hammered the windshield as our vehicles approached the inn. The building stood beside a dark stretch of highway, its faded sign flickering above an empty parking lot.
Dominic's team entered first.
No one was inside.
Then a phone rang in the reception office.
Roman answered it.
A distorted voice spoke through the speaker.
"You're late, Blackmere."
"Where is Lydia?"
"Closer than you think."
The call ended.
A crash sounded behind the building.
Dominic shouted into his radio.
Roman pulled me away from the entrance as a vehicle accelerated through the parking lot. Its headlights swept across the windows, blinding us for a second before it disappeared into the rain.
A guard shouted that someone was running toward the woods.
Roman moved to follow.
I grabbed his sleeve.
"Wait."
He turned sharply.
"What?"
"The car was a distraction."
His expression changed.
I pointed toward the reception office.
"The phone. The message. They wanted you looking outside."
Roman immediately ordered two guards to check the building's rear rooms.
They found Lydia locked inside a storage closet, her hands bound with plastic restraints.
She was alive.
Barely.
When Dominic cut the restraints, Lydia collapsed into a chair.
"He's coming," she whispered.
"Who?" Roman asked.
Lydia stared at me.
"Victor."
Her face drained of color.
"He knows you have the recording. He knows about the ledger. He said he'd kill everyone who helped you."
Roman crouched in front of her.
"You're safe now."
Lydia laughed bitterly.
"That's what Richard told me."
Roman went still.
Lydia described the night the warehouse bookkeeper died. She had been working in the archive room when she discovered a second ledger hidden inside a false-bottom cabinet. The records showed that money had been transferred through shell companies controlled by Richard Blackmere, Victor Sloane, and a third partner whose identity had been concealed.
She copied several pages.
Two days later, the warehouse burned.
The bookkeeper was found dead.
Lydia attempted to report the fraud, but Julian accused her of stealing the records. She fled before Victor could find her.
"Who was the third partner?" I asked.
Lydia swallowed.
"I never saw his face."
"Then how do you know he existed?"
"Because every major transfer required three signatures. Richard's. Victor's. And someone else's."
Roman looked at Dominic.
"Can we find the original ledger?"
Lydia nodded.
"I hid it before I left."
"Where?"
She looked toward the window.
"Inside Blackmere House."
Before anyone could ask another question, a gunshot shattered the glass.
Roman pulled me to the floor.
Dominic shouted for everyone to take cover.
Outside, an engine roared through the rain.
The attack lasted less than a minute.
When the guards reached the parking lot, the shooter was gone.
Roman looked at me, his hand still protecting the back of my head.
For one breath, I felt safe.
Then Lydia whispered the words that destroyed that illusion.
May you like
"The third signature belongs to someone who still lives in your house."
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