Chapter 6 - The Night We Stopped RunningSecurity moved us to a private hotel floor in Manhattan.
Ironically, it belonged to one of our competitors.
Detective Kline said our family properties were too obvious.
For the first time in thirty years, a Rowan checked into a hotel under a fake name.
Lily thought that was hilarious.
Nora did not.
“You’re enjoying this?”
Lily shrugged.
“A little.”
“This woman tried to kill your mother.”
“I’m not enjoying that part.”
“Which part are you enjoying?”
“Dad having to use a fake last name.”
I looked at the registration card.
Caleb Wilson.
“I hate Wilson.”
“It suits you,” Nora said.
“You’re both terrible.”
For ten minutes, we felt almost normal.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
Every federal agent in the suite reacted.
Kline signaled for me to answer.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then my brother’s voice.
“Caleb.”
I stopped breathing.
“Andrew.”
Nora reached for my hand.
“Are you safe?”
“For now.”
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“You can.”
“I don’t know who’s listening.”
“Kline is tracing.”
“I figured.”
Despite everything, that sounded like my brother.
“Are you injured?”
“A little.”
“Celeste?”
“She tried.”
“What happened?”
“I told her I was done.”
“With what?”
“Helping.”
My anger surfaced.
“You helped her drug Nora.”
“I didn’t know the dose.”
“You helped.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she told me Nora was gathering evidence to have us arrested.”
“You were committing crimes.”
“I know.”
“You could have come to me.”
“You became Dad.”
The sentence stunned me.
“What?”
“You stopped listening to anyone. Everything was about the company.”
I wanted to deny it.
Then I looked at Nora.
She didn’t.
Andrew continued.
“Celeste knew exactly what to say.”
“So you helped stage Nora’s death?”
“No.”
“I helped move her after she collapsed.”
My fist tightened.
“I thought Wynn would wake her at the clinic.”
“And when he didn’t?”
“I panicked.”
“What did Celeste do?”
“She said Nora dying solved everything.”
Nora closed her eyes.
I asked, “How did Nora end up at the funeral home?”
“I don’t know.”
“What?”
“I left.”
“You left my unconscious wife with Celeste?”
His voice broke.
“Yes.”
I nearly ended the call.
Nora squeezed my hand.
Keep going.
“Andrew, who put Nora in the coffin?”
“I think Mother knows.”
Everyone turned toward Beatrice.
My mother was staying in the adjoining room.
Kline immediately went to get her.
“What does Mother know?”
“Dad had an arrangement with Havencrest Funeral Services.”
“For what?”
“Fake deaths.”
The world tilted again.
My father.
Of course.
“He used them for you?”
“Yes.”
“That’s how you disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Celeste knew?”
“She found the records.”
My mother entered.
“What arrangement?”
I put the phone on speaker.
Andrew said, “Hi, Mom.”
Beatrice nearly collapsed.
“Andrew?”
“I’m sorry.”
She covered her mouth.
“My baby.”
His voice softened.
“I’m alive.”
She started sobbing.
I had never seen my mother cry like that.
Then Andrew said, “Mom, did Dad ever tell you why Havencrest kept a private preparation room?”
She froze.
“Mother?”
Beatrice looked around.
“He said it was for high-profile clients.”
Andrew laughed bitterly.
“It was for people who needed to die without actually dying.”
Detective Kline said, “Explain.”
Andrew told us my father had used the funeral home twice to create false identities.
Witnesses.
Business associates.
Andrew himself.
Celeste learned the system.
After Nora’s overdose, she pressured Havencrest’s owner into processing Nora as deceased.
But something went wrong.
“Celeste planned to move Nora out before burial,” Andrew said.
“Why didn’t she?”
“She realized the trust transfer required confirmed burial.”
I felt sick.
“So she changed the plan.”
“Yes.”
“She decided to actually bury her.”
Nobody spoke.
Nora’s hand trembled in mine.
Andrew continued.
“She needed Nora permanently gone.”
Beatrice whispered, “No.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“No, that doesn’t make sense.”
“Why?”
“The trust didn’t transfer to Celeste upon Nora’s burial.”
“You told me it did.”
“I told you what Charles told me.”
“What does it actually say?”
My mother looked terrified.
“I found another document after the funeral.”
“What document?”
“The original trust.”
“Where?”
“In Charles’s safe.”
“And?”
She swallowed.
“If Nora died, the shares went to Lily.”
Our daughter.
Silence swallowed the suite.
Lily whispered, “Me?”
Beatrice nodded.
“Celeste would receive temporary voting authority until you turned twenty-five.”
Nora stood.
“She wasn’t trying to own the company permanently.”
“No.”
I understood first.
“She needed Lily.”
Nora’s face drained.
“What do you mean?”
“If Nora died, Celeste controlled Lily’s shares.”
“And if something happened to me?”
I couldn’t finish.
Lily looked terrified now.
Detective Kline was already issuing commands.
No one leaves the floor.
Extra agents.
Doors secured.
Then the lights went out.
Every lamp.
Every television.
Everything.
Emergency lighting flickered red.
Someone shouted from the hallway.
A fire alarm began screaming.
Kline drew her weapon.
“Stay together!”
Smoke entered beneath the door.
Nora grabbed Lily.
I moved toward them.
Then something crashed in the corridor.
Agents yelled.
The sprinkler system activated.
Chaos.
When the emergency lights came back fifteen seconds later, Lily was gone.
Nora screamed her name.
On the carpet where our daughter had been standing lay her phone.
The screen lit up.
A message.
FROM CELESTE:
May you like
YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME.
NOW I’M TAKING EVERYTHING FROM YOU.
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