Chapter 11 - The Room Beneath the Library.
Ortiz wanted Claire under federal protection.
Claire went back to the mansion instead.
Mason drove.
Brooks sent a tactical team ten minutes behind them, but Claire knew Evelyn would disappear if she saw armored vehicles first.
The Vale estate looked abandoned when they arrived.
No lights burned behind the tall windows.
The fountain in the courtyard was off.
Claire stopped beside the place where she had landed eleven days earlier.
The blood was gone.
The memory of impact was not.
Mason unlocked a service entrance.
They moved through the dark mansion without speaking.
The library door stood open.
A single lamp glowed on the desk.
Claire saw one of her father's old notebooks lying beneath it.
She recognized the brown leather cover immediately.
Her name was written inside in Thomas Bennett's handwriting.
CLAIRE - IF THEY EVER MAKE YOU DOUBT YOURSELF, FOLLOW THE NUMBERS.
Tears blurred the page.
Mason looked toward the bookshelves.
"Richard built a panic room behind this wall."
He pressed a hidden switch.
One shelf moved aside.
A narrow staircase descended beneath the library.
The air below smelled of concrete and dust.
At the bottom was a room filled with file cabinets, old computers, and labeled storage boxes.
Claire found her father's name on three boxes.
Inside were duplicate ledgers, photographs, and audio cassettes.
One photograph showed Thomas Bennett inside the Vale mansion on the night before his supposed car crash.
Another showed him with Richard Vale and Mason.
Claire turned on Mason.
"You were there."
Mason did not deny it.
"Your father came here because Richard promised him protection."
"Then why did he leave?"
Mason looked at the floor.
"He didn't."
Claire felt every muscle in her body go still.
"What are you saying?"
"Thomas never drove that mountain road."
Mason's voice cracked.
"Evelyn's people killed him here."
Claire stepped backward into a cabinet.
"The body was identified."
"By dental records supplied through a Vale-owned clinic."
Claire covered her mouth.
Mason continued because stopping would have been worse.
"They used another body in the car."
"Where is my father?"
Mason pointed toward the concrete wall behind the storage shelves.
Claire understood before he said another word.
Rage rose so fast she nearly collapsed.
"You knew."
"I helped Richard hide the records, but I did not know where they put Thomas until years later."
"You stayed in this house."
"Because Richard begged me to stay close to Adrian."
Claire struck him across the face.
The sound echoed through the underground room.
Mason accepted it.
"I deserved that."
A slow clap came from the stairs.
Evelyn stood at the top holding a pistol.
Her pearl necklace was gone.
"Touching," she said.
Claire looked behind her for another exit.
There was none.
Evelyn descended one step at a time.
"Thomas was stubborn. Richard was weak. And now you are repeating both of their mistakes."
Claire's hands trembled.
"You killed my father in this house."
Evelyn smiled.
"No, Claire."
May you like
She raised the pistol.
"Your husband did.
