Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN IN GOLD KNOWS TOO MUCH
Mara called Julian immediately.
The call failed.
She tried again.
Nothing.
Daniel entered the library when Evelyn waved him in.
Mara handed him the phone.
"Find Peter."
Daniel studied the photographs.
"We need to involve law enforcement."
"Do it."
Evelyn looked toward the closed doors.
"Quietly."
Mara turned on her.
"My uncle is being held somewhere."
"And if Victor has people inside the police department, a loud call tells him exactly what we know."
Mara hated that her mother was probably right.
Daniel enlarged the second photograph.
The car stood in front of a concrete wall marked with a faded blue number.
19.
A yellow industrial railing ran behind Bianca.
"Looks like a parking structure."
Mara stared at Bianca's red clutch.
She remembered the lobby.
Grant had panicked when he saw the satellite phone.
Bianca had looked at the clutch.
"She keeps something in that bag."
Daniel looked at her.
"What?"
"I don't know."
"That's not much to work with."
"Then find out where she bought it."
Daniel blinked.
"Mara."
"It is custom."
She could see it now in memory.
The red leather had a small metal emblem near the clasp, not a fashion logo but a discreet triangular mark.
"Bianca doesn't carry anything ordinary."
Daniel made a call.
Within twelve minutes, the family office research team identified the clutch as a limited bespoke design sold through a private atelier in Milan.
Only twenty had been produced.
That information did not help.
Then Daniel's analyst noticed the clasp.
It had been modified.
The atelier's original bag used a flat gold rectangle.
Bianca's bag had a thicker red-and-gold module with a recessed light.
"Encrypted key case."
Daniel enlarged the lobby security footage.
"Or a hardware wallet."
Mara thought of Grant's words.
Bianca has copies of documents that can put your family under federal investigation.
"She is carrying the evidence with her."
Evelyn's phone rang.
She answered, listened, and passed it to Mara without speaking.
Grant's voice came through.
"You saw Julian's message."
Mara's grip tightened.
"Where is Peter?"
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe Bianca kidnapped my uncle without telling you?"
"Bianca doesn't tell me anything she thinks I can use against her."
"Yet you slept with her for nine months."
"I never said I was proud of it."
"You never said you were sorry either."
Grant went quiet.
Mara almost ended the call.
Then he spoke.
"Bianca has the red clutch, doesn't she?"
Mara's eyes lifted to Daniel.
"Why?"
"Because if she does, Peter is still alive."
"Explain."
"The clutch contains a biometric key tied to Victor's continuity vault."
"How do you know?"
"I helped her test it."
Mara closed her eyes for half a second.
Every answer from Grant contained a new betrayal.
"What does the vault contain?"
"Original reimbursement records, private board agreements, and the unedited Northstar ledger."
Daniel moved closer.
"Ask him where the vault is."
Mara did.
Grant hesitated.
"Under the Halcyon."
Mara stared at the phone.
"The hotel?"
"The original building had a bank vault before the tower was redeveloped."
Daniel looked at Evelyn.
"Charles sealed it during construction."
Evelyn's expression changed.
"I thought it was empty."
Grant continued.
"Victor has been using it for years."
"Why would my father allow that?"
"I don't think he knew."
Mara paced across the library.
"How does Peter connect to the clutch?"
"Victor's biometric key requires a second living trustee confirmation for the deepest archive."
"Peter."
"Yes."
"So Bianca needs Peter alive to open it."
"Exactly."
Daniel pointed toward the phone.
"Ask Grant why he filed for custody."
Mara did not need reminding.
"Why does Bianca care about Ellie?"
Grant became silent again.
"Answer me."
"Because Ellie is named in a sealed trust addendum."
Mara's heart began pounding.
"What addendum?"
"I only saw a reference code."
"Where?"
"In your father's office after the funeral."
"You searched his office too?"
"Yes."
"You keep saying things like confession is the same as honesty."
Grant exhaled.
"The addendum is called Bluebird."
Mara looked upstairs instinctively.
Ellie had been wearing sapphire blue when Grant saw her in the lobby.
The emptied nursery had contained a folded blue sweater.
"Why Bluebird?"
"I don't know."
Mara did not believe him.
"What does it do?"
"Victor thinks it changes control of the voting trust if something happens to you."
"If I die?"
"Or if you're declared incapable."
The room went silent.
Mara felt suddenly sick.
The incapacity filing was no longer merely a way to stop her from freezing accounts.
It might be the key to a trust Grant and Bianca believed they could reach through Ellie.
"Did you know this before Dr. Harrow evaluated me?"
Grant said nothing.
Mara's voice became very quiet.
"Did you know?"
"Yes."
The single word burned through whatever remained of her marriage.
"You sent me to him."
"I thought I could control the report."
"You sent your wife to a corrupt doctor so you could test whether she could be declared incompetent."
"Victor was already asking questions."
"So you helped him answer them."
"I thought if I knew the process, I could stop it."
Mara laughed once.
"You really do think every betrayal becomes noble if you say you were investigating it."
"Mara."
"Where is Bianca now?"
Grant did not answer.
"If you want to protect Ellie, tell me."
"She has a private suite at the Halcyon."
"Room?"
"Sixty-one twelve."
Mara ended the call.
Daniel shook his head.
"You are not going to her room."
"No."
Mara picked up her black handbag.
"I'm going to invite her downstairs."
Forty minutes later, Bianca entered the Halcyon's private lounge wearing a cream coat over the same gold dress.
The red clutch rested under her arm.
Mara sat alone at a corner table.
At least, Bianca believed she was alone.
Daniel's security team occupied three nearby positions dressed as hotel staff.
Bianca sat without waiting to be asked.
"That phone made quite an impression yesterday."
Mara folded her hands.
"So did your kidnapping photograph."
Bianca's smile paused.
Only once.
Then it returned.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Peter Kingsley."
"Your uncle?"
"The man you were photographed standing beside while he was restrained in a car."
Bianca took out her phone.
"You should be careful with accusations."
"You should be careful with red handbags."
Bianca's fingers stopped.
Mara saw it.
"Grant talks too much."
"Grant talks when he's afraid."
"Grant is always afraid."
Bianca leaned back.
"That is why men like him are useful."
Mara felt the contempt in the sentence.
"Useful for what?"
"Opening doors."
"My father's doors?"
"Your father's systems were old."
"Old systems lasted because arrogant people assumed they understood them."
Bianca smiled.
"You sound like him."
Mara's pulse changed.
"You knew my father?"
Bianca's eyes sharpened.
She had said too much.
"Everyone knew Charles Kingsley."
"That's not what I asked."
Bianca stood.
"This was boring."
Mara remained seated.
"Peter is alive because you still need his biometrics."
Bianca's face lost color.
There it was.
Mara had not been certain until that moment.
"Sit down."
Bianca looked toward the lounge entrance.
One of the disguised security officers moved casually into her path.
"You cannot hold me here."
"I'm not."
Mara nodded toward the clutch.
"But if you walk out, federal agents are going to be very interested in the encrypted device you're carrying."
Bianca stared at her.
Then she laughed.
"You think Grant gave you the whole story."
"I think he gave me enough."
"No."
Bianca leaned across the table.
"He gave you the version where he is weak instead of evil."
Mara's stomach tightened.
"What did he leave out?"
Bianca's smile returned, but there was no mockery in it now.
There was cruelty.
"Ask him who paid Dr. Harrow the first time."
"Victor?"
"No."
Bianca picked up her clutch.
"Ask him what he did with the original Bluebird addendum."
Mara stared at her.
"He said he never saw it."
"Grant lies best when the truth is almost identical."
Bianca stepped around the table.
Mara stood.
"Where is my uncle?"
Bianca stopped beside her.
"Peter isn't the person you should be trying to find."
"Who is?"
Bianca's eyes moved to the gold crest visible inside Mara's partly open handbag.
"The person who gave your husband your father's phone before the funeral."
Then she walked away.
Mara remained still.
May you like
Grant had told her he gave her the phone.
But he had never said where he got it.
