Chapter 12 - THE GIRL WHO SURVIVED THE LAKE
The smoke thickened quickly.
Mara ordered the agents to find another exit while Dominic kicked open a storage door at the back of the basement. Behind it was a narrow passage leading beneath the church. My mother carried the cassette. I carried the metal case. Dominic carried the weight of every weapon in the building on his shoulders.
We ran through the tunnel as flames spread above us.
“Who is Isabella Vale?” I asked my mother.
“A teenager who was on the boat with me.”
“You said you were alone.”
“I was trying to protect her.”
“From whom?”
“Thomas Bell.”
The tunnel ended behind a row of houses. We emerged into falling snow. Dominic’s men pulled a van around the corner. Mara and her agents joined us moments later.
The church roof glowed red against the night.
“They destroyed the evidence,” Mara said.
I held up the metal case.
“Not all of it.”
Inside the van, my mother finally told us the rest.
Isabella Vale had been sixteen when she witnessed Thomas Bell order the killing of a city inspector. Her father worked on the boat that carried Margaret out of Chicago. Isabella had hidden beneath the deck and survived when the men searching for Margaret set the vessel on fire.
“She escaped to shore,” my mother said. “Arthur found her. She had a photograph of Thomas Bell and David discussing the murder.”
“Where is she now?” Dominic asked.
“She disappeared into witness protection.”
Mara’s phone buzzed. She read the message and went still.
“She never entered the program.”
My mother looked at her.
“What?”
“The records say Isabella Vale died in the fire.”
“She didn’t.”
“How do you know?”
My mother looked at me.
“Because she called me last week.”
The van went silent.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” I asked.
“Because she said the person protecting her was someone inside the federal system.”
Mara’s expression hardened.
“Do you know where she is?”
My mother nodded.
“A motel in Aurora. Room twenty-six.”
We drove there under escort. The motel sign flickered above a line of dead shrubs. Dominic entered first, then Mara. I followed with my mother.
Room twenty-six was empty.
The bed had been stripped. The bathroom mirror was cracked. A small paper bird sat on the desk.
I recognized the shape.
My father used to fold paper birds whenever he was thinking.
I unfolded it carefully.
Inside was a message.
The person you trust is already inside the house.
Dominic’s eyes moved toward Mara.
One of the federal agents behind her reached for his weapon.
Mara shot him before he could draw.
He collapsed against the wall.
“Move!” she shouted.
The motel erupted into gunfire. Dominic pushed me behind a concrete column while agents returned fire down the walkway. My mother disappeared into the bathroom with Mara.
I heard a familiar voice outside the room.
Marco.
“Claire!” he called. “Come out and I’ll tell you where Isabella went.”
Dominic’s face became stone.
“He followed us.”
“He was inside your house,” I said.
“I know.”
Marco’s voice softened.
“Dominic, you always were loyal to the wrong people.”
Dominic aimed at the doorway.
“You killed the guard.”
“I saved him from your uncle.”
“You sold our location.”
“I sold nothing. Salvatore offered me a future. Bell offered me power. You offered me rules.”
Marco stepped into view, holding a phone.
The screen showed Isabella Vale tied to a chair.
“She’s alive,” he said. “For now.”
My mother made a broken sound.
Marco looked directly at me.
“Bring me the metal case, and I’ll give you the girl.”
Dominic said, “No.”
I turned to him.
“He has Isabella.”
“He wants the case.”
“Then we give him a case.”
Dominic studied me.
I opened the metal box and removed the ledgers. Beneath them was an empty compartment.
The evidence could be copied. The originals mattered, but Isabella mattered more.
I took the case.
“Claire.”
Dominic’s warning was quiet.
“I’m not going alone.”
“You’re not going at all.”
“Then Isabella dies.”
His eyes held mine.
For a second, I saw the man who could command armed men with a glance. Then I saw the man who had asked permission before touching my hand.
He lowered his weapon.
“We go together.”
Marco smiled.
“That’s what I was hoping for.”
The phone on the desk rang.
Elena answered it.
Her face went white.
“It’s David.”
She placed the call on speaker.
David said, “If Dominic is with you, tell him the truth, Claire.”
“What truth?”
“His uncle didn’t order your father’s murder.”
I stared at Dominic.
May you like
David laughed.
“I did.”
