Chapter 5 - What Daniel Saw

The farmhouse smelled like cedar, dust, and the cinnamon soap Beatrice’s grandmother used to buy in bulk.

Lily loved it immediately.

“It squeaks,” she announced after testing the hallway floorboards.

“It has opinions,” Beatrice said.

Leo walked through the front room with Mateo, checking windows.

“It has forty-seven ways to be entered.”

“Forty-eight,” Beatrice said.

Both men turned.

She pointed toward the old coal chute.

Mateo looked offended.

“You waited until now?”

“You said you were counting.”

Leo exhaled.

“Seal it.”

Two of his men moved toward the basement.

Lily climbed onto the faded green sofa with Bunny.

“Bee, did you live here?”

“Every summer until I was sixteen.”

“Did you have toys?”

“No. We played with rocks.”

Lily stared.

Beatrice smiled.

“Yes, I had toys.”

Leo watched them from the doorway.

Without marble, uniforms, or staff bells, Beatrice looked different.

She wore borrowed jeans because her dress had been stained with blood. A gray sweater stretched softly across her body. Her hair was tied up with a rubber band. There was no apron to mark where she belonged.

He realized he had never seen her outside the costume of service.

The thought shamed him.

Mateo approached with a laptop.

“Signal is clean. We’re running through our own satellite unit.”

“Any movement from Kensington?”

“Plenty.”

“What kind?”

“Richard’s attorneys called every police contact they have. Victoria is officially ‘missing.’ Her family claims she was unlawfully detained.”

Beatrice laughed from the sofa.

“Of course they do.”

Leo looked at her.

“You find this funny?”

“I find rich people’s vocabulary ambitious.”

Mateo almost smiled.

“There’s more. Kensington Holdings froze three accounts overnight.”

“Which?”

“The shell companies Elena marked in the ledger.”

Leo’s expression sharpened.

“So he knows.”

“Or someone warned him.”

“Same problem.”

Beatrice walked over.

“Can he destroy the records?”

“Some,” Mateo said. “Not all.”

“Then why freeze accounts?”

“To move attention.”

Leo nodded.

“Or to prepare to disappear.”

Mateo’s phone buzzed.

He checked it.

“We found Dr. Hale.”

“Alive?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“Milwaukee.”

Beatrice’s stomach tightened.

“That’s close.”

“Too close,” Leo said.

Mateo continued.

“Checked into a private addiction clinic under another name.”

“Bring him.”

“Leo.”

“Bring him.”

“Kidnapping a physician from a treatment facility is the kind of sentence prosecutors enjoy.”

“Then invite him aggressively.”

Mateo sighed.

“I missed subtle you.”

“You never met subtle me.”

“No one did.”

Two hours later, Dr. Hale arrived voluntarily after Mateo showed him a still frame from Elena’s audio archive and told him Victoria had nearly killed Lily.

He was sixty, gray-faced, and trembling before he entered the kitchen.

Beatrice recognized him instantly.

Dr. Hale recognized her too.

“You.”

She frowned.

“We’ve met.”

“At the estate.”

“No.”

He stared at her.

“At Mercy General.”

Her chest tightened.

“My brother.”

Dr. Hale lowered his eyes.

“You were with Daniel when he died.”

Beatrice stepped backward.

Leo moved closer.

“Explain.”

Hale’s hands shook.

“I can’t.”

Mateo closed the kitchen door.

“You can.”

Hale looked at Leo.

“If Richard learns I spoke—”

“Richard already knows you ran.”

“No. You don’t understand.”

“Then improve my understanding.”

Dr. Hale sat at the old table.

For a long moment, he said nothing.

Lily was upstairs with the nurse.

Beatrice remained standing.

Hale looked at her bandaged hand.

“Daniel came to me after the bombing.”

“Why you?”

“I was Elena’s private physician before I treated Lily.”

Leo stiffened.

“You treated my wife?”

“For anxiety. Sleep. Nothing more.”

“You never told me.”

“She asked for confidentiality.”

“Everyone seems to have protected me from information.”

Hale flinched.

“Elena was afraid.”

“Of Richard?”

“Of what Richard could make you do.”

Leo’s jaw tightened.

Beatrice intervened.

“What did Daniel bring you?”

Hale looked at her.

“A memory card.”

“From what?”

“A dashboard camera.”

“Whose car?”

“An ambulance parked across the street.”

Mateo leaned forward.

“Daniel copied footage from the bombing?”

“Yes.”

“Where is it?”

“Gone.”

Leo’s palm hit the table.

Hale jumped.

“Where?”

“I gave it to Sebastian Vale.”

Leo’s face darkened.

“Why?”

“Because he said he was protecting you.”

Mateo muttered, “Of course he did.”

“What did the footage show?” Beatrice asked.

Hale swallowed.

“A man putting a device beneath Elena’s car.”

“Face?”

“Partial.”

“Enough to identify?”

“I thought so.”

“Who?”

Hale’s voice fell.

“Graham Ellis.”

Victoria’s driver.

Leo became very still.

“Graham worked for Richard then?”

“He worked private security for Kensington.”

Mateo opened his laptop.

“I can verify employment.”

Hale continued.

“Daniel saw him too. That is why he was afraid.”

Beatrice pressed a hand to her mouth.

“Daniel knew.”

“Yes.”

“And you knew Daniel was in danger.”

“Yes.”

“Did you warn him?”

“I tried.”

“You tried?”

“I told him to leave Chicago.”

“He did not have money to leave.”

“I offered—”

“You offered?”

Her voice cracked.

“Did you offer before or after someone ran him down?”

Hale’s face collapsed.

“After Elena died, Daniel began calling me. He said Vale had stopped answering. He believed the evidence was compromised.”

Leo said, “Was Vale working for Richard?”

“I don’t know.”

“You gave him the footage.”

“I believed he was loyal to you.”

Mateo’s laptop chimed.

“Graham worked Kensington security for nine years. Left two months after the bombing. Became Victoria’s personal driver six months later.”

Leo looked at Hale.

“You signed Sebastian Vale’s death certificate.”

Hale closed his eyes.

“Yes.”

“Natural causes?”

“No.”

Beatrice’s skin went cold.

Mateo stopped typing.

Leo’s voice was almost a whisper.

“What killed him?”

“Potassium.”

Mateo stood.

“Injected?”

Hale nodded.

“Who did it?”

“I don’t know.”

“You signed a false certificate.”

“Richard’s people brought me to Vale’s apartment. He was already dead.”

“And you helped them hide it.”

“They had photographs of my son buying drugs. They threatened to send him to prison.”

Beatrice stared.

“So you traded one dead man for your son.”

Hale looked at her.

“Yes.”

The bluntness silenced her.

He wiped his face.

“I have hated myself every day.”

Leo paced once across the kitchen.

“Did Vale still have Daniel’s memory card when he died?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did Daniel?”

“No.”

“Did Richard?”

“I don’t know.”

Leo’s temper snapped.

“You know very little for a man surrounded by corpses.”

Hale stood.

“I know one thing you don’t.”

Leo stopped.

“Say it.”

“The bombing was not supposed to kill Elena.”

Silence.

Beatrice felt the room tilt.

Leo stared at him.

“What?”

“Graham told Vale it was a warning device. Small charge. Enough to frighten, not kill.”

Mateo shook his head.

“That blast tore the car apart.”

“I know.”

“Then Graham lied.”

“Maybe.”

Leo’s face had gone pale.

“Or the device was changed.”

Hale nodded.

“That is what Vale believed.”

“By whom?”

“He never said.”

Beatrice looked at the blue ledger.

“Richard?”

Hale hesitated.

“I heard Vale arguing with someone on the phone two days after the funeral.”

“Who?”

“He called her Victoria.”

Leo did not move.

Beatrice closed her eyes.

Victoria had known Elena.

Everyone in Chicago society had.

But this was different.

“What did she say?” Leo asked.

“I heard Vale say, ‘You told him she would be alone.’”

Mateo’s eyes narrowed.

“She told Richard Elena’s schedule.”

Hale looked miserable.

“I think so.”

Leo’s hand closed around the back of a chair.

The wood creaked.

Beatrice stepped closer.

“Leo.”

He looked at her.

It was the first time she had used his name.

Neither of them acknowledged it.

“Sit down.”

“I’m fine.”

“No.”

His eyes flashed.

She held his gaze.

“Quiet yelling.”

A terrible sound escaped him, half laugh and half grief.

He sat.

Hale looked at Beatrice.

“Daniel wanted to tell you.”

She turned.

“What?”

“He said you had already spent your whole life cleaning up other people’s messes.”

Tears filled her eyes.

“He did not want to make this one yours.”

“That idiot.”

Hale nodded.

“He loved you.”

Beatrice wiped her cheek angrily.

“Love is not supposed to make decisions for people.”

Leo looked at Elena’s letter.

“No.”

Mateo’s phone rang.

He answered.

His expression changed.

“What?”

He listened.

“Put it on speaker.”

A guard’s voice filled the kitchen.

“We intercepted a vehicle two miles south.”

“Who?”

“Graham Ellis.”

Everyone froze.

“Alive?” Leo asked.

“Yes.”

“Alone?”

“No.”

“Who’s with him?”

A pause.

“Victoria Kensington.”

Leo stood.

“Bring them here.”

Beatrice shook her head.

“No.”

He turned.

“No?”

“Not here. Lily is upstairs.”

Leo’s anger cooled by one degree.

She continued.

“You promised this place would be safe.”

“I promised no such thing.”

“You chose it because I trusted it.”

“That is close enough.”

Mateo said, “There’s an abandoned ranger station five miles east. We can secure it.”

Leo looked at Beatrice.

She nodded.

“Good.”

Hale stared at them.

“What happens to me?”

Leo’s face hardened.

“You tell the truth to law enforcement.”

“I can’t.”

“You can.”

“Richard will kill my son.”

Mateo said, “Your son is already in protective custody.”

Hale blinked.

“When?”

“Twenty minutes before you arrived.”

“You did that?”

Mateo shrugged.

“I like solving problems before people finish creating them.”

Hale covered his face.

For the first time, his shoulders loosened.

Beatrice looked toward the ceiling, where Lily’s small footsteps crossed the guest room.

The girl was humming.

A child should not have been a piece on anyone’s board.

Beatrice turned to Leo.

“When we talk to Victoria, Lily stays out of it.”

“Yes.”

“No threats in front of her.”

“Yes.”

“No one tells her details about her mother until we know the truth.”

Leo nodded.

Beatrice studied him.

“You’re agreeing too easily.”

“I’m learning.”

“Terrifying.”

He almost smiled.

Then his phone buzzed.

A photograph arrived.

Victoria sat handcuffed in the back of an SUV, still wearing the ivory suit from the cellar.

Graham sat beside her.

His face was bruised.

On his wrist was a tattoo Beatrice recognized from Daniel’s old notebook.

A black crown crossed by a blue line.

She grabbed Leo’s arm.

“What?”

“That symbol.”

“Where?”

“My brother drew it.”

Mateo leaned over.

“Any note?”

Beatrice searched her memory.

“Yes.”

She whispered the words.

“Crown over water. The second man.”

Leo’s gaze sharpened.

“Second man?”

Beatrice looked at Graham’s photograph.

“If Graham planted the first device, Daniel saw someone else.”

Mateo said, “Someone who changed the bomb.”

Hale went white.

Leo’s phone rang again.

This time the guard sounded frightened.

“Sir, we have a problem.”

“What?”

“Graham’s been shot.”

“How?”

“From outside the vehicle.”

The room froze.

“Sniper,” the guard said. “One round through the rear glass.”

“And Victoria?”

“Alive.”

Leo’s eyes met Beatrice’s.

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