Chapter 7 - Palmira's ConfessionPalmira woke at 6:12 the next morning.
Carmine was sitting beside her.
She looked at him.
Then at Nell.
“You found Victor.”
Nell stiffened.
“He was alive.”
“For how long?”
“Long enough to tell us about Bellweather.”
Palmira closed her eyes.
“I was afraid this day would come.”
Carmine leaned forward.
“You saw the fire.”
Palmira opened her eyes.
“Yes.”
“You saw who started it.”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me.”
She looked at Nell.
“I saw your uncle.”
Nell stared.
“And Victor.”
“Yes.”
“Who else?”
Palmira hesitated.
“Your father.”
Nell shook her head.
“My father was trapped inside.”
“No.”
Palmira's voice broke.
“Emmett was outside.”
Carmine went still.
“What?”
Palmira nodded.
“He wasn't trapped.”
Nell's face drained.
“That's impossible.”
“He had already escaped.”
“Then why didn't he save anyone?”
“Because he thought you were dead.”
Nell stepped backward.
Palmira continued.
“He went back inside for the ledger.”
“And left me?”
“No.”
“Then why did he disappear?”
Palmira looked at Carmine.
“Because your father found him.”
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Emmett had the proof.”
“What proof?”
“Names.”
“Whose names?”
“The people running Bellweather.”
Carmine stared.
“You're telling me my father knew?”
“He knew enough.”
“Why didn't he expose them?”
“Because one of the names was inside his own family.”
Carmine froze.
“Who?”
Palmira looked at him.
“Your mother.”
Silence.
Nell stared at Palmira.
“No.”
“Your mother worked with Bellweather?”
Palmira nodded.
“She was not one of them.”
“Then why was her name there?”
“Because she was blackmailing them.”
Carmine's mind raced.
His mother had always been mysterious.
She had run the family books.
She had died before he understood the business.
Palmira took a deep breath.
“She discovered where the money was going.”
“And?”
“She planned to expose it.”
“Why didn't she?”
“Because they threatened you.”
Carmine's jaw tightened.
“What happened the night she died?”
“Your father was supposed to help her leave.”
“He didn't.”
“No.”
“Because he was killed.”
Palmira shook her head.
“Your father was not killed by the crash.”
Carmine stood abruptly.
“Who killed him?”
Palmira looked toward the window.
“Silas Reed.”
Carmine's eyes hardened.
“Silas is alive.”
“I know.”
Nell whispered:
“Then where is he?”
Palmira answered:
“He's been watching this house.”
The hospital lights flickered.
Benny rushed inside.
“We've got a problem.”
Carmine turned.
“What?”
“Your father's old family vault was opened last night.”
Carmine stared.
“That vault hasn't been opened in thirty years.”
“Someone had the key.”
“Who?”
Benny handed him a photograph.
A man standing inside the vault.
Silver cane.
Gray suit.
Silver hair.
Silas Reed.
Carmine stared at the image.
Then he noticed the man beside him.
A woman.
He recognized her immediately.
Nell did too.
It was her mother.
Alive.
Standing beside Silas three years before the fire.
Nell's voice broke.
“My mother.”
Carmine looked at the date.
Three years after the supposed car accident.
Nell staggered.
“My mother was alive.”
Palmira whispered:
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
“That isn't your mother.”
Nell stared.
Palmira's face was pale.
“She has your mother's face.”
“But?”
Palmira swallowed.
“But your mother had a scar above her right eyebrow.”
The photograph showed none.
Carmine zoomed in.
There was a second detail.
The woman's left hand.
Missing a ring.
Palmira whispered:
“That is Marianne Vale.”
Thomas Vale's wife.
Carmine's stomach dropped.
The fire investigator's widow had been impersonating Nell's dead mother.
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And she had been meeting Silas Reed.
For years.
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