Chapter 6 - THE SECRET BEHIND ISA’S WALL
Kais’s Escalade crossed the floating bridge toward Mercer Island while rain blurred the city behind them.
Lena sat beside him.
Two private investigators followed in another vehicle.
Not Hart Security.
Kais would never use Hart Security again.
Rian had taken Isa to Dr. Maya Patel, a pediatrician Lena trusted, for a full examination.
That gave Kais perhaps an hour before they returned.
He intended to use every minute.
“Tell me about the key,” Lena said.
“My father gave Isa a small blue brass key when she was three.”
“Why?”
“He said every princess needed a key to her own castle.”
“That sounds sentimental.”
“It was.”
“Your father wasn’t sentimental?”
“Rarely.”
Kais tightened his hands on the wheel.
“Which means maybe it wasn’t a joke.”
They reached the estate.
The front gate stood open.
Again.
Kais slowed.
Lena noticed.
“Did you leave it like that?”
“No.”
The rain fell harder.
One investigator went around back.
The other entered with them.
The house appeared empty.
But Kais felt it immediately.
Someone had been there.
A drawer in the foyer table was open.
One of Rian’s handbags lay on the floor.
They went upstairs.
Isa’s room sat at the end of the west hallway.
Pink walls.
Bookshelves.
A painted ceiling scattered with tiny gold stars.
It should have been the safest room in the world.
Instead, Kais walked through it like a crime scene.
“Behind the wall,” Lena said.
“There are several.”
They searched.
Nothing.
Then Kais saw the stuffed animals.
They had been moved.
A row of plush toys normally sat along the built-in window bench.
Now three were on the floor.
He lifted the cushion.
A small indentation marked the wood underneath.
A keyhole.
Lena exhaled.
“You have got to be kidding me.”
Kais called Rian.
“Put Isa on.”
“Daddy?”
“Where is the blue key?”
“In Bunny’s other house.”
He looked around.
“What’s Bunny’s other house?”
“The dollhouse.”
A wooden dollhouse stood beside the wardrobe.
Kais opened its tiny front door.
Inside an upstairs room lay a blue key on a miniature bed.
He took it.
The key fit the lock beneath the window seat.
A click.
The entire lower panel released.
Behind it was a steel compartment.
Inside sat a black waterproof case.
Lena stared.
“Your father built a vault into a child’s bedroom?”
“No.”
Kais brushed dust off the case.
“This room used to be his study.”
He opened it.
Inside were paper files.
A hard drive.
A stack of photographs.
A sealed envelope bearing Kais’s name.
And a second envelope bearing Julian’s.
Lena pulled on gloves.
“Don’t touch more than necessary.”
Kais barely heard her.
He opened the envelope with his name.
A letter.
His father’s handwriting.
Kais—
If you are reading this, something has gone wrong that I did not have time to correct.
There are things about this family I allowed to remain hidden because I believed blood could survive resentment.
I may have been wrong.
Julian has been moving company money through vendors I cannot fully trace. I confronted him. He denied it.
I have commissioned a private audit.
If anything happens to me before I finish it, do not assume accident before you examine the steering maintenance records for Meridian.
Meridian.
His father’s boat.
Kais sat down.
Lena read over his shoulder.
“Jesus.”
The letter continued.
I know what this sounds like.
I pray I am simply an old man becoming suspicious.
But if I am not, protect the company less fiercely than you protect your family.
Companies can be rebuilt.
Children cannot.
Kais stared at the last sentence.
His father had written it eleven years ago.
And Kais had failed to understand it until his daughter begged for a cookie.
Lena opened the hard drive.
“We need this imaged before we access anything.”
Kais looked through the paper files.
Vendor names.
Transfers.
Marine-service invoices.
A maintenance report dated five days before Alistair Hart died.
STEERING LINKAGE REPLACED.
Then another.
A duplicate.
Same date.
Same vessel.
Different notation.
STEERING LINKAGE INSPECTION POSTPONED AT OWNER REQUEST.
“Someone falsified one of these.”
“Probably.”
The investigator at the doorway suddenly raised a hand.
“Quiet.”
They froze.
A sound downstairs.
Glass.
Then footsteps.
The investigator reached for his radio.
“Someone entered from the east side.”
Kais closed the case.
“Lena, take this.”
“No.”
“Take it.”
“Kais—”
“You’re the attorney. The files matter more with you.”
Another crash.
The lights went out.
The house dropped into darkness.
Emergency lighting should have activated.
It did not.
“Breaker cut,” the investigator whispered.
Kais’s phone illuminated his face.
No signal.
Jammer.
“They came prepared.”
Lena picked up the case.
The investigator moved into the hall.
Then a voice came from below.
“Kais!”
Cole Vance.
Kais stepped out.
“Leave.”
Cole laughed.
“Give me the drive.”
“No.”
“You don’t know what you found.”
“I know enough.”
“You think Julian is the only person implicated?”
Kais’s expression changed.
“What does that mean?”
Cole appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
Rainwater darkened his shoulders.
“You open those files, you burn half your father’s old executive team.”
“Maybe they deserve it.”
Cole climbed one step.
“You’re making this personal.”
“You walked into my daughter’s house while she was starving.”
“I followed orders.”
“Men like you always say that.”
Cole’s jaw tightened.
“Give me the drive.”
The investigator stepped into view.
“Stop where you are.”
Cole looked at him.
Then smiled.
“Private security?”
“No.”
A second voice came from behind Cole.
“Seattle Police task force. Hands where I can see them.”
Cole froze.
Lena blinked.
Kais looked past him.
Two detectives entered through the front hall.
Lena smiled slightly.
“I may have called people.”
Cole raised his hands.
For one second, Kais thought it was over.
Then Cole turned.
He slammed a shoulder into one detective and ran toward the service corridor.
The investigator chased him.
Kais followed.
Cole burst through the kitchen.
He hit the back door.
Outside, the rain was violent.
Cole disappeared across the terrace.
The second investigator cut toward the side yard.
Kais reached the patio just as an engine roared.
A black SUV smashed through the garden gate and disappeared toward the street.
One detective cursed.
“They’ll get him.”
Kais stood in the rain.
Then he heard a different engine.
Rian’s car.
She was coming home.
With Isa.
Kais ran inside.
“Call her.”
Lena did.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then Kais’s phone rang.
Rian.
He answered.
“Where are you?”
No response.
“Rian?”
Breathing.
Then Cole’s voice.
“Tell your lawyer to leave the black case on the front steps.”
Kais went cold.
“Where are my wife and daughter?”
A soft cry came through the line.
Isa.
Kais’s face changed.
Cole said, “You have fifteen minutes.”
The call ended.
Lena stared at him.
“Kais?”
He looked at the black case.
May you like
Then at the rain-soaked road beyond the windows.
“They have Isa.”
