Chapter 5 - The Mother Who Had Been Hiding
The hospital room looked like a crime scene without the blood.
The bed was stripped.
The IV disconnected.
The monitor still blinking.
A nurse sat against the wall, crying.
She had been found unconscious in the hallway.
Tristan arrived with Lily twenty minutes later.
"Where is my mother?"
Nobody answered.
Lily screamed.
The entire floor froze.
"Where is she?"
Tristan grabbed the nurse's chart.
A visitor had signed her out.
Name: Claire Bennett.
Signature: unclear.
Time: 1:17 a.m.
Lily stared.
"My mother couldn't walk that far."
Tristan's security chief shook his head.
"Someone carried her."
The elevator camera showed a man in a hospital uniform.
His face was hidden.
At 1:23, the hospital's side entrance camera caught a black van.
No license plate.
Tristan turned to Lily.
"We'll find her."
"What if she's hurt?"
"We'll find her."
"What if they're going to kill her?"
His jaw tightened.
"Then we get there first."
Three hours later, they found the first clue.
A prepaid phone had been left on Lily's kitchen table.
It contained one message.
COME TO WAREHOUSE 19 ALONE.
She was not alone.
Tristan followed from a distance.
Warehouse 19 had belonged to Bellweather.
Inside, Lily found her mother tied to a chair.
Claire was alive.
Lily rushed forward.
Tristan stopped her.
"Wait."
A voice came from the darkness.
"You always were impatient."
Adrian Cross stepped into the light.
Lily's stomach dropped.
He was holding a gun.
"Adrian."
He smiled.
"Hello, Lily."
Tristan moved beside her.
"You picked the wrong room."
Adrian laughed.
"No. I picked the right woman."
Claire began crying.
"Don't listen to him."
Lily stared at Adrian.
"You did all of this."
"I arranged a few things."
"You drugged me."
"Yes."
"You put me in his room."
"Yes."
"You tried to have him killed."
Adrian smiled.
"That part wasn't supposed to happen."
Tristan's eyes hardened.
"You wanted her to walk in while the shooter was watching."
Adrian shrugged.
"I wanted you to react exactly as you did."
Lily understood.
He had needed Tristan to protect her.
To take her seriously.
To bring her into his inner circle.
To show her the secrets Adrian had spent years trying to access.
"You used me to get to him."
"Exactly."
"What do you want?"
"The ledger."
Tristan's hand remained steady.
"What ledger?"
Adrian laughed.
"You found the blue one."
Lily looked at Tristan.
Adrian noticed.
"You've always been too smart, Lily."
He turned to Claire.
"Tell her."
Claire looked away.
Adrian stepped closer.
"Tell her where Marcus is."
Claire whispered.
"He's alive."
Lily felt her knees weaken.
"Where?"
Adrian smiled.
"That's what the ledger tells us."
He nodded toward a metal case.
"The final ledger is inside."
Tristan's security team was outside, but Adrian had rigged the warehouse.
A red light blinked.
"One wrong move," Adrian said, "and your mother dies."
Tristan looked at Lily.
He said nothing.
But she understood his eyes.
Wait.
Adrian opened the case.
Inside was a ledger.
Brown, not blue.
He frowned.
"This isn't it."
Lily remembered Eleanor's words.
Your father left the last ledger.
Your father never stopped looking for you.
The key.
She suddenly knew where it belonged.
She reached inside her coat.
The brass key fit the small lock on the underside of the metal case.
Click.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a tiny flash drive.
Adrian lunged.
Tristan moved faster.
The gun fired.
The shot struck the ceiling.
Security stormed the warehouse.
Adrian ran.
Tristan chased him.
Lily cut her mother's restraints.
Claire collapsed into her arms.
"Mom."
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay."
"No."
Claire gripped her.
"I should have told you everything."
"Tell me now."
Claire looked toward the open warehouse door.
"Your father is alive."
Lily closed her eyes.
"Where?"
May you like
Claire whispered:
"Montreal."
