Chapter 7 - TAKEN AGAIN
We got outside three minutes later.
It felt like thirty.
The car’s rear window was shattered.
Blood marked the pavement.
Natalie stood behind a concrete barrier, shaking.
I grabbed her shoulders.
“Where’s Evelyn?”
“A man came from behind the building.”
“Did you see his face?”
“No. He had a mask.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“He grabbed me. Your mother hit him with a rock.”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
That sounded like the woman I had barely begun to know.
Natalie continued.
“Then another man came. They forced her into a van.”
My father looked around.
“What kind?”
“Gray cargo van.”
Ethan ran toward us.
“Victor’s alive. Ambulance is coming.”
Sirens sounded in the distance.
My father grabbed his head.
“This is because of me.”
I turned on him.
“Yes.”
He flinched.
I had no patience left.
“But feeling guilty won’t bring her back.”
My mother.
The word had begun to feel real.
And now she was gone again.
Not this time.
I looked at Natalie.
“Did they say anything?”
She wiped her face.
“One of them said, ‘The old woman should’ve stayed dead.’”
My father’s expression changed.
“Old woman?”
“What?”
“They didn’t say Evelyn?”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“They might not have known her personally.”
“So?”
“So someone gave them a description.”
Ethan came outside.
“Police found tire tracks.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone froze.
I answered.
“Hello?”
A distorted voice.
“You have something that belongs to us.”
I looked at the key in my palm.
“The safe-deposit key.”
My father mouthed, Don’t.
I said, “I have it.”
“Good.”
“Where’s Evelyn?”
“She’s alive.”
“Let me hear her.”
Silence.
Then her voice.
“Daniel?”
My chest clenched.
“Mom.”
The word came naturally this time.
She started crying.
“I’m okay.”
A man shouted in the background.
Then the distorted voice returned.
“Bring the key to Pier 19 at midnight.”
“No.”
My father looked at me.
The caller paused.
“No?”
“I bring the key after I see her walking toward me.”
“You’re not negotiating.”
“I’ve already lost her once.”
My voice hardened.
“I’m not doing it twice.”
The caller hung up.
Natalie stared at me.
Ethan said, “That was either very smart or very stupid.”
“Probably both.”
Police arrived.
Victor was transported to the hospital under guard.
We told detectives everything.
All of it.
For hours.
By 10 p.m., federal agents had joined the case because the safe-deposit box supposedly contained evidence of bribery, financial crimes, and interstate conspiracy.
One agent, Melissa Grant, laid out the plan.
“We can use the exchange.”
I shook my head.
“No wire.”
“Mr. Whitmore—”
“They’ll search me.”
“We can conceal it.”
“No.”
My father said, “Daniel.”
I turned.
He held out his hand.
“I’ll go.”
I laughed.
“You think they want you?”
“They might.”
“They asked for the key.”
“And I’m the reason the key exists.”
I looked into his face.
He was terrified.
But not for himself.
For Evelyn.
“I owe her.”
I said quietly, “You owe her twenty-nine years.”
“I know.”
Before I could answer, Agent Grant entered holding a tablet.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
She turned it around.
Security footage from a traffic camera showed the gray van.
A partial plate.
They had traced it.
Registered owner:
Whitmore Development Holdings.
I stared at my father.
“That’s your company.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
Agent Grant said, “The van was purchased four months ago using your corporate authorization.”
Richard’s face went blank.
“That’s impossible.”
She placed another document on the table.
“And the approval carries your electronic signature.”
My father stared at it.
May you like
Then whispered,
“Someone inside my company is doing this.”
