Chapter 6 - THE KEY CHARLES LEFT BEHIND
The brass key opened no door Sarah recognized.
Small.
Old-fashioned.
The number 17 was carved into one side.
Sarah turned it between her fingers inside Robert’s safe house while Detective Lewis’s task force searched for her across three counties.
“What does it open?”
Robert Sterling poured coffee.
“A deposit box.”
“Where?”
“You’re asking the second question first.”
Sarah’s patience vanished.
“I was poisoned at my sons’ birthday party. I woke up inside my own coffin. I was kidnapped from a hospital by the doctor who helped murder my father, chased through an industrial yard and introduced to an uncle who has been legally dead for sixteen years.”
She slammed the key onto the table.
“I’m finished asking questions in the right order.”
Robert stared.
Then laughed.
Sarah almost hit him.
“You sound exactly like Charles.”
“Stop saying that.”
The humor disappeared.
Robert sat across from her.
“Project Ardent was never just a patent.”
“Then what was it?”
“A collection of discoveries.”
“Worth billions?”
“Potentially.”
“Then Henry killed Dad for money.”
“Yes.”
Robert paused.
“But money was only part of it.”
Charles discovered internal trials were being manipulated.
Promising research had been diverted into private entities controlled by Henry.
Patients had been enrolled improperly.
Results hidden.
Investors deceived.
Charles intended to expose everything.
“He created a complete archive,” Robert said. “Documents, recordings, financial trails. Enough to destroy Henry.”
“Why didn’t police find it?”
“Because Charles didn’t trust police anymore.”
Sarah remembered the photographs.
“Where is the archive?”
“That key is part of it.”
“Part?”
“The box contains another location.”
Sarah shook her head.
“Dad built a treasure hunt?”
“He built something nobody could obtain by killing one person.”
Robert explained.
Three pieces were required.
A physical key.
A numerical code.
A voice authorization stored with a private legal custodian.
Charles gave each piece to a different person.
Robert received the key.
Victoria unknowingly had the numerical code.
And Sarah—
“What did he give me?”
“His final voice authorization.”
“My father never—”
“The lullaby.”
Sarah froze.
Charles used to sing to her.
A strange little song about fireflies.
“He recorded you singing it together when you were twenty-one.”
Sarah stared.
“That’s insane.”
“It was 2007. Biometric systems were primitive, but Charles had very creative attorneys.”
“Where is the box?”
Robert finally answered.
“Boston.”
Sarah stood.
“We leave now.”
“No.”
“Henry is already running.”
“Exactly.”
Robert pointed toward the television.
News stations were reporting Sarah Vance and her twins remained dead.
Police had preserved the original story publicly.
Sarah understood.
“Henry doesn’t know exactly who survived?”
“He knows you survived the burial. He doesn’t know where Lucas and Ethan are.”
Sarah’s face changed.
“My sons.”
“They’re protected.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know Mara Lewis.”
“You know the detective?”
“For twelve years.”
Sarah stepped backward.
“Everyone knows everyone except me.”
Robert sighed.
“Mara investigated my supposed death.”
Sarah’s mind spun.
“She knew you were alive?”
“No. She knew the crash report was wrong. She never stopped believing it.”
Robert picked up a secure phone.
“Call her.”
Sarah stared.
“You trust her?”
“With my life.”
“Apparently you trust people with your life more easily than I do.”
“That’s because I spent sixteen years learning who deserves it.”
Mara answered.
Robert said only:
“Fireflies survive the dark.”
Silence.
Then Mara whispered:
“Robert Sterling?”
Sarah took the phone.
“Mara.”
“Sarah?”
“I’m safe.”
Mara exhaled so loudly Sarah heard it.
“You are going to explain everything.”
“Later.”
“No. Now.”
Sarah almost smiled.
“I like you.”
“The feeling is not currently mutual.”
Sarah told her about Boston.
Mara listened.
Then warned:
“Julian was released.”
Sarah froze.
“What?”
“Not cleared. Released.”
“Why?”
“His attorney obtained an emergency hearing. The physical evidence against him is strong, but they argued contamination and unlawful seizure from the grave.”
“Who’s the judge?”
Mara said the name.
Robert swore.
Sarah understood.
“Henry’s network?”
“Possibly.”
“What did Julian do?”
“He disappeared ninety minutes later.”
Of course.
Henry was collecting his pieces.
Rebecca.
Warren.
Julian.
Maybe Victoria.
“Where’s my mother?”
“With me,” Mara said.
Sarah closed her eyes.
“Let me talk to her.”
Victoria came on.
For three seconds neither spoke.
Then:
“Sarah?”
“Mom.”
Victoria broke down.
Sarah cried too.
“You dug us out.”
“I should never have let them bury you.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I knew something was wrong.”
“You saved us.”
“I lied about your father.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
“We survive first. We forgive later.”
Victoria laughed through tears.
“That sounds like your father.”
“Apparently everyone keeps saying that.”
Then Victoria became serious.
“Sarah, Henry called me.”
“What did he want?”
“He didn’t say.”
“He always wants something.”
Victoria hesitated.
“I think I know.”
Sarah waited.
“Your father left me numbers.”
“What numbers?”
“Every anniversary, he gave me flowers with a card. Same four numbers at the bottom. I thought they were florist codes.”
Robert stood.
“Do you remember them?”
Victoria answered.
“0317.”
Robert stared at the brass key.
Seventeen.
March 17.
Charles and Victoria’s wedding anniversary.
“We have the code,” Robert said.
Sarah felt hope for the first time.
It lasted four seconds.
Mara shouted on the phone.
“Victoria, down!”
A crash.
Sarah stood.
“Mom?”
Gunfire.
Robert grabbed the phone from her.
“Mara!”
More shouting.
Then silence.
Sarah screamed.
“MOM!”
A man picked up the phone.
Not Mara.
Not Victoria.
Henry Vale.
“Hello, Sarah.”
Her blood turned cold.
“Where is my mother?”
“With me.”
“I’ll kill you.”
“No, you won’t.”
Henry sounded almost affectionate.
“You were always dramatic as a girl.”
“What do you want?”
“The key.”
Sarah looked at Robert.
Henry continued:
“And your father’s code.”
“You already know the code.”
“Now I do.”
Sarah realized Victoria had said it over the phone.
Henry had been listening.
“Bring the key to Sterling headquarters tomorrow at noon.”
“No.”
“Then Victoria dies.”
Sarah’s breathing became shallow.
“You need me too.”
“For the voice authorization?”
Henry chuckled.
“Very clever.”
“So you can’t kill Mom.”
“I don’t need Victoria.”
A muffled cry came through the phone.
Sarah recognized it.
Her mother.
“Mom!”
Henry’s voice hardened.
“Tomorrow. Noon.”
The line went dead.
Sarah stared at Robert.
“We’re going.”
“It’s a trap.”
“I know.”
“He’ll have twenty men.”
“Then bring thirty.”
Robert shook his head.
Sarah stepped closer.
“For nineteen years, everyone has been protecting me by lying.”
She picked up the brass key.
“No more hiding.”
“What are you planning?”
Sarah looked at the television.
The world still believed she was dead.
A strange smile appeared.
“If Henry wants a dead woman…”
May you like
She slipped the key around her neck.
“…then tomorrow, I’m going to give him one.”
