Chapter 10 - The Empty Chair.
Ethan opened the bedroom door slowly.
The hallway was empty.
The night aide stood near the nurses' station looking confused.
"Where is the visitor?"
She pointed toward the sitting room.
Ethan moved first, followed by Claire and David.
A lamp burned beside an empty leather chair.
On the table rested a black gift box.
Margaret recognized the ribbon immediately.
Her father had used identical black ribbon on every birthday present he gave her as a child.
Claire did not want anyone to touch it.
David used a pen to lift the lid.
Inside was a single white rose and a phone.
The phone began ringing.
Everyone stared at it.
Ethan answered on speaker.
"Who is this?"
An elderly man's voice came through, calm and amused.
"You grew into exactly the man I expected."
Margaret's face lost all color.
"Father."
A soft chuckle followed.
"Hello, Margaret."
Her knees weakened.
Claire had imagined Charles Vale as a monster hiding in darkness.
His voice was worse because it sounded warm.
"You ruined her wedding," Charles said.
Margaret shook with rage.
"You stole my child."
"No."
"You ordered her killed."
"I corrected a mistake."
Claire stepped toward the phone.
"My existence was a mistake?"
There was a pause.
"Charlotte."
Hearing the name from him made her skin crawl.
"My name is Claire."
"Names are temporary. Blood is permanent."
Ethan picked up the phone.
"What do you want?"
Charles sounded pleased.
"The metal strip in Claire's locket."
Everyone looked at one another.
No one had told anyone outside the room about it.
Claire's fear sharpened.
They were being watched even here.
"You don't get it," Ethan said.
"Then Rebecca returns to St. Agnes."
Rebecca laughed from the doorway.
"You cannot imprison me twice."
Charles's voice changed for the first time.
"I can do much worse than that."
Ethan ended the call.
Seconds later, every light in the residence went out.
The emergency system failed to activate.
David whispered that someone had cut external power.
Claire heard tires on the gravel driveway.
Margaret grabbed Rebecca's hand.
Rebecca tried to pull away.
"Don't touch me."
"Hate me later," Margaret said.
"Move now."
The five of them escaped through a laundry exit while Ethan triggered the building's manual fire alarm.
Residents and staff began pouring outside, creating enough confusion for them to reach their rental car.
They drove until dawn.
At a twenty-four-hour diner, David examined the code from the locket under fluorescent lights.
It corresponded to a private bank that had merged twice since Thomas's death.
The original branch still existed downtown.
Claire looked at Ethan.
"If the ledger copy is there, we take it to federal authorities."
David agreed.
Margaret did not.
"Charles expects that."
Rebecca stared into her coffee.
"He expects everything."
Ethan asked the question no one wanted to hear.
"Then how do we do something he doesn't expect?"
Rebecca slowly looked up.
"We give him what he wants."
Margaret's eyes narrowed.
Rebecca continued.
"We make Charles believe he has won."
The plan sounded simple only because Rebecca described it without emotion.
In reality, it required Claire to walk willingly toward the man who had ordered her death and required Margaret to behave like the cruel woman Claire had believed her to be for years.
Ethan hated every part of it, especially the possibility that Charles might recognize the performance before they reached the ledger.
Claire understood before anyone else.
"And follow him to Blackwood House."
Rebecca nodded.
"But there is one problem."
May you like
She looked at Margaret.
"Charles will only believe the surrender if Margaret betrays us."
