Chapter 14 - The Last TestI knew Celeste wanted the evidence.
But I also knew something she didn't.
The police had already copied the microfilm.
The files were stored in multiple locations.
Giving her the evidence wouldn't stop anything.
It would only expose someone else.
So I lied.
“I'll give it to you.”
Harris looked at me.
He understood.
Celeste did not.
She ordered us outside.
She took my mother with her.
The police followed at a distance.
Emma's location signal was hidden inside the stuffed rabbit.
That was the only reason we still had a chance.
Celeste drove toward the abandoned Vale estate.
An old mansion on the edge of town.
I had seen it once in a newspaper.
It was supposed to have burned down years ago.
It hadn't.
It was simply abandoned.
Inside, the air smelled of dust and gasoline.
Emma sat in a chair.
Her wrists weren't tied.
That worried me more.
Children weren't left untied in kidnappings unless someone believed escape was impossible.
Celeste walked behind her.
“You brought it?”
I held up the capsule.
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“Put it on the table.”
I did.
“Open it.”
I opened the capsule.
“Where is the recording?”
“I don't have it.”
Her expression changed.
“Don't lie.”
“You said you wanted the evidence.”
“I want the last recording.”
“You think I have it?”
She grabbed Emma's shoulder.
My blood ran cold.
“Don't touch her.”
“Then tell me.”
Emma looked at me.
She wasn't crying anymore.
That was important.
She was watching.
Thinking.
The same way she'd watched Melissa for months.
Celeste took a step toward me.
“You still don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
She smiled.
“Your father didn't record Adrian.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“He recorded me.”
Silence.
“She was the one who betrayed him,” Celeste said.
“Melissa?”
“She took his evidence.”
“And then?”
“She gave Adrian the location.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does.”
She pointed at Emma.
“Because your father trusted a child.”
My skin prickled.
“Me.”
“You were fourteen.”
“He gave you the recording.”
“No.”
“He hid it in your room.”
I remembered.
The old house.
The stuffed rabbit.
The black recorder.
I had forgotten.
No.
I hadn't forgotten.
I had buried it.
Celeste smiled.
“You've been carrying it for twenty years.”
My hands went numb.
The recorder wasn't in the house.
It was in something I'd never thought twice about.
My father's watch.
I pulled it out.
Celeste stepped forward.
“Give it to me.”
A sound came from upstairs.
A door slammed.
Celeste looked away.
Just for a second.
That was enough.
Emma kicked the chair.
It fell sideways.
I lunged.
Harris and the tactical team burst through the windows.
Gunfire erupted.
Celeste ran.
I grabbed Emma.
“Daddy!”
“I've got you.”
She held on.
Officers chased Celeste through the mansion.
Then another figure appeared on the balcony.
Adrian Vale.
He was holding the recorder.
I stared.
“How?”
He smiled.
“Your father was smarter than all of us.”
Then he dropped the recorder.
It shattered on the floor.
Celeste looked up.
“No.”
Adrian laughed.
“You never understood.”
Then he shot at the ceiling.
The lights went out.
Smoke filled the room.
Emma coughed.
I covered her.
Harris shouted:
“EVERYONE DOWN!”
When the smoke cleared, Adrian was gone.
Celeste was gone.
Only one thing remained.
The broken recorder.
We recovered the fragments.
Forensic experts spent six hours reconstructing it.
At 4:12 a.m., the recording finally played.
My father's voice came through.
“If you're hearing this, Celeste is closer than you think.”
I stared at the speaker.
Then he said:
“And she isn't working alone.”
A second voice answered.
A woman's voice.
May you like
I recognized it immediately.
My mother's.
