Chapter 6 - Adrian's Voice
I ran to the front hall.
The gate camera showed a man under a hood, standing in rain beside the intercom.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
"Adrian?"
He lifted his face.
It looked like him.
Same narrow jaw. Same dark eyes.
But Tessa caught my arm.
"Wait."
She zoomed the image.
The man kept his left hand in his pocket.
Adrian had broken two fingers on that hand during a climbing accident. He always held it slightly crooked.
This hand was straight.
"That's not him," I whispered.
The man looked directly into the camera.
"Mara, I found the ledger. Open the gate."
Dad moved beside me.
"What ledger?"
I shook my head.
I had never heard Adrian use that word.
Tessa activated the exterior speaker.
"Step back from the gate and show both hands."
The man smiled.
Then the feed went black.
A crash sounded outside.
Security lights died along the east drive.
Tessa drew her phone and ordered every guard to interior positions.
The estate generator kicked on twelve seconds later.
The man was gone.
But something had been left on the ground.
A small digital recorder.
Tessa retrieved it after the perimeter was cleared.
There was one file.
Adrian's real voice filled the library.
"Mara, if you're hearing this, Daniel knows about Reed. Your father knows more than he's told you. But Daniel is not the top of this. Follow Dock Six. And whatever Elliot says, ask him about Rose's letter."
My mother's name hit me like a fist.
Rose Whitmore had been dead for seven years.
I turned to my father.
"What letter?"
He looked older than he had an hour earlier.
"Mara..."
"What letter?"
Before he could answer, Renee's phone rang.
She listened, then swore.
"The judge granted Daniel an emergency hearing at nine in the morning."
If I lost, Daniel could temporarily freeze my voting rights, control my access to Whitmore accounts, and decide which doctors were allowed to evaluate me.
I looked at the clock.
May you like
We had eight hours.
And somewhere in Chicago, Adrian Vale was still missing.
