Chapter 4 - Room 214 Was Empty Before We Arrived

Matteo listened to the voicemail three times.

The fourth time, Graham took the phone away.

“It won’t change.”

Matteo stared at him.

“My father called you.”

“Yes.”

“From where?”

“I don’t know.”

“Find out.”

“I’m trying.”

Lydia stood beside the lockers, pale beneath the station lights.

“We shouldn’t go to Madison.”

Matteo looked at her.

“You think I’m leaving him there?”

“No.”

“I did that for twelve years without knowing.”

“That’s different.”

“Not to him.”

That ended the argument.

We drove north.

Not directly to the facility.

Graham insisted we stop first at a small twenty-four-hour diner outside Kenosha.

Matteo hated the delay.

Until Graham explained.

“If Charles is waiting, we don’t arrive on his schedule.”

He placed two phones on the table.

“One goes with us.”

Matteo looked at the second.

“And that?”

“Goes to someone who knows where we are.”

“Who?”

Graham looked at me.

“Anna.”

I nearly dropped my coffee.

“No.”

Matteo answered before I could.

“She stays with me.”

Graham shook his head.

“That is exactly why she should hold the backup.”

Lydia leaned forward.

“He’s right.”

Matteo looked between them.

I said, “I can do it.”

He did not like that.

I could tell.

But he handed me the phone.

Graham gave me one instruction.

“If we are separated, call the number marked E.”

“Who is E?”

“Someone Charles cannot fire.”

That was all he said.

We reached the facility at 2:14 in the morning.

A low brick building.

Quiet parking lot.

Too many dark windows.

Matteo got out first.

Lydia stopped him.

“Wait.”

He turned.

She pointed toward the entrance.

“No security guard.”

Graham looked.

She was right.

The desk inside was empty.

The front door unlocked.

That bothered me more than if it had been chained shut.

We entered.

The lobby smelled like lemon cleaner.

A television played silently in the corner.

Nobody came.

Matteo called out.

“Hello?”

Nothing.

Graham moved toward the hall.

“Room 214.”

We found the stairs.

Second floor.

The door to 214 was open.

Matteo stopped outside it.

For one second, he became twenty-one again.

I saw it.

Then he went inside.

Empty bed.

Empty chair.

Open closet.

The room had been cleared.

Matteo walked to the window.

The frame was new.

Sealed shut.

Lydia touched the sill.

“This is the one.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

She pointed toward two small holes in the wood.

“Where the old bracket was.”

Matteo stared at them.

His father had remembered.

So had she.

Graham opened the bedside drawer.

Nothing.

I checked the bathroom.

Empty.

Then I noticed the trash can.

One paper cup.

Still damp.

“They were here recently.”

Graham touched it.

“Very.”

Footsteps sounded behind us.

We turned.

A nurse stood in the doorway.

Mid-fifties.

Blue scrubs.

Terrified.

She saw Lydia first.

“You came back.”

Lydia whispered, “Nora.”

The nurse stepped inside and closed the door.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Matteo moved toward her.

“Where is Vincent Vale?”

She looked at him.

Then at his eyes.

Her face changed.

“You’re his son.”

“Yes.”

Nora covered her mouth.

“He said you had his eyes.”

Matteo’s voice broke slightly.

“Where is he?”

“Gone.”

“Where?”

“They moved him at nine.”

“Who?”

“Two men.”

“Names.”

“I don’t know.”

Lydia stepped closer.

“Did my father come?”

Nora looked at her.

“No.”

Relief crossed Lydia’s face.

Too early.

Nora continued.

“But he called.”

Matteo’s jaw tightened.

“What did he say?”

“That Mr. Ward had been transferred.”

“Ward?”

“That’s the name Vincent was registered under.”

Graham looked sick.

“Twelve years under a false identity.”

Nora nodded.

“Not all twelve.”

“What does that mean?”

“He had three names.”

Matteo stared.

“Why?”

“To break the paper trail.”

Graham looked at Lydia.

“Your father knew exactly what he was doing.”

Nora went to the closet.

She reached behind the upper shelf and removed a small wooden chess piece.

A black knight.

“He asked me to give this to Graham if anything happened.”

Graham took it.

His hand trembled.

Matteo looked at him.

“You know what that means?”

Graham turned the piece over.

A tiny letter V had been carved underneath.

“Yes.”

“What?”

“Your father used to keep a chessboard in the lake house.”

Lydia looked at him.

“The lake house agreement.”

Graham nodded.

Matteo said, “Where is it?”

“North of here.”

“How far?”

“Forty minutes.”

Nora grabbed Graham’s sleeve.

“Don’t.”

He looked at her.

“Why?”

“Because Mr. Vale knew they would move him.”

“Then why leave the knight?”

“Not to tell you where he was going.”

She looked at Matteo.

“To tell you where Charles was afraid he might go.”

Matteo frowned.

I heard movement in the hallway.

Heavy footsteps.

More than one person.

Nora’s face went white.

“They came back.”

Graham pushed the chess piece into his pocket.

Matteo moved toward the door.

Lydia caught his arm.

“No.”

For once, he listened.

We went through the bathroom.

There was a service door connecting to a supply corridor.

Nora led us down a back stairwell.

At the bottom, she stopped.

“Your father made me promise something.”

Matteo looked at her.

“What?”

“If you came here angry, I was supposed to tell you this.”

He waited.

Nora swallowed.

“He said Charles survives by making other men become the worst version of themselves.”

Matteo said nothing.

“He said don’t give him that.”

Outside, we reached the SUV.

No one followed.

Not yet.

Graham started the engine.

Matteo sat beside me.

He looked at the black knight in Graham’s hand.

Then at Lydia.

“Take us to the lake house.”

Graham did not move.

“Matteo.”

“What?”

The old lawyer looked at the rearview mirror.

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A pair of headlights had just turned on behind us.

“We are not the only ones going.”