Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO HAD A KEY
Dominic opened the door.
The hallway was empty.
He called his head of security, Marco Bell.
“Find Vincent.”
“He left through the garage three minutes ago.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Bring Hannah’s belongings to the east guest suite. Quietly. Nobody touches her or the baby.”
Marco paused.
“Understood.”
Hannah stood rigid beside the desk.
“I’m not staying in a room you can lock.”
Dominic looked at her.
Then he took the guest-suite key from the wall cabinet and placed it in her palm.
“You lock it.”
“I keep my phone.”
“Yes.”
“And nobody takes Grace from me.”
Something in her voice made him answer carefully.
“Nobody.”
His attorney, Celia Ward, arrived twenty minutes later carrying a leather briefcase and wearing the expression of a woman who had already decided the crisis was manageable.
Then she saw Julian’s handwriting.
“Oh, God.”
“You recognize those numbers?” Dominic asked.
“No. I recognize the paper.”
She pointed to a faint blue line along the bottom.
“Your father used stationery like this. Julian kept some after the old office closed.”
Hannah lowered herself into a chair. Grace had fallen asleep against her shoulder.
Dominic brought out the pendant.
Celia leaned closer.
“Didn’t your brother have a safe?”
“In his apartment. Vincent emptied it after the fire.”
“No. The old one.”
Dominic remembered.
Their father’s office on the third floor. A wall safe hidden behind an ugly painting of a fishing boat.
The brothers had played beside it as children.
“The combination was changed,” Dominic said.
“By Julian,” Celia replied.
Hannah touched the pendant.
“There are numbers inside.”
Dominic stared at her.
“The back opens. He told me never to let anyone throw it away.”
The hinge was so worn it looked like a scratch. Inside, beneath a tiny photograph of the brothers, six numbers had been engraved into the silver.
Dominic went upstairs alone.
He moved the painting.
Turned the dial.
The safe opened.
Inside sat a black notebook, a flash drive, and an envelope addressed to him.
The envelope contained one page.
Dominic read the first sentence.
If you are reading this, Vincent lied about the fire.
He read the second.
Before you trust anyone, find out who signed the order on March 14.
Beneath the letter lay a payment authorization.
Two hundred thousand dollars.
May you like
The description read: PERMANENT PERSONNEL RESOLUTION.
At the bottom was Dominic’s signature.
