Chapter 8 - The Lawyer Who Buried a Wife
Michael Reeves had always dressed impeccably.
Even while invading a house with armed men, his tie was perfectly straight.
Marcus hated him for that almost as much as everything else.
“Put the gun down.”
Michael smiled.
“That’s usually my line.”
Nathan and two guards remained behind cover.
More armed men surrounded the estate outside.
Grace crouched beside Daniel.
Eleanor stood strangely calm.
Marcus noticed.
“You expected him.”
Eleanor said nothing.
Michael looked at her.
“You always were terrible at finishing things.”
Marcus understood.
“This is about the safe.”
Michael’s smile widened.
“So Grace told you.”
“What’s inside?”
“Insurance.”
“Against whom?”
“Everyone.”
Daniel laughed weakly.
“You kept me drugged for nine years over insurance?”
Michael looked at him.
“Daniel, you were never supposed to survive the first year.”
Grace gripped Daniel’s shoulder.
Marcus’s expression became lethal.
“You worked with Vale.”
“I managed Vale.”
“Why?”
“Because Charles lost his nerve.”
Michael walked slowly into the room.
“Your father wanted power until he understood power has consequences.”
“You helped him steal money?”
“No. I was a child when Blackwell International began.”
“Then what did you want?”
“What everyone wants.”
“Money?”
“Freedom.”
Marcus almost laughed.
“You could have retired wealthy fifteen years ago.”
“Not from the people behind Vale.”
There it was again.
A bigger layer.
“Who?”
Michael’s expression tightened.
“Organizations you don’t challenge.”
“Name them.”
“No.”
Nathan called from behind the wall.
“You’re surrounded by police.”
Michael laughed.
“No police are coming.”
Marcus looked at Nathan.
Nathan’s satellite phone showed no service.
Jamming again.
Michael continued.
“I need the necklaces.”
Marcus touched the pendant under his shirt.
“You’ll have to take mine.”
“I intend to.”
Daniel spoke.
“The moon is gone.”
Michael looked at him.
“Karen has it.”
Marcus’s attention sharpened.
“Where is Karen?”
Michael smiled.
“Finally, the correct question.”
Grace whispered, “Michael.”
He ignored her.
“Karen was always the weak link.”
Emma’s supposed aunt.
Anna’s sister?
No.
Marcus realized he had never verified that relationship.
“Karen isn’t family.”
Michael nodded approvingly.
“She was Anna’s caregiver during treatment.”
“And she stole the necklace.”
“After Anna died.”
“Why abandon Emma?”
“Because Karen panicked.”
“Why the park?”
“She was instructed to leave Emma somewhere Marcus would find her,” Grace said.
Michael glared at her.
Grace continued.
“Anna planned it before she died.”
Marcus looked at her.
“What?”
“Anna knew she was dying. She knew Karen couldn’t be trusted. She arranged for Emma to reach you.”
“The tracker?”
“Michael’s people.”
So Emma appearing in Lincoln Park was both Anna’s plan and Michael’s opportunity.
“How did Anna know Lily and I would be there?”
Grace smiled sadly.
“She knew you take Lily for ice cream in Lincoln Park on the last Sunday of every month.”
Marcus froze.
It had been their private tradition.
Almost nobody knew.
“Anna watched us?”
“No.”
Grace’s voice softened.
“I did.”
He stared at her.
Seven years.
Photos in the farmhouse.
“Every month?”
“When I could.”
“You were close enough to see us.”
“Yes.”
“And you never walked across the grass.”
Tears filled Grace’s eyes.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because the first time I tried, a man followed Lily home.”
Marcus looked away.
It made sense.
He hated that it made sense.
Michael became impatient.
“Enough family therapy.”
He raised the gun toward Daniel.
“Necklace.”
Daniel smiled.
“I swallowed it.”
Michael’s face changed.
Marcus almost laughed.
“You’re lying.”
“Maybe.”
Michael pointed the weapon at Grace instead.
“Then she dies first.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“No.”
“That’s close enough.”
Grace looked at Marcus.
Strangely calm.
Then she looked at Daniel.
Daniel nodded.
Marcus caught the exchange.
“What?”
Grace suddenly dropped to the floor.
Daniel threw himself sideways from the wheelchair.
At the same instant, Eleanor hit a hidden switch beneath a table.
Steel shutters slammed over the windows.
Lights died.
Nathan’s team moved.
Gunfire exploded.
Marcus tackled Michael.
They crashed into a table.
The gun slid across the floor.
Michael punched Marcus once.
Marcus answered with years of grief.
One strike.
Two.
Three.
Michael tried reaching for a knife.
Marcus caught his wrist.
“You handled her funeral.”
Michael laughed through blood.
“I picked the corpse.”
Marcus hit him again.
“You watched Lily cry.”
“Business.”
Another punch.
“You stood beside me at Grace’s grave.”
Michael spat blood.
“And you never suspected me.”
That stopped Marcus more effectively than a weapon.
Because it was true.
He had trusted Michael completely.
Nathan rushed in.
“Marcus!”
Michael used the distraction.
He pulled a second gun from his ankle.
Grace screamed.
Marcus moved.
A shot fired.
Michael froze.
His gun dropped.
Blood spread across his chest.
Behind him stood Eleanor holding a revolver.
Michael looked down.
Then at her.
“You…”
Eleanor lowered the gun.
“I should have done that twenty years ago.”
Michael collapsed.
Silence.
Nathan checked him.
“Alive.”
Barely.
Marcus turned toward Eleanor.
“You knew he was armed.”
“I suspected.”
“You could have told us.”
“You wouldn’t have let him inside.”
“No, I wouldn’t.”
“Then we wouldn’t have answers.”
Marcus stared at her.
“You really are Charles’s equal.”
Eleanor’s expression hardened.
“That is the worst insult anyone has ever given me.”
Authorities eventually arrived after the jammer was disabled.
Michael was transported under armed guard.
His men were arrested.
Eleanor agreed to cooperate.
Grace did not leave Marcus’s sight.
Not because he trusted her yet.
Because after seven years he was terrified she might vanish again.
That evening, they sat in the old Michigan house alone.
Grace held tea.
Marcus stood by the window.
Neither knew how to begin.
Finally Grace whispered, “How is Lily?”
“She’s remarkable.”
“I know.”
“You watched.”
“Yes.”
“She thinks you’re dead.”
Grace closed her eyes.
“I know.”
“How do I tell her?”
“I don’t know.”
Marcus turned.
“You had seven years to think about it.”
Grace absorbed the cruelty without defense.
“I deserved that.”
He hated that she said it.
“Did you stop loving me?”
She looked up immediately.
“No.”
“Not once?”
“No.”
“Then why does seeing you feel like betrayal?”
“Because I’m alive.”
The answer broke something open.
Marcus sat.
Grace’s voice trembled.
“You had to turn me into a memory to survive.”
He stared at his hands.
“She has your laugh.”
“I know.”
“She hates broccoli.”
“So did I.”
“She pretends she’s brave when she’s scared.”
Grace smiled through tears.
“You did that.”
Marcus looked at her.
For one fragile second, they were simply husband and wife again.
Then reality returned.
“The safe.”
Grace nodded.
“We need Daniel’s necklace.”
“Karen.”
“Yes.”
Nathan entered.
“We found her.”
“Where?”
“A motel outside Milwaukee.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Necklace?”
“Unknown.”
Marcus stood.
Grace did too.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
Her expression changed.
“Marcus.”
“You’ve been hunted for seven years.”
“And I’m done hiding.”
He looked at her.
This was the Grace he remembered.
The woman who once confronted his father at Christmas because Charles insulted a waiter.
“Fine.”
Nathan’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face fell.
“What?”
“Karen’s motel room just exploded.”
Marcus stared.
“Was she inside?”
“We don’t know.”
Grace went pale.
Daniel wheeled himself into the room.
“I know where the moon is.”
Everyone turned.
“You said Karen took it.”
“She did.”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“But Anna would never trust her with the real one.”
“Then where?”
Daniel looked toward Emma’s teddy bear.
“Teddy.”
Marcus froze.
“The tracker was inside Teddy.”
“Not only the tracker.”
Daniel nodded.
“Anna stitched my necklace into the stuffing years ago.”
The evidence they had been searching for—
the key to the Blackwell family’s buried crimes—
May you like
had been carried through Lincoln Park by an abandoned little girl.
And it had been sitting inside Marcus’s house the entire time.
