Chapter 6 - THE MAN ETHAN TRUSTED MOST
Nolan Graves did not run.
That bothered me more than if he had.
A guilty man trapped in a room with a detective, a billionaire he might have betrayed, and evidence connecting his former employee to an attempted murder should have looked nervous.
Nolan looked irritated.
He folded his arms.
“Daniel Voss worked for my department for four years. He was terminated after failing a narcotics screening.”
Adrian leaned against the doorframe.
“You left out the part where he continued receiving payments from Harrow Logistics.”
Nolan’s eyes narrowed.
“According to what?”
“The payroll Ethan asked me to pull yesterday.”
“Show me.”
Adrian smiled.
“Ask nicely.”
“Gentlemen,” Detective Singh said, “if either of you turns this into a family reunion, I start separating people into interview rooms.”
I almost volunteered Nolan for the smallest one.
Caroline sat silently at the table, one hand resting near Lucian’s flash drive.
On the tablet, Ethan looked exhausted.
His skin had taken on the gray cast that tells physicians a patient has exceeded whatever reserve pride insisted he possessed.
“You’re done,” I told him.
“No.”
“That wasn’t a question.”
“Claire.”
“You had major surgery five hours ago.”
“And my head of security may have hired the man who tried to kill me.”
“Your liver doesn’t care.”
His eyes hardened.
Neither did mine.
Finally he said, “Ten minutes.”
“Five.”
“Eight.”
“Six.”
Adrian looked between us.
“This is oddly reassuring.”
I pointed at him.
“You can be removed too.”
He raised both hands.
“Doctor’s orders.”
Detective Singh took the flash drive from Caroline using a pair of evidence gloves.
“We’ll make a forensic copy. Nobody touches the original after this.”
Nolan said, “Lucian’s private books contained sensitive operational information.”
Singh looked at him.
“So did Al Capone’s tax returns.”
“Are you comparing Blackwood Holdings to organized crime?”
“I’m comparing paperwork to paperwork.”
I liked her more every minute.
Nolan’s phone buzzed again.
This time he ignored it.
That was when Ethan spoke.
“Nolan, did you send me the file about Claire six years ago?”
The room changed.
Nolan looked at the tablet.
“No.”
“Did my father ask you to?”
“No.”
“Did you know my mother fabricated the paternity report?”
“No.”
Caroline watched him carefully.
“Did you know Claire was pregnant?” Ethan asked.
Nolan paused.
One second.
Maybe two.
Too long.
“I heard rumors.”
Ethan went completely still.
“What rumors?”
“Your father’s staff talked.”
“You told me you knew nothing.”
“I knew nothing confirmed.”
“There is a difference between nothing and rumors.”
“Yes.”
“And you decided that difference didn’t matter?”
“At the time, you were in London trying to keep three shipping lines from collapsing while Lucian was threatening to disinherit you. I had no verified information.”
Ethan stared through the screen.
“I trusted you.”
Nolan’s expression shifted.
For the first time, something human appeared.
“I know.”
The words hurt Ethan more than denial would have.
A nurse entered the conference room.
“Dr. Callahan, Mr. Blackwood’s heart rate is climbing.”
“I can see that.”
I pointed at the tablet.
“Conversation over.”
Ethan started to object.
I disconnected the call.
Adrian laughed once.
Caroline looked almost impressed.
I did not care.
“My daughter,” I said. “That is the only subject I’m interested in now.”
Detective Singh nodded.
“The safest assumption is that someone believes Mia matters to the Blackwood succession structure.”
“Someone redirected her into the ICU,” I said. “Why?”
“To confirm resemblance,” Adrian replied.
I turned toward him.
He continued.
“A photograph creates suspicion. Seeing Ethan react to her creates certainty.”
A cold weight settled into my stomach.
“That man with the red tie wanted Ethan to see her.”
“Or wanted someone watching security cameras to see Ethan see her.”
I looked toward Nolan.
He did not react.
Singh did.
“Get me every camera feed from this floor.”
Nolan’s deputy, a younger man named Marcus Reed, was standing just outside. He nodded and moved away.
Nolan said, “You’re assuming an enormous conspiracy based on a child walking down the wrong hallway.”
“I’m assuming somebody photographed that child three days ago, wrote CONFIRM THE CHILD FIRST, shot Ethan Blackwood, and then sent a former member of your security team into his ICU with a lethal syringe.” Singh’s voice stayed calm. “I’m comfortable being suspicious.”
Caroline looked at Nolan.
“How long did Daniel Voss work directly under you?”
“Two years.”
“And after you fired him?”
“I never spoke to him again.”
Adrian held up his phone.
“Harrow paid him last Thursday.”
Nolan’s gaze turned sharp.
“Then someone used company accounts.”
“Someone with access.”
“Yes.”
“Like you.”
“Like you.”
Adrian’s smile vanished.
For a second I saw what Blackwood family meetings probably looked like when lawyers were not present.
Then my phone rang.
Kate.
I answered.
“Everything okay?”
“No,” she whispered.
My entire body tightened.
“What happened?”
“There’s a woman here.”
“Where?”
“In the family room with us.”
“How did she get in?”
“She says she’s Ethan’s aunt.”
I looked at Caroline.
“Does Ethan have an aunt?”
Her face changed.
“One living. Grace.”
“What does she look like?”
“Red hair. Sixty-two. Lives in Boston.”
I repeated it quietly to Kate.
Kate whispered, “This woman has black hair.”
I was already moving.
“Take Mia into the bathroom. Lock the door.”
“What do I say?”
“Nothing. Go now.”
Detective Singh followed me into the hall.
Nolan reached for his radio.
“No,” I snapped.
He looked at me.
“I don’t know who on your team I trust.”
His face hardened.
“Fine.”
Singh spoke into her own radio as we ran toward the consultation room.
Two uniformed officers approached from the opposite corridor.
The door stood open.
Inside, a woman sat in a chair wearing a black wool dress and pearls.
She was perhaps fifty.
Elegant.
Calm.
Alone.
The bathroom door was closed.
I stopped in the doorway.
“Who are you?”
The woman smiled.
“Dr. Callahan.”
Again.
Someone knowing my name had become a threat all by itself.
“Answer me.”
“My name is Dana Holt.”
Caroline arrived behind us and inhaled sharply.
“You.”
Dana’s smile faded.
“Hello, Caroline.”
Detective Singh moved one hand near her holster.
“You know her?”
Caroline nodded.
“She was Lucian’s attorney.”
The room went quiet.
Dana looked toward the bathroom door.
“I didn’t come to hurt the child.”
I stepped between her and the door.
“Then you chose a terrible way to introduce yourself.”
“I came because everyone in this building is looking in the wrong direction.”
Nolan appeared behind Caroline.
When Dana saw him, fear crossed her face.
Real fear.
Nolan noticed.
So did I.
Dana stood.
Detective Singh said, “Stay seated.”
Dana obeyed.
Then she reached slowly into her handbag.
Three officers moved.
“Phone,” Dana said quickly. “Only my phone.”
Singh took it from her and placed it on the table.
“What do you want to show us?”
Dana gave a passcode.
Singh entered it.
A photograph filled the screen.
I could not see it from where I stood.
Then Singh’s expression changed.
She handed the phone to Caroline.
Caroline went pale.
“What?” I demanded.
She gave me the phone.
The photograph was old.
Six years old, judging by the coat I wore.
I was visibly pregnant, walking out of a grocery store with Michael beside me.
Across the bottom was a security timestamp.
And in the corner, a Blackwood Security watermark.
My stomach turned.
“Where did you get this?”
Dana looked at Nolan.
“Lucian asked me to destroy his surveillance archive after he accepted Caroline’s false paternity report.”
“You didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Lucian Blackwood never asked anyone to destroy something unless it could hurt him.”
Nolan’s voice dropped.
“Careful, Dana.”
She looked at him.
“That used to work on me.”
Detective Singh stepped between them.
“What are you saying?”
Dana’s hands trembled now.
“I’m saying Lucian stopped monitoring Claire.”
She pointed at the photograph.
“But Blackwood Security didn’t.”
I looked at Nolan.
He said nothing.
Dana continued.
“I found surveillance invoices every year after Lucian ordered the file closed. Different shell vendors. Same authorization initials.”
“Whose?” Singh asked.
Dana’s eyes stayed on Nolan.
“N.G.”
The air left the room.
Nolan gave a small, incredulous laugh.
“Anyone can type initials on an invoice.”
Dana nodded.
“That’s why I brought the recordings.”
Caroline looked at her sharply.
“What recordings?”
“Lucian recorded people in his office.”
“Everyone knew that.”
“Not all the devices were removed after his death.”
She looked at Nolan again.
“I found one.”
Nolan’s face finally changed.
Not much.
But enough.
Dana leaned toward Detective Singh.
“Three weeks before Lucian died, he argued with Nolan about Ethan.”
“What did they say?”
Dana swallowed.
“Lucian told him the boy was getting too close to the Harrow accounts.”
“Ethan?”
“Yes.”
“And Nolan?”
Dana’s eyes filled with fear.
“Nolan said, ‘Then we remind Ethan why obedience matters.’”
I looked toward the bathroom door where my daughter was hiding.
Six years collapsed into one sentence.
The false report.
The surveillance.
The shooting.
The photograph.
The man with the syringe.
Nolan stepped backward.
Detective Singh noticed.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
Then every light in the hallway went out.
The hospital dropped into darkness.
Emergency power should have activated immediately.
It didn’t.
For three terrible seconds, there was only blackness.
Then I heard glass break.
A woman screamed.
May you like
And from inside the bathroom, Mia yelled one word.
“Mommy!”
