Chapter 7 - MRS. HARGROVE’S SECRET
Clara backed toward the wall.
Mrs. Hargrove closed the basement door behind her.
The fallen guard groaned.
Alive.
Clara held onto that.
Alive meant there was still time.
“What do you want?”
Mrs. Hargrove smiled.
“What I wanted this morning. For you to clean floors and mind your business.”
“You drugged Noah.”
“I managed Noah.”
“You hurt him.”
“I kept him alive.”
Clara stared.
Mrs. Hargrove’s smile disappeared.
“You think Dominic Vale’s enemies wouldn’t use a child? You think you understand this family because a frightened boy held your hand?”
“Then tell me.”
“Why?”
“Because you came back instead of running.”
That made Hargrove pause.
Clara continued.
“You escaped. You could be halfway to Canada.”
“I came for something.”
Clara glanced around.
The photographs.
Medical supplies.
“Evidence?”
“Insurance.”
Mrs. Hargrove walked toward a metal cabinet.
Clara shifted sideways.
“Victoria killed Elena?”
Hargrove’s hand stopped.
“You should not say things you don’t understand.”
“So explain.”
Mrs. Hargrove laughed quietly.
“Twenty-two years old and suddenly fearless.”
“I’m terrified.”
That surprised her.
Clara swallowed.
“My hands are shaking. My ribs hurt. I’m pretty sure that man on the floor has a concussion, and the only reason I haven’t cried is because I don’t think it would help.”
Mrs. Hargrove stared at her.
“But I’m still asking.”
Something almost human moved across the older woman’s face.
Then vanished.
“Victoria did not begin this.”
“Who did?”
“Her father.”
Clara frowned.
“Dominic’s father?”
“August Vale.”
Clara knew the name.
Everyone in Chicago did.
August Vale had built the family fortune from trucking, real estate, construction, and darker things never proven in court.
He had died six years earlier.
“August believed family was property,” Hargrove said. “Dominic disappointed him by marrying Elena.”
“Why?”
“She was ordinary.”
“Rich people really need hobbies.”
Hargrove almost smiled.
“Elena was a teacher when Dominic met her. No political family. No empire. No useful connections.”
“And Victoria?”
“Victoria worshiped her father.”
Clara understood.
“After he died, she kept his beliefs.”
“She kept more than that.”
Hargrove opened the cabinet.
Inside were ledgers.
Old photographs.
Audio tapes.
“August controlled everyone through secrets. Judges. Police. Businessmen. His own children.”
“Why Elena?”
“Elena discovered the family’s charities were laundering money.”
Clara’s stomach tightened.
“The rehabilitation center.”
“Yes.”
“Was it really treating patients?”
“Some.”
“And the children?”
Hargrove looked away.
“Witnesses’ families. Debtors’ families. People kept temporarily until someone cooperated.”
Clara felt cold.
“No.”
“It ended years ago.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“No.”
For the first time, Hargrove sounded tired.
Clara stared at her.
“Why help Victoria?”
“I helped Elena first.”
Clara blinked.
“What?”
“I warned her.”
The entire story shifted.
Mrs. Hargrove removed her pearl brooch.
She held it out.
A tiny lens sat between two pearls.
A camera.
“Noah wasn’t afraid of pearls because I hurt him.”
Clara stared.
“He was afraid because you wore that while something happened.”
“I recorded.”
“Why?”
“Because nobody believed Elena.”
Clara thought of the hidden recordings.
“Hargrove, Elena said you took Noah at night.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“To keep Victoria from taking him.”
The basement suddenly seemed smaller.
“You drugged him.”
“I gave him medication.”
“With Mercer?”
“Mercer worked for Victoria. I substituted lower doses whenever I could.”
“You still drugged a two-year-old.”
“Yes.”
Hargrove’s face broke for one second.
“And if I had refused, Victoria would have used enough to kill him.”
Clara had no answer.
Hargrove continued.
“I told myself keeping him alive mattered more than what he would someday think of me.”
“Then why did Noah say bad lady and point at Victoria?”
“Because children know monsters better than adults.”
Clara stepped closer.
“Where is Elena?”
Hargrove looked at her.
“You think I know?”
“You came for insurance. Elena might be that insurance.”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Hargrove reached into the cabinet.
A gunshot exploded upstairs.
Both women froze.
Another shot.
Mrs. Hargrove cursed.
“Victoria found us.”
Clara’s heart jumped.
“How?”
“She has men in Dominic’s security.”
Footsteps above.
Hargrove grabbed Clara’s arm.
“Listen carefully.”
“You just stunned a man who works for Dominic.”
“He works for Victoria.”
Clara looked at the unconscious guard.
That explained why Hargrove had attacked first.
Another shot.
Hargrove pulled a ledger from the cabinet and shoved it into Clara’s hands.
“If I don’t leave this room, give that to Dominic.”
“What is it?”
“Names.”
“Whose?”
“Everyone August Vale bought.”
Footsteps descended the stairs.
Hargrove turned off the basement light.
Darkness.
Clara stopped breathing.
The door opened.
A flashlight beam cut through the room.
“Hargrove?”
Male voice.
She recognized it.
One of the estate guards.
Miles.
He had brought Clara coffee an hour earlier.
Mrs. Hargrove raised a finger to her lips.
Miles entered.
“I know you’re here.”
Another man followed.
“Victoria wants the girl alive.”
Clara’s stomach dropped.
Why?
Miles continued.
“Hargrove doesn’t matter.”
Mrs. Hargrove’s face hardened.
She threw something across the room.
Metal crashed.
The men spun.
Hargrove lunged.
Chaos.
Clara dropped behind the mattress.
A stun gun crackled.
A man shouted.
A gun fired into the ceiling.
Dust rained down.
Clara crawled toward the stairs.
Someone grabbed her ankle.
She kicked.
Hard.
The grip vanished.
She ran.
Upstairs.
Through the cottage.
Into the woods.
“Clara!”
Miles shouted behind her.
She didn’t look back.
Branches tore at her sweater.
Her injured ribs screamed.
She kept running.
The mansion was visible through the trees.
Then a black SUV appeared on the service road.
Clara stopped.
Dominic jumped out before it fully stopped.
She nearly collapsed from relief.
He caught her.
“What happened?”
“Victoria.”
His expression changed.
“Where’s Noah?”
“At the house.”
“No. He isn’t.”
Clara froze.
“What?”
Dominic’s face had gone dead.
“When I called from Rockford, nobody answered. We checked cameras remotely.”
Her blood turned cold.
“Noah disappeared sixteen minutes ago.”
Clara stared at him.
Behind them, Elias and three men ran toward the cottage.
Dominic grabbed Clara’s shoulders.
“Who has him?”
“Miles. Maybe.”
“Miles is security.”
“Miles works for Victoria.”
Dominic swore.
Clara shoved the ledger against his chest.
“Hargrove says this has names.”
“Hargrove?”
“She says she was helping Elena.”
“Where is she?”
“Inside.”
An explosion of glass came from the cottage.
Dominic turned.
Elias emerged dragging Miles.
Mrs. Hargrove followed, blood running down her temple.
Alive.
She saw Dominic.
Then said the words that shattered whatever hope remained.
“Victoria has taken Noah to the lake.”
Dominic stared.
“Why?”
May you like
Hargrove wiped blood from her face.
“Because that’s where Elena is.”
