Chapter 6 - The House That Lied.
For several seconds, Claire could not process what she had seen.
Ortiz was in Adrian's SUV.
Mason dragged her toward the stairwell before the vehicle could circle back.
"Move."
Claire resisted.
"Ortiz sold me out."
"Maybe."
"I saw her."
"Then survive long enough to ask her why."
They climbed two flights while Claire fought through the pain in her ribs.
Mason led her through a service door and into an alley behind the garage.
A delivery van waited with its engine running.
Claire stopped again.
"Whose van?"
"Mine, for the next ten minutes."
They drove without headlights until they reached a quiet industrial street.
Only then did Mason explain.
He had discovered the real card hidden inside a motion sensor in the Vale mansion's library.
Claire remembered placing it there after copying files from Adrian's computer.
She had chosen the library because Adrian never read anything that did not include his name on the cover.
Mason had retrieved it before Evelyn's people searched the room.
"Why not give it to the police?"
"Because the police department has people on Vale payroll."
Claire thought of Ortiz in the SUV.
"Apparently including the detective."
Mason shook his head.
"Ortiz is complicated."
"That is a generous word for betrayal."
Mason pulled into an empty warehouse.
Inside, he opened an old laptop that had never been connected to the internet.
Claire inserted the memory card.
Folders appeared on the screen.
BANK.
MERCER.
THOMAS BENNETT.
BALCONY.
Claire stared at the final folder.
"Balcony?"
Mason looked just as surprised.
They opened it.
The folder contained a video file recorded two days before Claire's fall.
The image came from a hidden camera inside the mansion library.
Adrian stood beside Evelyn.
Claire heard her husband's voice clearly.
"If she finds the transfer records, we lose everything."
Evelyn answered without hesitation.
"Then she doesn't leave the house with them."
Adrian paced.
"You mean scare her?"
Evelyn stared at him.
"I mean solve the problem your father was too weak to solve with Thomas Bennett."
Claire stopped breathing.
Adrian's face on the screen went pale.
"You said Thomas's crash was an accident."
Evelyn did not answer.
Adrian stepped toward her.
"Mother."
"Some accidents require planning."
The video ended.
Claire covered her mouth.
Mason stared at the floor.
"That's why they wanted the card."
"Adrian didn't know she killed my father."
"Not then."
Claire looked at him sharply.
"What do you mean, not then?"
Mason opened another file.
This one had been recorded the morning of Claire's fall.
Adrian was alone with Evelyn.
His voice shook.
"I married her because you told me Thomas left access codes in her trust documents."
Claire felt something inside her break.
The video continued.
Adrian said, "I did everything you asked. I got close to her. I married her. I moved the money."
Evelyn replied, "Then finish what you started."
Claire closed the laptop.
She had believed her marriage failed that afternoon on the balcony.
Now she understood it had been designed as a fraud before Adrian ever proposed.
A phone rang in the warehouse.
It was not Claire's prepaid phone.
It came from Mason's pocket.
He looked at the screen.
His face drained of color.
"Who is it?" Claire asked.
Mason answered on speaker.
May you like
Ortiz's voice filled the warehouse.
"If Claire is with you, tell her I have exactly nine minutes before Adrian realizes I'm not on his side.
