Chapter 10 - THE MAN WHO VANISHED
Vincent Hale was not dead.
The blood in his car belonged to Judge Wells.
That discovery came six hours later.
DNA from the vehicle matched a sample taken during a routine courthouse medical screening.
Wells had been injured.
But his body was nowhere to be found.
Eleanor said nothing.
Vanessa claimed she knew nothing.
Vincent remained missing.
Then the federal cyber team found something buried inside the Northstar network.
A scheduled payment.
Five million dollars.
Recipient code: V.H.
Release condition: TERMINATION COMPLETE.
Agent Beck looked at Ethan.
“Vincent wasn’t trying to save the operation.”
“He was being paid to end it.”
“End what?”
“Your mother’s guardianship plan.”
Ethan frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if Eleanor decided the exposure was too dangerous.”
Claire understood first.
“Vincent was supposed to remove the witnesses.”
Agent Beck nodded.
“Judge Wells became one.”
Vanessa became another.
Claire became another.
Margaret became another.
Ethan felt the room grow cold.
“Where is Vanessa?”
“In federal custody.”
“She’s safe?”
“Yes.”
“Samuel?”
“Guarded.”
“My mother?”
Agent Beck looked toward the windows.
“We’re moving her.”
Margaret resisted.
“I am not being taken somewhere without Ethan.”
“You’re both going.”
“To where?”
“Safe location.”
They left the Blackwood house before sunset.
Two armored SUVs.
Unmarked escort vehicles.
No announced destination.
Claire went with Margaret.
Ethan sat beside Agent Beck.
Halfway to the secure residence, Beck’s phone rang.
She listened.
Then swore quietly.
“What?”
“Vincent just accessed an emergency account.”
“Where?”
“Airport district.”
“Is he leaving?”
“No.”
“He rented a storage unit.”
Ethan frowned.
“Why?”
Agent Beck changed the convoy route.
Federal agents reached the unit first.
Inside they found Vincent Hale.
Alive.
Bleeding from a cut on his forehead.
Terrified.
He surrendered immediately.
“Where is Judge Wells?” Agent Beck demanded.
Vincent laughed bitterly.
“You think I hurt him?”
“There’s his blood in your car.”
“Because he attacked me.”
“Why?”
“Because Eleanor told him I had cut a deal.”
“Had you?”
“No.”
Vincent looked toward Ethan.
“But I will now.”
Ethan stared at the man he had known since childhood.
Vincent looked older.
Smaller.
Nothing like the confident attorney who once sat at family dinners.
“You helped destroy families.”
Vincent closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“You targeted my mother.”
“Yes.”
“You recruited my wife.”
“Yes.”
“You betrayed my father.”
Silence.
“Did you kill him?”
Vincent’s eyes opened.
“No.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Did you have anything to do with his death?”
Vincent hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
Agent Beck moved between them.
“Answer.”
Vincent looked at Ethan.
“I gave Eleanor his medical schedule.”
Margaret’s voice came from behind them.
Everyone turned.
She had insisted on entering after agents declared the unit secure.
Her face was white.
“What medical schedule?”
Vincent looked at her.
“Charles had a stress test.”
“He was supposed to have one?”
“Yes.”
“Eleanor knew where he would be.”
Margaret’s breathing changed.
Ethan caught her wheelchair.
Vincent continued.
“I thought she wanted to confront him.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“I swear.”
“Charles collapsed that evening.”
“At home,” Margaret whispered.
Vincent nodded.
“He returned from the clinic.”
“He said he felt strange.”
Margaret’s eyes filled with tears.
“He died six hours later.”
Agent Beck looked toward Vincent.
“Was there an autopsy?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Margaret looked at him.
“Vincent advised against it.”
Everyone went silent.
Vincent lowered his head.
“I told myself I was protecting Margaret from more pain.”
“No.”
Ethan’s voice shook.
“You were protecting yourself.”
Vincent did not deny it.
Agent Beck asked the next question.
“Where is Judge Wells?”
Vincent looked toward the back of the storage unit.
“There’s a second location.”
“What location?”
“A house Eleanor owns under another name.”
“Address.”
Vincent gave it.
Agents moved immediately.
Judge Wells was found alive in the basement.
Injured.
Frightened.
And surrounded by boxes of documents Eleanor apparently planned to destroy later.
Among those documents was Charles Blackwood’s medical file.
One page contained a laboratory report that had never reached Margaret.
Charles had tested positive for a powerful sedative not prescribed by any physician.
Ethan read the report once.
Then again.
His father had not simply suffered a heart attack.
May you like
Someone had drugged him before his death.
And Eleanor Vale had spent eight years making sure no one looked closely enough to ask why.
