Nobody moved.
Graham Voss stood just inside Richard Sterling’s library with his pistol angled toward Victor’s chest. He was older than the photograph from the vault, heavier through the shoulders, his hair almost entirely gray, but his face carried the same calm expression. That disturbed me more than anger would have. He looked like a man arriving for an appointment.
Victor had shifted half a step in front of Luna. Samira was somewhere outside the house. Derek stood near Richard’s desk. Eleanor remained beside the concealed safe-room entrance. Thomas was closest to me.
Voss looked at him.
“Twenty-two years.”
Thomas said nothing.
“I always wondered what you would look like when you finally got tired of running.”
Thomas’s voice was quiet. “Disappointed?”
“Older.”
“That happens when someone spends half his life looking over his shoulder.”
Voss smiled.
“You chose that life.”
“No. You did.”
The smile disappeared.
Luna stepped forward before Victor could stop her.
“You attacked Naomi.”
Voss glanced at her.
“Your assistant was unfortunate.”
“She has a concussion.”
“She should have handed over the badge.”
“She didn’t know anything.”
“That was difficult to establish while she was resisting.”
Luna’s face changed.
I caught her arm.
Not because she needed controlling.
Because I knew that expression now.
She was about to do something dangerous simply because fear had become anger.
Voss noticed my hand.
“So that’s Adam.”
I felt Thomas stiffen beside me.
Voss looked me over with clinical interest.
“You were much smaller the last time I saw you.”
My stomach dropped.
“When?”
“Your ninth birthday.”
Thomas stepped between us.
“Don’t.”
Voss’s eyes remained on me.
“You had a bicycle with red handlebars.”
I remembered it.
Dad had taught me to ride it two weeks earlier.
“What were you doing there?”
“Watching your father.”
Thomas said, “Enough.”
“Does he know?”
“Know what?”
I looked at my father.
His face told me there was another truth coming.
I was beginning to hate that expression.
“What?”
Thomas kept his eyes on Voss.
“Not now.”
Voss chuckled.
“You had twenty-two years.”
“Shut up.”
“Twenty-two birthdays. Twenty-two Christmases. Graduation. College. First job.”
Thomas moved.
The pistol rose.
Victor said sharply, “Thomas.”
My father stopped.
Voss smiled again.
“That temper nearly got you killed the first time.”
Derek spoke from behind Richard’s desk.
“What do you want?”
Voss turned.
“There’s Richard’s son.”
Derek’s jaw tightened.
“You worked for me.”
“No. You paid me.”
“What’s the distinction?”
“You thought that meant you controlled me.”
Voss’s eyes moved toward Luna.
“Your father made the same mistake.”
Luna said, “Where are the original files?”
“Safe.”
“You removed them from this room.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
That interested him.
“You still haven’t worked it out?”
“The room requires three biometric credentials.”
“Richard liked theater.”
“Answer her,” Victor said.
Voss pointed the gun at him more directly.
“You’re the employee in this room with the least reason to die. Don’t volunteer.”
Victor did not move.
Voss looked back at Luna.
“The biometric system was added after the room already existed. Your father needed a way to enter during construction.”
“A mechanical override.”
“Good.”
“Where?”
Voss nodded toward Thomas.
“Ask him.”
Everyone looked at my father.
Thomas closed his eyes.
“You knew?”
Luna asked.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because Richard told me never to use it unless one of the three designated people was dead.”
“Richard is dead.”
“The designated people are you, me, and Eleanor.”
Luna’s anger sharpened.
“So Voss knew about the override.”
Thomas looked at him.
“He shouldn’t have.”
Voss shrugged.
“Richard kept too many notes.”
“You stole them the night he died.”
There was no question in Thomas’s voice.
Voss’s expression barely changed.
But that was enough.
Luna saw it.
“So you were searching the house while my father was dying.”
Voss said nothing.
Derek’s face drained.
“You were in his study.”
Voss looked toward him.
“You invited me.”
“I invited you to talk to him.”
“And we talked.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing your conscience can outsource to me.”
Derek stepped around the desk.
Victor immediately said, “Stay where you are.”
Derek ignored him.
“My father collapsed fifteen minutes after you spoke to him.”
“Your father had severe coronary disease.”
“Did you touch his medication?”
“No.”
“Did you give him anything?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
Voss looked almost bored.
“He became angry.”
“At what?”
“The truth.”
“What truth?”
“That Sterling existed because men like Richard were willing to do ugly things and call them necessary.”
Luna’s voice was cold.
“That is not an answer.”
“It is the only one you need.”
Thomas spoke.
“He threatened Richard.”
Voss looked at him.
“You weren’t there.”
“I knew Richard.”
“You knew the version of Richard that needed forgiveness.”
Thomas took one careful step forward.
“You told him you still had copies.”
Voss’s eyes narrowed.
There.
Thomas had guessed correctly.
“You told him if he exposed you, everything would come out. The surveillance. The bribes. The client information. The politicians. The shell accounts.”
Derek stared at Voss.
“What shell accounts?”
Voss ignored him.
Thomas continued.
“And Richard told you he didn’t care anymore.”
For the first time, Voss looked genuinely irritated.
“You have always been too confident in your imagination.”
“No.”
Thomas reached slowly toward his jacket.
The pistol snapped toward him.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Thomas stopped.
“I have his recording.”
Luna looked at him.
“What recording?”
“Richard called me that night.”
The room changed.
Even Voss looked surprised.
Thomas met Luna’s eyes.
“After Derek arrived.”
“You spoke to my father the night he died?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because I didn’t have the whole recording until recently.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It was routed through a dead-drop service. Richard knew his phone might be searched.”
Voss’s calm finally cracked.
“Where is it?”
Thomas looked at him.
“Safe.”
The same word Voss had used.
I understood what my father was doing.
Buying time.
Voss did too.
“You’re lying.”
“Am I?”
“You came here for the originals.”
“I came here because Richard’s recording told me what you took.”
“What?”
Thomas smiled without humor.
“Now you’re asking questions.”
A faint noise came from outside.
A car door.
Voss heard it.
So did Victor.
Samira.
Voss stepped farther into the room.
“Everyone inside the safe room.”
Nobody moved.
“Now.”
Victor said, “That room has one exit.”
“That’s the point.”
Luna looked at him.
“You intend to lock us inside.”
“I intend to leave.”
“With the files.”
“With what belongs to me.”
Thomas laughed.
“Those files are evidence of crimes.”
“Those files are insurance.”
“Against whom?”
“Everyone.”
Voss motioned with the pistol.
“Inside.”
Victor moved first, slowly.
Luna followed.
Eleanor.
Derek.
I remained beside Thomas.
Voss looked at us.
“Adam.”
Thomas whispered, “Do what he says.”
I looked at my father.
“Not without you.”
Something moved across his face.
Pain.
Pride.
Regret.
“You always were stubborn.”
“So I’ve been told.”
We entered together.
The safe room was larger than it had seemed initially, perhaps twelve feet deep, lined with shelves and fireproof cabinets.
Voss stayed at the threshold.
“Phones.”
Nobody moved.
“Put them on the floor.”
One by one, we did.
Victor’s first.
Luna’s.
Derek’s.
Mine.
Eleanor’s.
Thomas removed an old flip phone.
Voss stared.
“You’re still using those?”
“They’re harder to make interesting.”
“Drop it.”
Thomas did.
Voss looked at Victor.
“Weapon.”
Victor slowly removed his pistol and placed it beside the phones.
Voss kicked everything toward the library.
Then he looked at Thomas.
“You’re carrying another.”
Thomas smiled.
“Twenty-two years and you still remember.”
“Left ankle.”
Thomas removed a compact pistol.
He placed it down.
Voss’s attention stayed on him.
That was when Victor moved.
Not toward Voss.
Toward the steel door.
He slammed his palm against the interior release.
The door began closing.
Voss fired.
The sound inside the enclosed space was enormous.
Luna screamed.
I grabbed her.
Victor fell backward.
The steel door closed between us and Voss.
Darkness.
For one second, nobody breathed.
Then emergency lights came on.
“Victor.”
Luna dropped beside him.
Blood spread across his upper arm.
“Shoulder,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Is it—”
“Through-and-through, I think.”
Thomas was already kneeling.
He tore fabric from a stored emergency blanket package and pressed it against the wound.
Derek stood near the door.
“Can he open it from outside?”
Thomas shook his head.
“Not without the override.”
“He has the override.”
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
Thomas reached into his shirt.
A thin steel piece hung on a chain around his neck.
“The mechanical key.”
Luna stared.
“Then how did he get inside earlier?”
“He had a copy.”
“A copy?”
“Enough to open the hidden outer panel. Not enough to override the lockdown.”
A pounding sounded from the other side.
Voss.
Then silence.
Eleanor whispered, “He left.”
Victor was pale but conscious.
“We need to get out.”
Thomas looked toward the ceiling.
“There’s ventilation.”
“That doesn’t help.”
“No. But there should be emergency communications.”
Luna searched the wall.
I helped.
Behind a small panel we found an old telephone handset.
Dead.
Derek laughed bitterly.
“Perfect.”
Thomas looked at the shelves.
“Richard would have planned redundancy.”
Luna said, “You give him a lot of credit.”
“I watched him become paranoid for twenty years.”
“That is not comforting.”
“It kept this room secret.”
“And trapped us inside it.”
“Temporary flaw.”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
We searched.
Behind a cabinet, Derek found a maintenance panel.
Inside was a radio transmitter.
Victor gave instructions while Thomas activated it.
Static.
Then Samira’s voice.
“Victor?”
Luna nearly collapsed with relief.
Victor answered.
“Safe room. One gunshot wound. Suspect leaving or moving through house.”
“Copy.”
“Do not pursue alone.”
A pause.
“Too late.”
Victor swore.
“What?”
“Vehicle leaving east service road.”
“Description?”
“Black SUV.”
Voss.
Samira had seen him escape.
She called emergency services and secured the house.
We still needed to get out.
Thomas used the mechanical key from inside the maintenance panel.
The door released.
When we emerged, the library was empty.
Our phones remained scattered across the floor.
Victor’s gun was gone.
So were Thomas’s.
Voss had taken both.
Samira entered moments later.
She treated Victor until paramedics arrived.
Luna stayed beside him.
I watched Thomas.
He was staring at the safe-room shelves.
“What?”
He looked at me.
“Voss came here for the originals.”
“They were already gone.”
“Yes.”
“So?”
“He expected them to be here.”
I understood.
“If Voss didn’t remove them…”
Thomas nodded.
“Someone else did.”
Luna heard.
“Who?”
Thomas looked toward Eleanor.
Not accusingly.
Thinking.
“The room requires three people or the mechanical key.”
“You had the key,” Eleanor said.
“Yes.”
“Richard had one?”
“Yes.”
“Where is his?”
Thomas looked toward the library.
“Buried with him.”
Silence.
Derek’s face changed.
“No.”
Luna turned.
“What?”
He stared at the floor.
“Dad wasn’t buried wearing the clothes from the funeral.”
Eleanor frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
“The suit.”
Derek swallowed.
“I changed it.”
Luna stared.
“Why?”
“There was something in the pocket.”
“What?”
“A key.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“Derek.”
“I didn’t know what it opened.”
“What did you do with it?”
“I kept it.”
Luna stepped toward him.
“For three years?”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
Derek looked at her.
“My office safe.”
Naomi’s badge.
The archive key.
The planted evidence.
Someone had been inside Derek’s office.
Luna whispered, “Voss found Richard’s key.”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because if Voss had it, he wouldn’t have needed me to reveal the override.”
“Then who took it?”
Derek’s face went pale.
“My assistant.”
“What?”
“She knows my safe combination.”
Victor, being loaded onto the stretcher, looked over.
“Name.”
Derek hesitated.
“Celeste.”
His fiancée.
Luna stared.
“Celeste has access to your office safe?”
“She handles some personal documents.”
Thomas asked, “How long has she known Voss?”
Derek looked at him.
“She doesn’t.”
Thomas’s expression told us exactly what he thought of that answer.
Derek took out his phone.
Three missed calls.
All from Celeste.
One voicemail.
He played it.
Her voice filled the library.
“Derek, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what he was going to do. I thought he only wanted the files. Please don’t come home. He knows about the second archive.”
The message ended.
Thomas’s face changed.
“What second archive?”
Luna looked at him.
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
Then Eleanor whispered, “I do.”
Everyone turned.
She looked toward Richard’s portrait.
“Not an archive.”
“What then?”
“A copy.”
“Where?”
Eleanor looked at Luna.
“Your father gave it to me the week before he died.”
Luna stared.
“And where is it?”
Eleanor’s eyes filled with dread.
“In the one place nobody in this family ever searches.”
“Where?”
“Your childhood home.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 14: The House Luna Had Avoided Since Childhood Contained Richard’s Final Evidence—and Proof That Celeste Had Been Working With Voss for Years
The Morning My Boss Closed Her Office Door, Opened a File About My Life, and Made an Impossible Offer
Part 13 of 26
