They ran through the passage behind Cabinet Twelve.
Thomas moved first, carrying an old flashlight that threw a narrow beam across the stone floor. Mara followed with the ledger pressed against her chest. Her mother and Nina came behind her, while Rivera stayed at the rear.
Peter did not follow.
That frightened Mara more than if he had.
"Why isn't he coming?" she whispered.
Thomas didn't slow down.
"Because he knows something we don't."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I have."
The passage curved beneath the estate.
Every few yards, Mara noticed small black symbols carved into the stone.
Keys.
Always keys.
Some were old enough to be worn smooth.
Others looked newly carved.
"Where does this go?" Rivera asked.
"Outside the property," Thomas said.
"How far?"
"Far enough."
A metallic clang sounded behind them.
Nina looked back.
"Someone opened the cabinet room."
Thomas stopped.
He looked at Mara.
"Give me the ledger."
"No."
"If they take you, the ledger becomes useless."
"Then they won't take me."
Thomas stared at her.
For a moment, she saw her father's face in his.
"You sound like Daniel."
"Maybe that's why everyone keeps lying to me."
Thomas almost smiled.
Then he continued.
The passage ended at a small underground chamber beneath an abandoned greenhouse.
Thomas pushed open a rusted hatch.
Cold night air rushed in.
They emerged behind a stone wall several hundred yards from the estate.
Mara looked back.
Blackwater House stood in the distance, its upper windows glowing.
Then the lights went out.
All of them.
Nina whispered, "Peter."
Thomas shook his head.
"No."
He looked toward the trees.
"That was Gabriel."
A phone began ringing.
Everyone froze.
It was Mara's.
She pulled it from her pocket.
The screen showed an unknown number.
Thomas grabbed her wrist.
"Don't answer."
The ringing stopped.
A message appeared.
YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES.
Another message followed.
COME ALONE.
Then a third.
BRING THE WATCH.
Mara looked at Thomas.
"Gabriel?"
"Probably."
"You said he was the door."
"He is."
"What does that mean?"
Thomas looked toward the road.
"Gabriel built the mechanism that allowed the trust to exist outside the court system."
"Then he can open it."
"No."
Thomas's voice became grave.
"He can close it."
Mara stared at him.
"Close it permanently?"
"Destroy the legal chain."
"And Peter?"
"Peter controls the network."
"Malcolm Raye?"
"Controls the courts."
"Gabriel?"
Thomas nodded.
"Controls the evidence that makes either of them vulnerable."
Mara finally understood why her father had called him the door.
"If Gabriel controls the evidence, why would he help us?"
Thomas looked at the message again.
"Because he isn't asking for the ledger."
Mara's eyes narrowed.
"He's asking for the watch."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because the watch contains the command."
Mara looked down at it.
The tiny compartment was still open.
The paper inside remained there.
TRUST THE SECOND SON.
She looked at Thomas.
"You said you weren't the second son."
"I said I was never the second son."
"What does that mean?"
Thomas hesitated.
Then he said, "Because Peter and I had another brother."
The world seemed to tilt.
Mara stared at him.
"Who?"
Thomas looked at Samuel's estate.
"Daniel."
She almost laughed.
"That's impossible."
"No."
"He was your brother."
"Yes."
"You said Peter and you shared a father."
"We did."
"And Daniel?"
Thomas nodded.
"Same father."
Mara stared at him.
Three brothers.
Peter.
Thomas.
Daniel.
But her father had never told her.
"Why hide it?"
"Because our father wanted one son inside the system, one outside it, and one capable of destroying it."
Mara's voice was barely above a whisper.
"Which one was which?"
Thomas looked at her.
"Peter went inside."
"Thomas?"
"I stayed outside."
"And Dad?"
"He was supposed to destroy it."
Mara thought about Daniel's recordings.
The fear.
The warnings.
The ledger.
The hidden rooms.
The way he had always seemed to know there was something approaching.
"Then why did he fail?"
Thomas looked away.
"Because he trusted the wrong person."
Mara's heart sank.
"My mother?"
"No."
"Samuel?"
"No."
"Peter?"
"No."
"Then who?"
Thomas didn't answer.
A vehicle appeared between the trees.
Its headlights remained off.
Mara raised her hand.
Everyone stopped.
The vehicle rolled forward.
It was an old silver sedan.
The driver's door opened.
A man stepped out.
Mara recognized him from the photograph.
Gabriel Mercer.
He looked older than Peter, with silver hair and a face worn by years of exhaustion.
He raised both hands.
"I'm not armed."
Rivera kept his weapon trained on him.
"That's what everyone says."
Gabriel looked at Mara.
"You brought the watch."
Mara didn't move.
"You killed my father."
Gabriel's face tightened.
"No."
"My mother saw someone leave the room."
"I know."
"Who was it?"
Gabriel looked at Thomas.
Thomas looked back.
Gabriel whispered, "Your brother."
Mara's blood ran cold.
"Which brother?"
Gabriel looked at her.
"Daniel."
She shook her head.
"My father was the victim."
"Yes."
"Then how could he have left the room?"
"He didn't."
Gabriel took a step closer.
"Someone wearing his identity did."
Mara felt the ground disappear beneath her.
"What?"
Gabriel reached into his coat and removed a thin folder.
"Your father's death certificate was authentic."
He opened it.
"The body was Daniel Ellison's."
Mara stared.
"Then who left?"
Gabriel turned the folder around.
Inside was an old photograph.
It showed Daniel standing beside a man who looked almost identical to him.
Not Thomas.
Not Peter.
A fourth man.
Mara's mother made a broken sound.
"That's impossible."
Gabriel looked at her.
"You knew."
Helen covered her mouth.
Mara turned slowly.
"Mom."
Helen's eyes filled with tears.
"I didn't know his name."
"Who is he?"
Gabriel answered.
"David Ellison."
Thomas closed his eyes.
Mara stared at him.
"You had another brother."
Thomas nodded.
"Our father had four sons."
"Where is David?"
Gabriel looked toward the dark road.
"Dead."
Mara's voice hardened.
"When?"
"Eleven years ago."
"Before Dad?"
"Nine days before."
The number struck her.
Nine days.
Her father's hospital recording.
Nine days alive.
Nine days after the hospital.
Nine days before death.
Mara suddenly understood the shape of the trap.
Her father hadn't simply hidden evidence.
He had hidden identities.
"Who was in the room with my father on the ninth day?"
Helen whispered, "David."
Mara looked at her.
"But David was dead."
"Not then."
Silence.
Thomas finally spoke.
"David came to Daniel pretending to be Peter."
Mara's mind raced.
"He was impersonating him."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"To get the command."
Mara looked at the watch.
"And he failed."
Thomas nodded.
"Daniel recognized him."
"What happened?"
"David attacked him."
Mara's mother began crying.
"Daniel locked the door."
"And then?"
Thomas swallowed.
"David died inside."
Mara looked at the photograph.
"But someone left."
Gabriel nodded.
"Someone who arrived afterward."
"Who?"
Gabriel looked toward the road.
"Malcolm Raye."
Mara's breath stopped.
"The judge killed my father?"
"No."
Gabriel's expression was grim.
"He killed David."
Mara frowned.
"Then who killed Dad?"
Gabriel didn't answer.
Instead, he reached into the folder and removed a final document.
It was a handwritten statement.
Daniel's handwriting.
Mara recognized it instantly.
The page contained only one sentence.
I KNOW WHO WILL KILL ME, AND IT IS NOT THE PERSON YOU THINK.
Below it was a name.
Mara read it once.
Then again.
Her face went numb.
The name was not Peter.
Not Thomas.
Not Samuel.
Not Helen.
It was Rivera's.
She looked up at the officer.
Rivera's face had gone pale.
"I swear to you," he said, "I have never seen that before."
Thomas stepped between them.
"Nobody move."
Mara looked at the signature beneath the name.
It was Daniel's.
But something was wrong.
She held the page closer.
The ink was fresh.
Not eleven years old.
Someone had written the sentence recently.
Someone had forged her father's handwriting.
Mara slowly looked toward Gabriel.
"You wanted me to see this."
Gabriel nodded.
"Because now you know the truth."
"No."
Mara folded the paper.
"Now I know the next lie."
Gabriel's expression changed.
A faint smile appeared.
"Good."
He looked at the watch.
"Your father would have been proud."
Then, from somewhere beyond the trees, a single gunshot cracked through the night.
Gabriel dropped to his knees.
Mara screamed his name.
Thomas pulled her down.
Rivera spun toward the sound.
And in the darkness behind the trees, a voice called out:
"Run, Mara."
She knew that voice.
Peter Vale.
Click here to continue reading: PART 17: The Shot in the Dark
The Arrest Was Supposed to End in Minutes, Until the Woman Asked One Question That Changed Everything
Part 16 of 20
