Chapter 5 - Three Hundred Seconds
The estate went into lockdown.
No employee left.
No visitor entered.
Victor moved Clare and Maisie into the east residential wing, the most secure section of the house.
Maisie considered this an adventure.
Clare did not.
“You can’t keep her here forever,” Clare said.
Victor stood near the fireplace.
“I only need tonight.”
“And tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow depends on tonight.”
Clare looked exhausted.
“You talk like everything can be solved if you control enough variables.”
Victor almost smiled.
“That’s usually true.”
“Children aren’t variables.”
“I noticed.”
Maisie sat on the carpet building a house for Bunny from decorative pillows.
Victor watched her.
Clare noticed.
“You had a daughter.”
It was not a question.
Victor nodded.
“Elena.”
“How old?”
“Six.”
Clare sat opposite him.
“I’m sorry.”
Victor looked toward Maisie.
“She would be thirteen now.”
“You think about that?”
“Every birthday.”
Clare was quiet.
“Daniel used to say grief is love with nowhere to go.”
Victor looked at her.
“Did he invent that?”
“Probably stole it from somewhere.”
Victor laughed softly.
It surprised both of them.
Maisie looked up.
“You laughed.”
Victor immediately became serious.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did.”
“Prove it.”
Maisie pointed dramatically at Clare.
“Mama heard.”
Clare raised both hands.
“I’m staying out of this.”
For several seconds, the room felt normal.
Then Vincent entered.
The feeling vanished.
“We found the source of the message.”
Victor stood.
“Who?”
“Mrs. Conti’s office.”
Clare frowned.
“The head housekeeper?”
Vincent nodded.
“She’s gone.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“How?”
“Service exit six minutes before lockdown.”
Clare looked stunned.
“Mrs. Conti has worked here for twenty-three years.”
Victor and Vincent exchanged a look.
Twenty-three years meant she had worked for Marcus Calder.
Victor said, “Find her.”
Vincent left.
Clare looked toward Maisie.
“Mrs. Conti was always kind to us.”
“Kind people can keep secrets.”
“So can powerful people.”
Victor looked at her.
“That was aimed at me.”
“Yes.”
“Fair.”
His phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
MIDNIGHT. OLD CALDER HOTEL. BRING DANIEL’S DRIVE. COME ALONE.
Victor showed Clare.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“You don’t get to say no.”
“They killed my husband.”
“And they killed my family.”
“That doesn’t mean you walk into whatever they planned.”
Victor studied her.
“You’re worried about me?”
“I’m worried about what happens to everyone else if you don’t come back.”
Maisie wandered over.
“Are you going somewhere?”
Victor put the phone away.
“No.”
Clare gave him a look.
Maisie narrowed her eyes.
“You’re lying.”
Victor blinked.
Clare almost smiled.
“She’s good.”
“I see that.”
Maisie climbed onto the couch beside him.
“Daddy lied when he was scared too.”
Victor’s expression softened.
“What did he lie about?”
“He said everything was okay.”
Clare turned away.
Maisie leaned against Victor.
“But it wasn’t.”
“No,” Victor said. “Sometimes it isn’t.”
“Are you scared?”
Victor considered lying.
Then he remembered what she had just said.
“Yes.”
Maisie nodded approvingly.
“That’s better.”
At eleven thirty, Victor prepared to leave.
Clare found him near the stairs.
“You’re really going alone?”
“No.”
“The message said—”
“I don’t take instructions well.”
Vincent appeared behind him.
Anthony would remain at the estate.
Elliot had been placed under guard.
At 11:58 p.m., Victor entered the abandoned Calder Hotel.
The building had belonged to his father decades earlier.
The lobby smelled of dust and damp plaster.
A light burned in the old ballroom.
Victor entered.
Mrs. Conti stood beneath a chandelier.
Victor stared.
“You threatened a woman in a hospital.”
Mrs. Conti looked tired rather than frightened.
“No.”
“You sent the message.”
“Yes.”
“That sounds like a threat.”
“It was meant to bring you here before she did.”
“Isabel?”
Mrs. Conti nodded.
Victor stepped closer.
“You worked for my father.”
“Yes.”
“And Isabel?”
“She worked for herself.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why should I believe you?”
Mrs. Conti reached into her pocket.
Victor tensed.
She produced a small recorder.
“Because Daniel gave me this the day he died.”
Victor took it.
Daniel’s voice played.
“Mrs. Conti, if anything happens, make sure Calder hears the entire recording. Not the copy. The copy is incomplete.”
Victor’s heart accelerated.
“The flash drive.”
“Daniel deliberately corrupted the ending.”
“Why?”
“Because he feared the drive would be found before the key.”
“What key?”
Mrs. Conti looked toward the recorder.
Victor pressed play again.
Daniel’s voice continued.
“Mr. Calder, the person responsible for your family is Isabel Voss. But if you go after her blindly, she’ll disappear again.”
Victor closed his eyes.
Daniel continued.
“She’s been using Elliot Crane. Crane doesn’t know her real identity.”
Victor listened.
“And Vincent Hale is not involved. I went to him because he was the only person in the organization I believed still answered to you instead of your father’s legacy.”
Victor exhaled.
Then Daniel’s voice changed.
“If you’re hearing this, I need one thing from you.”
Victor stared at the recorder.
“Protect my girls.”
A pause.
“Clare will tell you she doesn’t need help. Don’t believe her.”
Despite himself, Victor smiled faintly.
Daniel continued.
“And Maisie…”
His voice cracked.
“She counts when people are sad. I taught her that.”
Victor’s eyes burned.
“If she ever asks you for five minutes, give them to her. She somehow knows who needs them.”
Victor lowered the recorder.
Mrs. Conti looked toward him.
“Daniel knew he was in danger.”
“Why didn’t you help him?”
“I tried.”
“Not enough.”
“No.”
She accepted that.
Victor’s phone rang.
Vincent.
Victor answered.
“Talk.”
Vincent’s voice was tight.
“Get back here.”
“What happened?”
“Clare is gone.”
Victor’s blood went cold.
“What about Maisie?”
A pause.
“Gone too.”
Victor turned toward Mrs. Conti.
Then he heard something through the phone.
A tiny voice.
Recorded.
Maisie.
“One Mississippi…”
Victor stopped breathing.
Then a woman’s voice replaced hers.
Calm.
Older.
Controlled.
“Three hundred seconds, Victor.”
Isabel Voss.
“Bring me what Daniel stole.”
The line disconnected.
Victor stared at the phone.
For seven years, he had dreamed about finding the person responsible for his family’s death.
Now that person had finally appeared.
But revenge was suddenly the last thing on Victor Calder’s mind.
Because somewhere in the city, a frightened four-year-old was counting to three hundred.
May you like
And this time, she was the one who needed someone to come for her.
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