Chapter 11 - THE PRICE OF SILENCE
Claire felt her blood turn cold.
“Eleanor?”
Armand laughed softly through the phone.
“My granddaughter has always been too curious.”
Claire seized the phone.
“If you hurt her—”
“Then you'll understand what happens when people refuse to listen.”
“Where is she?”
“Somewhere safe. For now.”
Rebecca stepped closer.
“Armand, please. She's your granddaughter.”
“Then tell your friends to stop interfering in family business.”
The line went dead.
Natalie stared at Claire.
“What are we going to do?”
Claire's hands shook.
She wanted to drive directly to the estate.
She wanted to confront Armand face-to-face.
But Daniel stopped her.
“That's what he wants.”
“He has Eleanor.”
“And going alone gives him another victim.”
Claire began pacing.
“We can't leave her there.”
“We won't.”
Daniel contacted Reed.
The federal investigator listened carefully.
Then he instructed them to preserve the call information and remain in a secure location.
Claire hated every moment of waiting for authorities to coordinate a response.
But she understood that reckless action could cost Eleanor her life.
An hour later, Reed arrived with two other investigators.
He had reviewed the evidence collected so far.
And now Armand's threat had created an immediate danger.
“Do you know where Eleanor was last seen?” Reed asked.
“At the estate,” Claire answered. “She was staying with Victoria.”
Reed contacted local authorities outside the original sheriff's chain of command.
Meanwhile, Daniel checked Eleanor's latest messages.
Her last text had arrived at 6:42 p.m.
Grandmother says the chapel records aren't the only thing Armand hid.
Claire stared at the message.
“Maybe Eleanor found something.”
Reed asked Claire to explain the chapel.
She described the basement, the tunnel, and the recently replaced lock.
Then Rebecca spoke.
“There's another room.”
Everyone turned.
She looked ashamed.
“When I was held beneath the chapel, I heard machinery at night. One day I found a narrow opening behind a storage cabinet. It led to a second underground room.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“What was inside?”
“Boxes of documents. Filing cabinets. A safe.”
Claire felt hope rise.
“The second ledger?”
“Maybe.”
Rebecca hesitated.
“But I saw something else.”
“What?”
“Photographs. Men with politicians. Police officers. Business owners. Some were receiving envelopes of money.”
Reed's expression hardened.
“That could help explain the decades-long protection.”
Claire looked at him.
“Can you get Eleanor out?”
“We're working on it.”
Hours passed.
Then Claire's phone rang.
Victoria.
Claire answered immediately.
“Where's Eleanor?”
Victoria was crying.
“Armand locked her in the old guesthouse.”
Claire stood.
“Is she hurt?”
“I don't think so.”
“Why did he take her?”
“Because she found the original accident photographs.”
Claire felt cold.
“What photographs?”
“Ones taken before the official investigation began.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Did they show my father alive?”
Victoria began sobbing.
“Yes.”
Claire held the phone tightly.
“And they showed the man who put him back inside the car.”
“Who?”
Victoria hesitated.
Then whispered:
“Samuel Whitmore.”
Natalie looked up sharply.
Her adoptive father.
The man who had raised her.
The man who had helped steal her from Rebecca.
Claire told Reed.
He immediately instructed his team to preserve the information and assess the guesthouse.
Victoria remained on the line.
“Claire, there's something else.”
Claire's throat tightened.
“What?”
“Your father called me after the crash, but that wasn't the last time I heard his voice.”
Claire froze.
“What are you saying?”
Victoria struggled to speak.
“Armand brought him back to the estate.”
Claire stared.
“That isn't possible.”
“He was badly injured. Samuel treated him in the basement.”
Claire felt the room spinning.
“Why?”
“They wanted him to tell them where he'd hidden the documents.”
Rebecca covered her mouth.
Victoria continued.
“Julien refused.”
Claire could barely breathe.
“How long was he alive?”
Victoria began sobbing.
“Until the next morning.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Her father had not died in a roadside accident.
He had survived.
He had been taken back to the estate.
And someone had kept him alive long enough to interrogate him.
Claire whispered:
“Who killed him?”
Victoria's answer was almost inaudible.
“I don't know whether he was murdered directly or died from the injuries they refused to treat properly. But I know Armand ordered Samuel to falsify the time of death.”
Claire looked at Reed.
He was already making notes.
“Victoria,” Claire said, “can you testify?”
“Yes.”
“Even against your husband?”
A long pause.
Then Victoria answered:
“I should have done it twenty-three years ago.”
Suddenly, a crashing sound came through the phone.
Victoria gasped.
A man's voice shouted:
“Who are you talking to?”
Armand.
Then the call disconnected.
Claire stared at the screen.
Reed immediately gave instructions to his team.
Within minutes, officers were moving toward the estate.
Claire stood beside the window.
She had waited her entire life for the truth.
Now the truth was finally emerging.
And everyone who had protected it seemed prepared to destroy one another.
Then her phone vibrated again.
A photograph appeared.
Eleanor sat tied to a chair in a dimly lit room.
Beside her stood Armand Beaumont.
May you like
Underneath was a message.
“Bring me Rebecca Hale, or my granddaughter dies at midnight.”
