Chapter 5 - The Brother Evelyn Buried
Evelyn nearly dropped Maisie.
“Noah is dead.”
Jace looked at the photograph again.
The man in the chair was thin.
His hair was longer than Jace remembered.
But there was no mistaking him.
Noah Hale had been Evelyn’s only living relative.
Six years earlier, Conrad had told Jace that Noah died during a prison fight.
Evelyn had received the same information from a lawyer.
The photograph proved they had both been lied to.
“He’s alive.”
Evelyn touched the image.
Her knees shook.
“Why would your father keep him alive?”
“Leverage.”
Jace turned the paper over.
An address had been written on the back.
It belonged to a Mercer-owned warehouse near the river.
Dr. Shah ordered Maisie returned to a secure room.
Evelyn refused to let go of her.
Jace looked at the frightened child.
“We cannot take her with us.”
“I am not leaving her again.”
“You are not going to the warehouse.”
“He is my brother.”
“And this is exactly what my father expects.”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“You don’t get to give me orders after being absent for six years.”
“I was absent because he made sure I could not find you.”
“You stopped looking.”
The accusation hit its target.
Jace did not defend himself.
For three years, he had hired investigators.
For another two, he had searched quietly.
Then Conrad showed him a photograph of Evelyn boarding a plane with another man.
Jace had believed she chose a different life.
He had stopped searching because hope had become unbearable.
“I should never have stopped.”
Evelyn’s anger cracked.
Maisie watched them with wide eyes.
Jace lowered his voice.
“But I will not lose you because guilt makes us reckless.”
A detective entered the room.
Her name was Lena Ortiz.
She had worked security investigations for the hospital for twelve years.
She placed a tablet on the table.
“The transport van was found abandoned.”
“Where?”
“Two blocks from the river.”
“What about the driver?”
“Gone.”
Ortiz opened a photograph of the van’s interior.
The folder marked TERMINAL TRANSFER had disappeared.
Only an empty plastic sleeve remained.
“Someone also erased eleven seconds of hospital security footage.”
“Can you recover it?”
“I already did.”
The restored footage showed Conrad standing near the emergency room doors seconds before the blackout.
He looked directly at the camera.
Then he raised his wrist.
A black watch flashed once.
The lights failed immediately afterward.
“He triggered it remotely.”
Evelyn’s voice was barely audible.
Ortiz zoomed in.
Another figure stood behind Conrad.
A woman in a navy coat.
Jace recognized her.
Madeline Cross had been his executive assistant for eight years.
She managed his schedule.
She knew when he entered and left every building.
She knew which exit he used after hospital meetings.
She had arranged his late meeting that night.
Jace called her.
The phone rang twice.
Then someone answered.
Madeline was crying.
“Jace, I’m sorry.”
“Where is my father?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Where is Noah?”
“He will kill my son.”
Jace went still.
“What does your son have to do with this?”
“Conrad has controlled all of us for years.”
A door opened behind her.
Madeline gasped.
A man’s voice spoke in the distance.
“End the call.”
Madeline whispered quickly.
“The warehouse is empty.”
“Then where is Noah?”
“The moon opens the truth.”
The call ended.
Jace looked at Maisie’s pendant.
A thin seam ran around its silver edge.
He had never designed that seam.
Someone had opened the pendant and placed something inside.
Maisie handed it to him.
Jace pressed the hidden latch.
The crescent moon separated into two pieces.
A tiny memory card fell into his palm.
Evelyn stared at it.
“What is on there?”
May you like
Jace looked toward the countdown beside Noah’s photograph.
They had less than five hours to find out.
