Chapter 3 - The Man Victor Trusted for Fourteen Years
Hannah Bell had been counting turns.
Left.
Straight.
Hard right.
Bridge.
Another left.
She had learned the trick from Daniel when they were newly married.
"If you can't see where someone's taking you," he'd once told her, "count."
She had laughed then.
There was nothing funny about it now.
Gregory had removed the cloth from her eyes twenty minutes earlier.
They were inside an old house surrounded by trees.
Hannah recognized it.
She had been there once before.
Three weeks earlier.
That was when everything started.
Gregory stood near the window.
"You made this much harder than necessary."
Hannah kept her voice steady.
"My daughter saw you."
"That was unfortunate."
"She's three."
"And perfectly safe."
"You don't know that."
"I know Victor."
Hannah stared at him.
"So do I."
Gregory laughed softly.
"No, you know the man who pays your salary. I knew him before his wife died. Before his son died. Before Harrow Point became a mausoleum."
"Then why betray him?"
Gregory's smile vanished.
"You think this is betrayal?"
"You framed me."
"I gave Victor a believable suspect."
"You used my hospital debt."
"I used facts."
"You left out the fact that the safe was opened before I walked past the office."
Gregory's expression sharpened.
Hannah had guessed correctly.
Good.
She continued.
"Victor knows now."
"Victor knows whatever I allow him to know."
"Not anymore."
Gregory approached her.
"Where is the coin?"
Hannah said nothing.
"Hannah."
"No."
"You have a daughter waiting for you."
Her eyes hardened.
"Don't talk about Poppy."
Gregory stopped.
"I don't want to hurt you."
"Then take me home."
"I can't."
"Because I know what you did?"
"Because you know half of what I did."
That frightened her more.
Gregory pulled a chair across the floor and sat.
"Elena discovered discrepancies in the Delacroix accounts thirteen years ago. Small ones at first."
Hannah listened.
"She thought someone was stealing from Victor."
"You."
Gregory smiled faintly.
"You really should stop interrupting."
He leaned forward.
"Elena was intelligent. Too intelligent. She found payments, false invoices, duplicate shipping contracts."
"And she hid the proof."
"Some of it."
"In the blue box?"
Gregory's eyes flickered.
There.
Hannah saw it.
He did not know what was inside.
"Where is the coin?"
Hannah smiled for the first time.
"You don't know."
Gregory's face changed.
"You've been searching for twelve years."
Silence.
"And you still don't know."
He stood.
The sound of an engine came from outside.
Gregory looked toward the window.
Hannah heard another vehicle.
Then another.
Gregory swore.
Victor had found them.
Downstairs, a door opened.
Footsteps.
Gregory grabbed Hannah's arm.
She resisted.
"Don't."
"Move."
The front door crashed open.
Marcus's voice echoed through the house.
"Gregory!"
Hannah heard men moving downstairs.
Gregory pulled her toward a rear staircase.
But Hannah did something he didn't expect.
She dropped.
Her full weight hit the floor.
Gregory lost his grip.
She kicked the door shut between them and turned the lock.
Then she ran.
"Hannah!"
She reached the staircase.
Victor appeared below.
For half a second, neither moved.
Hannah had never seen him look afraid.
Not angry.
Afraid.
"Hannah."
She ran down.
Victor caught her shoulders.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Poppy is safe."
Hannah closed her eyes.
Those three words almost broke her.
"She's safe?"
"At Harrow Point."
"Thank God."
A crash sounded upstairs.
Marcus shouted.
Victor moved Hannah behind him instinctively.
Several minutes later Marcus returned.
"He's gone."
Victor stared at him.
"How?"
"Back window. Vehicle hidden beyond the trees."
Victor's jaw tightened.
Hannah touched his arm.
"Let him go."
Victor turned.
"He kidnapped you."
"He wants the coin."
"I know."
"No. You don't understand."
Hannah reached inside the lining of her coat.
Victor watched.
She tore open a small stitched seam.
An old silver coin fell into her palm.
A tiny cross was scratched into one side.
Victor stared at it.
"You had it the whole time."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I didn't know whether I could trust you."
The words landed hard.
Hannah saw it.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
Victor looked at the coin.
"My wife apparently had the same concern."
"She was trying to protect you."
"Everyone keeps saying that."
"Because it's true."
Hannah handed him the coin.
Victor didn't take it.
"You found it."
"It belongs to you."
"No. It belonged to Elena."
"And she wanted you to have it when it was safe."
Victor finally accepted it.
His thumb moved over the scratched cross.
"How did you find all this?"
Hannah told him.
Three weeks earlier, she had repaired loose paneling in Elena's bedroom.
The coin fell from behind the wall.
With it came a folded note containing Sister Margaret's name.
Hannah had almost given everything to Gregory.
Almost.
Then she found something strange.
One of Elena's notes mentioned Gregory.
Not accusing him.
Questioning him.
That was enough to make Hannah investigate quietly.
She found the old Delacroix records.
Then Gregory noticed.
Victor listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he asked the question that mattered most.
"Why didn't you come to me?"
Hannah looked directly at him.
"Because everyone at Harrow Point told me Gregory was the man you trusted most."
Victor had no answer.
At dawn they returned to St. Agnes.
Sister Margaret brought out the blue box.
Victor inserted the coin.
It turned.
A soft click followed.
Inside were three things.
A small cassette recorder.
A sealed envelope.
And a photograph.
Victor picked up the photograph first.
Elena stood outside the Blackwater house.
Beside her was Gregory.
And beside Gregory stood another man.
Victor's face went still.
Marcus looked over his shoulder.
"Who is that?"
Victor knew him.
Everyone in Baltimore's harbor business knew him.
Arthur Delacroix.
The man whose company had supposedly collapsed thirteen years earlier.
The man Victor had been told died overseas ten years ago.
On the back of the photograph Elena had written a date.
And four words.
They think Victor doesn't know.
Victor opened the envelope.
Inside was a single page.
At the top Elena had written:
Victor, if you're reading this, Gregory finally made his move.
Victor stopped.
Hannah whispered, "Keep reading."
He did.
And halfway down the page, Victor discovered that Gregory's betrayal was only one part of the secret.
Because Elena had also written the name of the person Gregory had been protecting.
A person Victor had mourned for twelve years.
May you like
Someone who, according to Elena, might never have died at all.
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