Chapter 19 - The Empty Chair at the School Fundraiser
Friday night, Lily’s chair remained empty.
So did mine.
To anyone watching the school fundraiser from the ballroom at the Raleigh Grand Hotel, it appeared that I had finally become frightened enough to hide.
That was exactly what we wanted Peter Langford to believe.
At seven o’clock, parents in evening dresses and dark suits moved beneath chandeliers while a jazz trio played near the auction tables.
Detective Hale had officers positioned among the guests.
Two federal agents worked catering service.
The school’s security director had been informed quietly.
Nathan attended alone.
His instructions were simple.
Smile.
Talk.
Act normal.
And watch anyone who paid too much attention to Lily’s empty chair.
I watched the entire event from a secure room two floors above through six camera feeds.
Elias stood beside me.
David sat near a laptop.
Agent Rebecca Sloan from the FBI coordinated the operation.
“You’re sure Langford will come?” I asked.
“No,” Sloan said.
“Vanessa said Friday.”
“She also spent months helping him.”
“I know.”
Sloan looked at me.
“Do you trust her?”
“No.”
That answer came easily.
“But I believe she’s afraid of him.”
“Fear makes people truthful sometimes.”
“Sometimes.”
At 7:26, Nathan appeared on camera speaking with another parent.
At 7:41, Judith entered the ballroom.
That was not part of the plan.
I turned toward Sloan.
“What is she doing here?”
Sloan touched her earpiece.
“She’s authorized.”
“By whom?”
The door behind me opened.
Judith walked in.
I stared at her.
“What the hell?”
“I came through the service elevator.”
“You were supposed to stay with the children.”
“Your parents have them.”
“That’s not the point.”
“I know.”
She placed a folder on the table.
“Peter contacted me.”
Every person in the room went silent.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
She opened the folder.
Inside was a printed photograph.
It showed Judith entering my parents’ neighborhood the previous night.
“He knows where the children are,” she said.
My stomach dropped.
Sloan immediately started issuing orders.
Judith held up a hand.
“There’s more.”
She showed us the message.
BRING THE ORIGINAL TRUST AUTHORIZATION TO THE FUNDRAISER.
8:15.
COME ALONE.
“What authorization?” I asked.
Judith looked at Nathan on the camera screen.
“The Cross family trust owns a commercial property downtown.”
I waited.
“It’s worth approximately nine million dollars.”
“And Langford wants it?”
“No.”
“What does he want?”
“There is a subterranean utility easement beneath the property connecting three neighboring buildings.”
Elias understood before I did.
“Fiber infrastructure.”
Judith nodded.
“One of Halcyon’s data companies leases underground access.”
Sloan stepped forward.
“Are you saying Langford’s corporate servers run through infrastructure beneath Cross property?”
“Yes.”
Now I understood.
The laptop Vanessa stole could destroy him.
But perhaps the original data could destroy him even more completely.
“Can you access it?”
Judith shook her head.
“No. But I can revoke the easement.”
David let out a low whistle.
“That would force physical access to the servers.”
“And potentially preserve evidence before it is remotely destroyed,” Sloan said.
She looked at Judith.
“What exactly did he request?”
“The trust authorization giving me sole power over the property.”
“Bring him a copy.”
“He specifically asked for the original.”
Sloan’s expression hardened.
“Then we give him something that looks original.”
At 8:09 p.m., Judith entered the ballroom carrying a leather document case.
I remained upstairs.
Every instinct in my body hated it.
At 8:14, Nathan approached her.
She ignored him exactly as instructed.
At 8:16, a waiter placed a champagne glass beside Judith.
Then slipped a folded napkin under it.
Sloan zoomed the camera.
Judith opened the napkin.
SERVICE CORRIDOR B.
NOW.
“That’s him,” I said.
“No,” Sloan replied. “That’s someone working for him.”
Judith walked toward the corridor.
Two undercover agents followed at a distance.
The camera feed switched.
Judith entered a long hallway behind the ballroom.
At the far end stood a man in a hotel uniform.
He was young.
Maybe twenty-five.
He stepped forward.
“Mrs. Cross?”
“Yes.”
“The folder.”
“Where is Mr. Langford?”
“You don’t ask questions.”
Judith actually smiled.
“Young man, I have been asking inappropriate questions since before you were born.”
Even Sloan almost laughed.
The man reached for the case.
Judith pulled it back.
“Peter first.”
He touched his ear.
Listening.
Then said, “Garage level three.”
Sloan pointed at two agents.
“Move.”
Everything happened quickly.
Judith handed over the case.
The young man turned.
Agents intercepted him before he reached the stairwell.
He tried to run.
He made it six feet.
But Peter was not in garage level three.
It was another diversion.
At 8:23, the ballroom lights went out.
Screaming erupted.
The camera feeds vanished.
“Power failure!” David shouted.
Emergency lights came on seconds later.
Sloan was already on the radio.
“Lock exits!”
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Peter.
“You really should have brought Lily.”
My heart stopped.
“You’re finished.”
“No, Emily. You still misunderstand the game.”
“Federal agents have your courier.”
“A disposable employee.”
“They have Vanessa’s laptop.”
“Copies.”
“They have Richard’s records.”
“Richard was always temporary.”
I heard background noise.
Music.
Not from the fundraiser.
A child laughing.
My blood went cold.
“Where are you?”
“Closer than you think.”
Sloan motioned for the tracing team.
Peter continued.
“You know what your greatest weakness is?”
“I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“You believe people can change.”
His words landed strangely.
“You believed Nathan could change.”
Silence.
“You believed Judith could change.”
My breathing slowed.
“And tonight, you believed Vanessa.”
I looked at Sloan.
“What are you saying?”
Peter laughed softly.
“Ask yourself who knew exactly where your children would be moved.”
My stomach dropped.
Vanessa.
She knew about my parents.
Had she?
I could not remember telling her.
Nathan might have.
Judith might have.
Peter continued.
“People don’t become good because they become frightened, Emily.”
The line disconnected.
I immediately called my father.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
My mother.
No answer.
My fear became physical.
Sloan grabbed her radio.
“Units to the parents’ residence immediately.”
Nathan burst into the room.
“What happened?”
I could barely speak.
“The kids.”
His face drained.
We drove behind federal vehicles at a speed that made the city lights blur.
When we reached my parents’ street, police cars already filled the block.
I jumped out before the vehicle completely stopped.
My father stood on the porch.
I nearly collapsed.
“Dad!”
He hurried toward me.
“They’re okay.”
“Where?”
“Inside.”
I ran past him.
Lily and Owen were sitting on the living-room couch with my mother.
Safe.
Completely confused.
I dropped to my knees and pulled them against me.
For ten seconds, nothing else existed.
Then I saw the open back door.
“What happened?”
My father’s face darkened.
“Someone cut the power. Then tried the back door.”
“Did they get inside?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
A small voice answered behind me.
“Because Grandma hit him.”
I looked at my mother.
She was seventy years old.
Five-foot-four.
Wearing slippers.
She held up a cast-iron skillet.
“He picked the wrong kitchen.”
Even in terror, I laughed.
Then Hale walked in.
“We found blood outside. Whoever it was got away injured.”
“Langford?”
“Unknown.”
Lily tugged my sleeve.
“Mom.”
“Yes, baby?”
“There was a lady outside before the lights went off.”
Every adult in the room stopped.
“What lady?”
“She was across the street.”
“What did she look like?”
Lily thought.
“Blond hair.”
Vanessa was blond.
Nathan whispered, “No.”
Lily continued.
“She waved at me.”
My chest tightened.
“Did you recognize her?”
“Yes.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
I asked anyway.
“Who was it?”
“Aunt Vanessa.”
The room went silent.
For a moment, Peter’s words returned.
Tonight, you believed Vanessa.
Then Lily added:
“She pointed at the back door before the bad man came.”
Hale crouched.
“Did she point like she was telling him where to go?”
Lily shook her head.
“No.”
“Then why?”
“She kept doing this.”
Lily waved both arms urgently.
“Like she wanted Grandpa to look.”
My father stared at us.
“She was warning us.”
Exactly.
Vanessa had not betrayed us.
She had followed the attacker.
Hale’s phone rang.
He answered.
Thirty seconds later his face changed.
“What?”
He ended the call.
“They found Vanessa’s car.”
“Where?”
“Two blocks away.”
Nathan stepped forward.
“And Vanessa?”
Hale looked at him.
“Gone.”
May you like
There was blood on the driver’s seat.
And this time, there was enough of it that nobody told us not to worry.
