Chapter 8 - THE BODY AT BLACKWOOD
The body wasn’t Claire.
That should have felt like good news.
It didn’t.
The dead man was Thomas Reed, a former controller at Mercer Hospitality.
He had resigned eight months earlier.
At least, that’s what Julian told everyone.
I remembered Thomas.
Quiet.
Meticulous.
Always wore ugly brown shoes.
He once stayed until three in the morning helping me reconstruct numbers after a software failure.
When he left the company, I emailed him.
He never replied.
Now I knew why.
“How long has he been dead?” I asked.
Diane spoke carefully.
“Investigators think several months.”
I sat very still.
“Julian killed him?”
“We don’t know that.”
“Stop saying that.”
“Elena—”
“He disappears after discovering financial problems, and now his body is inside an abandoned property Julian had access to.”
“I’m saying investigators need evidence.”
My father added, “And they’ll get it.”
At 4:02 a.m., authorities froze the airport departure notices attached to Julian and Vanessa’s names.
At 4:10, Geneva became irrelevant.
At 4:16, Vanessa walked into a police station with two attorneys.
She returned my grandmother’s necklace in an evidence bag.
I couldn’t bring myself to touch it.
At 4:31, she began talking.
A lot.
She admitted the affair had started eighteen months earlier.
She admitted moving money through three shell companies.
She admitted Julian had instructed her to destroy emails.
But the biggest revelation came when investigators asked about Thomas Reed.
Vanessa went pale.
“You need to ask Julian.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas found the offshore transfers.”
“When?”
“Last December.”
“What happened?”
“He confronted Julian.”
“And?”
Vanessa looked down.
“I heard them fighting.”
“What did Julian say?”
Her answer was barely audible.
“He said, ‘You should’ve kept your mouth shut.’”
I stood behind the observation glass listening to every word.
Vanessa continued.
“Thomas disappeared a week later.”
The detective asked, “Why didn’t you report this?”
“Because Julian told me Thomas stole money and ran.”
“And you believed him?”
She looked toward the mirror.
Toward me.
“No.”
That made me angrier than if she had said yes.
She knew.
Maybe not everything.
But enough to be afraid.
And she stayed.
For money.
For access.
For the penthouse.
For my coat.
People like Vanessa weren’t innocent just because someone worse existed.
At 4:52, my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Claire’s voice.
“Elena.”
I nearly dropped the phone.
“Claire?”
My father turned.
“Where are you?”
“I got away.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. There are trees. I can see a highway.”
“Are you hurt?”
“My wrist. I think it’s broken.”
I forced myself to stay calm.
“Can you see any signs?”
“I—”
She stopped.
“What?”
“Oh, God.”
“What is it?”
“He found me.”
The line filled with movement.
Branches.
Breathing.
Then Claire screamed.
“RUN!” I shouted uselessly into the phone.
A man’s voice came through.
Julian.
“Elena.”
I stood frozen.
“Let her go.”
“She stole from me.”
“She copied evidence of your crimes.”
“You always did think you were smarter than me.”
“No, Julian.”
My voice cracked.
“I thought we were a team.”
For one second, he said nothing.
Then he laughed.
“You were never my team.”
The words landed harder than I expected.
“You were my access.”
There it was.
Nine years reduced to one sentence.
My father shut his eyes.
Julian continued.
“You want Claire alive?”
“Yes.”
“Then come alone.”
“Where?”
“I’ll text you.”
“If you hurt her—”
“You have thirty minutes.”
He hung up.
Diane grabbed my arm.
“You are not going.”
My phone buzzed.
A location pin appeared.
Then one message.
COME ALONE OR SHE DIES.
I looked at my father.
Then at the clock.
4:57 a.m.
May you like
And for the first time all night, I knew exactly what Julian expected me to do.
Which meant I finally knew how to trap him.
