Chapter 9
For seventeen minutes, nobody knew where my mother was.
Those seventeen minutes felt longer than the entire previous day.
Federal agents cleared office after office inside the Vale Foundation building.
The press filled the sidewalk outside.
Television cameras captured employees leaving with their hands raised.
Thomas Vale was nowhere to be seen.
Neither was Mom.
“He has a private garage,” Melissa said.
Marcus immediately relayed it.
Two minutes later, agents found the garage empty.
One black SUV was missing.
My stomach dropped.
“He took her.”
“Maybe,” Marcus said.
Melissa shook her head.
“He did.”
My phone rang.
Mom.
I answered.
“Mom?”
Nothing.
Then breathing.
“Mom?”
Vale’s voice came through.
“You made a mistake.”
“Where is she?”
“Your sister has always been weak.”
“Where is my mother?”
“You released documents you don’t understand.”
“I understand three men died.”
“They died because contractors ignored specifications.”
“And you paid inspectors.”
“That is an allegation.”
“I have the records.”
“You have copies of records created by criminals.”
“You mean Melissa?”
Silence.
I looked at her.
She listened without expression.
“What do you want now?” I asked.
“The release cannot be undone.”
“No.”
“So this is no longer about evidence.”
My chest tightened.
“Then what?”
“Your family took my life from me.”
Melissa laughed bitterly.
“Your life?”
Vale heard her.
“Melissa.”
She stepped toward the phone.
“You killed the only man who ever acted like my father.”
Vale’s voice became cold.
“Arthur Bennett was not your father.”
Melissa flinched.
I saw it.
Then she straightened.
“He was more of one than you ever were.”
Vale laughed.
“Did he tell you that while using you to steal documents?”
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“He told me after I betrayed him. When I came back crying. When I expected him to call police.”
She swallowed.
“He told me I had done something terrible and that he still loved me.”
I had never heard this part.
Mom had never told me.
Dad’s letters had never mentioned it.
Melissa continued.
“You told me blood made us family.”
Vale said nothing.
“Arthur taught me that choices do.”
For a moment, I saw the sister who once held my hand during thunderstorms.
Then Vale destroyed the moment.
“Your mother is going to die because of those choices.”
Melissa’s face went white.
“Where are you?”
He ended the call.
Marcus immediately began tracing what he could.
Federal agents used traffic cameras.
The missing SUV had left downtown heading east.
“Where would he go?” I asked.
Melissa stared at the map.
“Harbor Point.”
“Again?”
“He owns property there.”
“What property?”
She pointed.
“The unfinished east tower.”
The tower had been abandoned after the collapse.
Twenty floors of concrete and steel.
Vale had purchased the surrounding land through shell companies years later.
Of course he had.
We drove.
This time, no one could stop me.
Caitlyn stayed with Rosa and Daniel under federal protection.
Before I left, she hugged me.
“Bring Grandma back.”
“I will.”
“And Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t let Aunt Melissa hurt you.”
Melissa heard.
Her face tightened.
“I won’t,” she said.
Caitlyn looked at her.
“You promise?”
Melissa whispered.
“Yes.”
We reached Harbor Point forty minutes later.
Police had already surrounded the east tower.
Media helicopters circled overhead.
Vale’s SUV sat near the unfinished entrance.
Empty.
Mom’s scarf lay beside it.
Marcus stopped us.
“You stay here.”
Melissa immediately protested.
“I know the building.”
“Then tell us the layout.”
“He’ll hear police coming.”
“He already knows we’re here.”
“He has tunnels.”
Marcus turned.
“What?”
“Old service tunnels beneath the development.”
Of course there were tunnels.
“Show me.”
We entered through a maintenance opening away from the main police line.
Marcus.
Two federal agents.
Melissa.
Me.
I had no weapon.
Only Dad’s old flashlight.
The tunnel smelled like damp concrete.
Melissa led us through darkness.
“This connects to the east foundation.”
“How do you know?” Marcus asked.
“I used it years ago.”
“To move documents?”
She nodded.
We reached a metal staircase.
Voices echoed above.
Vale.
Mom.
We climbed silently.
At the fifth floor, we found them.
Mom sat near the open edge of the unfinished building.
Her hands were tied.
Vale stood behind her.
A gun in his hand.
My entire body froze.
“Emma!”
Mom saw me.
Vale spun.
“Stop!”
We stopped.
Agents raised their weapons.
Vale pressed the gun toward Mom.
“Lower them.”
No one moved.
“Lower them!”
Marcus slowly lowered his weapon.
The agents did the same.
Vale laughed.
“All this because Arthur couldn’t leave the past alone.”
I stepped forward.
“Dad didn’t kill those men.”
“Neither did I.”
“You covered it up.”
“I protected thousands of jobs.”
“Three families buried fathers.”
“Accidents happen.”
Melissa made a disgusted sound.
Vale looked at her.
“My ungrateful daughter.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“You exist because of me.”
“No.”
Melissa stepped forward.
“I exist despite you.”
His face changed.
Mom started crying.
“Thomas, please.”
Vale looked down at her.
“You always were sentimental, Margaret.”
Something in Mom’s expression shifted.
“Maybe.”
Then she moved.
Fast.
She drove her shoulder backward into Vale’s legs.
He stumbled.
The gun swung away.
Marcus lunged.
Everything happened at once.
Melissa ran toward Mom.
One agent tackled Vale.
The gun hit the concrete and slid.
Vale struck the agent and scrambled after it.
I kicked the weapon away before he reached it.
He grabbed my ankle.
I fell.
Vale pulled me toward him.
“You ruined everything!”
Then Melissa hit him.
Not with a weapon.
With both hands against his shoulder.
Hard enough to knock him away from me.
Marcus pinned him.
Agents secured his wrists.
For the first time in fourteen years, Thomas Vale lost control.
He screamed at Melissa.
“You think they’ll forgive you?”
She stood shaking.
“No.”
“You’ll go to prison!”
“Maybe.”
“You’ll lose your family!”
Melissa looked at me.
Then at Mom.
Then toward the city beyond the open building.
“I already lost them when I chose you.”
Federal agents dragged Vale away.
Mom was freed.
She collapsed into my arms.
“I’m sorry.”
I didn’t tell her it was okay.
It wasn’t.
I simply held her while she cried.
Melissa stood several feet away.
Alone.
When police approached her, she didn’t run.
Marcus looked at her.
“You understand we need to take you in.”
“Yes.”
Mom stood.
“No.”
Melissa turned.
“Mom.”
“You helped them!”
“Mom, stop.”
“They can’t arrest you after everything you did!”
Melissa’s eyes filled with tears.
“That’s exactly why they can.”
Mom shook her head.
“No.”
“Please.”
Melissa stepped closer.
“For once in my life, let me face what I did.”
Mom covered her mouth.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“I know.”
“I love you.”
“I know.”
Melissa’s voice broke.
“But the way you loved me taught me I never had to stop.”
Mom collapsed against me.
Melissa turned toward Marcus.
“I’m ready.”
He handcuffed her.
Not roughly.
Not cruelly.
But he did it.
As she passed me, Melissa stopped.
“I’m sorry about Caitlyn.”
I stared at my sister.
“I believe you.”
Hope flashed across her face.
I continued.
“That doesn’t mean I forgive you.”
The hope faded.
Then she nodded.
“I know.”
“You almost killed her.”
“I know.”
“You’ll have to live with that.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“I know.”
I expected her to ask me to visit.
To help.
To speak for her.
She didn’t.
She walked toward the police car.
Mom sobbed beside me.
Thomas Vale was placed into another vehicle.
Cameras crowded the street.
Reporters shouted questions.
By sunset, the entire state knew his name for a different reason.
Not charity.
Not politics.
Harbor Point.
Bribery.
Threats.
Conspiracy.
And Arthur Bennett.
My father.
The man who had tried to expose it all.
But the story wasn’t finished.
At eight that night, Marcus called.
I was back with Caitlyn.
She was asleep against me.
“What happened?”
“We searched Vale’s SUV.”
“And?”
“We found a phone.”
“His?”
“Burner.”
“What was on it?”
Marcus paused.
“Messages from the night your father died.”
My heart stopped.
“From who?”
“A police officer.”
“Which one?”
“Retired now.”
“What did the messages say?”
Marcus took a breath.
“The officer was following your father’s car.”
I closed my eyes.
“And?”
“There’s a message sent three minutes before the crash.”
“What does it say?”
Marcus read it.
HE WON’T MAKE THE TURN.
My hand tightened around the phone.
“Dad was murdered.”
“Yes.”
“Did Vale order it?”
“We have another message.”
“What?”
“From Vale.”
May you like
Marcus read the final line.
MAKE IT LOOK LIKE THE WEATHER.
