Chapter 3 - The Grave Without a Name

Charlotte did follow him.

Not directly.

She knew Victor expected surveillance on his car, so she did not waste time with the garage.

Instead, she called Mara Chen.

Mara had been Charlotte’s mother’s outside attorney for six years.

More importantly, she had been the only person Charlotte told she was alive.

Mara answered on the second ring.

“Tell me you’re not at Solmere.”

“I’m at Solmere.”

Mara groaned.

“Of course you are.”

“Victor ran.”

“That is bad.”

“He sent me a message.”

“What did it say?”

“My mother wasn’t the first Vale they killed.”

Silence.

“Mara?”

“I’m here.”

“You know something.”

“I know a rumor.”

“Say it.”

“Your father’s accident.”

Charlotte stopped walking.

Her father, Daniel Vale, had died in a private plane crash sixteen years ago.

“Accident?”

“The federal report listed mechanical failure.”

“Yes.”

“Your mother privately commissioned another review.”

“When?”

“Two years ago.”

Charlotte stared at the elevator doors.

“Why two years ago?”

“Because she found payments to the mechanic who signed the maintenance clearance.”

“From who?”

“An account she couldn’t trace.”

“SA-4?”

Mara inhaled.

“How do you know that name?”

Charlotte’s pulse sharpened.

“You know it.”

“Charlotte—”

“Answer.”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“A treasury shell.”

“For Solmere’s hidden clients?”

Mara went silent.

Charlotte said, “Victor told me.”

“He shouldn’t have.”

“Why?”

“Because once you know what SA-4 contains, you become a liability.”

“Too late.”

Mara’s voice softened.

“Where are you?”

“Eighteenth floor.”

“Leave.”

“No.”

“Charlotte.”

“My mother left a recording.”

“What did she say?”

“That the real succession instrument is where my father asked her to bury the truth.”

Mara was silent again.

Then she said, “The cemetery.”

Charlotte’s heart jumped.

“What?”

“Your father’s memorial.”

“He doesn’t have a grave.”

“Not publicly.”

Charlotte leaned against the wall.

“What are you talking about?”

“Your mother bought a small cemetery plot under her maiden name. She placed a memorial stone there.”

“Where?”

“I’ll send the address.”

“Mara.”

“Yes?”

“How long have you known?”

“About the memorial? Three years.”

“And you never told me.”

“Your mother made me swear.”

Charlotte laughed bitterly.

“Everyone loved her promises more than they loved telling me the truth.”

She hung up.

Sebastian found her ten minutes later.

“Victor’s car left through the east ramp.”

“Let him go.”

He stared.

“You changed your mind?”

“I changed the question.”

“What question?”

“Not where Victor is going.”

She held up her phone.

“Where my mother hid the real trust.”

Sebastian glanced at the address.

“That’s outside the city.”

“You’re coming.”

He looked surprised.

“You trust me now?”

“No.”

“Then why?”

“Because my mother said you were meeting someone in the lower garage.”

His face tightened.

“And?”

“I want to know who.”

He looked away.

Charlotte said, “We can discuss it in the car.”

Jonah insisted on driving.

Forty minutes later, they reached a small cemetery behind an abandoned stone chapel.

Rain had begun.

Mara was already there.

Charlotte got out.

“You came.”

Mara looked at Sebastian and Jonah.

“You brought half the suspect list.”

“Efficient.”

They walked between old graves.

At the rear stood a modest stone.

DANIEL VALE

BELOVED FATHER

NO DATES.

Charlotte stopped.

For years, her father had existed only in photographs and a brass plaque in a boardroom.

Now there was a stone.

She touched it.

“I didn’t know.”

Mara said softly, “Your mother came every year.”

Sebastian removed his coat and held it over Charlotte as rain thickened.

She ignored the gesture.

“What did she bury?”

Mara pointed toward the base.

Jonah knelt.

“There’s fresh soil.”

Everyone froze.

Charlotte looked around.

Someone had been here recently.

Jonah dug with a folding tool.

Six inches down, he found a metal box.

The lock had been broken.

Charlotte’s stomach dropped.

He opened it.

Empty.

Except for a photograph.

She picked it up.

Her mother and father standing beside a young Victor Halden.

A fourth person stood with them.

A woman Charlotte did not know.

On the back was one name.

Claire.

Mara went pale.

Charlotte saw it.

“Who is Claire?”

Mara did not answer.

Sebastian said, “Mara.”

She closed her eyes.

“Claire Arden.”

Charlotte stared.

“Bianca’s mother?”

“Yes.”

Rain hit the metal box.

Charlotte asked, “What was she doing with my parents?”

Mara said, “She was your mother’s best friend.”

Charlotte laughed in disbelief.

“Bianca’s mother?”

“Yes.”

“Why have I never heard her name?”

“Because Claire died when Bianca was six.”

“How?”

“Overdose.”

Jonah said, “Officially.”

Charlotte looked at him.

“You know another version?”

“I know she was a forensic accountant for Solmere.”

Sebastian swore under his breath.

Charlotte turned to Mara.

“My mother hid the trust here. Someone took it.”

“Yes.”

“Who knew about the memorial?”

“Me. Evelyn. Victor.”

“Anyone else?”

Mara hesitated.

“Claire.”

Charlotte stared at the old photograph.

“But Claire died years before the trust problem.”

“The memorial existed before your father died.”

“What?”

Mara swallowed.

“It wasn’t originally his memorial.”

Charlotte felt cold despite the rain.

“What was it?”

“A dead drop.”

“For what?”

“Evidence.”

Sebastian looked toward the chapel.

“We shouldn’t stay exposed.”

Jonah agreed.

They moved inside.

The chapel smelled of damp wood.

Charlotte stood beneath a cracked stained-glass window.

“Start at the beginning.”

Mara looked exhausted.

“Your father discovered SA-4.”

“When?”

“Seventeen years ago.”

“A year before he died.”

“Yes.”

“He told my mother?”

“Yes.”

“And Claire?”

“She helped him trace payments.”

“To who?”

“Senior government officials, judges, sanctioned businessmen, private intelligence contractors.”

Sebastian whispered, “Jesus.”

Mara continued.

“Daniel wanted to shut it down. Evelyn wanted evidence first.”

“Victor?”

“He argued they should contain it quietly.”

Charlotte looked at the photograph.

“And Claire?”

“She agreed with Daniel.”

“What happened?”

“Daniel died.”

Charlotte’s throat tightened.

“Then Claire?”

“Three months later.”

“And my mother stayed.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“To protect you.”

Charlotte laughed without humor.

“That sentence has excused a lot in this family.”

Mara’s face tightened.

“It wasn’t an excuse. The people behind SA-4 threatened you directly.”

Jonah looked at Charlotte.

“That explains the security changes when you were a kid.”

Charlotte remembered.

New drivers.

New schools.

No sleepovers.

Her mother had called it caution.

It had been fear.

Sebastian said, “And Victor?”

Mara looked toward the door.

“He helped Evelyn bury the evidence.”

Charlotte stared.

“Then why did she warn me not to sign anything he gives me?”

“Because she stopped trusting him.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

A floorboard creaked behind them.

Jonah turned.

“Who’s there?”

No answer.

He moved toward the side room.

A woman stepped out.

Thin.

Dark hair streaked with gray.

Charlotte recognized her from hotel personnel photographs.

“Lena Ortiz?”

The woman raised both hands.

“Please don’t call the police.”

Charlotte crossed the chapel.

“You’re alive.”

Lena nodded.

“You saw my mother die.”

Tears filled her eyes.

“Yes.”

“Did Bianca kill her?”

“No.”

“Who did?”

Lena looked at Sebastian.

Charlotte’s pulse jumped.

Sebastian went rigid.

“No.”

Lena shook her head.

“Not him.”

Then she looked at Mara.

Mara stepped back.

Charlotte turned slowly.

“Mara?”

Lena whispered, “She gave your mother the injection.”

Charlotte could not process the words.

Mara’s face emptied.

Sebastian moved between them.

Jonah reached for his weapon.

Charlotte said, “No.”

Everyone froze.

She looked at Mara.

“You were with my mother that night?”

Mara whispered, “Yes.”

“You told me you were in Boston.”

“I lied.”

“Did you inject her?”

Mara’s eyes filled.

“Yes.”

Charlotte’s knees nearly gave way.

Sebastian caught her elbow.

She pulled away.

“Why?”

Mara said, “Because she asked me to.”

Silence.

Charlotte stared.

“What?”

“She was already poisoned.”

Lena nodded rapidly.

“It’s true.”

Charlotte looked between them.

Mara continued.

“Evelyn knew she was dying.”

“No.”

“She had been dosed with something slow-acting. Her heart was failing. She had maybe twenty minutes.”

“You expect me to believe she asked you to kill her?”

“No.”

Mara’s voice broke.

“She asked me to give her an antidote.”

Charlotte stopped.

“Then why did she die?”

“Because someone switched the vial.”

Lena covered her mouth.

Mara whispered, “I thought I was saving her.”

The chapel went silent.

Charlotte asked, “Who switched it?”

Mara looked at Lena.

Lena shook her head.

“I saw Bianca enter. I saw Victor leave. I saw Mara inject her. But there was one other person.”

“Who?”

Lena looked at Sebastian.

This time she did not say not him.

Sebastian went pale.

Charlotte whispered, “Sebastian?”

He closed his eyes.

“I was there.”

Her stomach dropped.

“Why?”

He reached into his coat.

Jonah drew his weapon.

“Hands.”

Sebastian slowly pulled out a photograph.

He handed it to Charlotte.

A young woman stood beside Sebastian.

Charlotte recognized her immediately.

Claire Arden.

Bianca’s mother.

Sebastian said, “She was my sister.”

Charlotte stared.

“You’re Bianca’s uncle.”

“Yes.”

“And you were meeting someone in the lower garage.”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“Bianca.”

Rain hammered the chapel roof.

Charlotte looked at him.

“Why?”

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Sebastian’s voice cracked.

“Because she told me Victor killed my sister.”