Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN BEHIND DOOR 2806
Smoke began slipping beneath the archive door.
Anna dropped to her knees.
“There's still power to the lock.”
Dominic pulled a tool from his belt and opened the access panel.
“Can you override it?”
“Give me thirty seconds.”
Vincent looked at Anthony.
“Where's Evelyn?”
“Twenty-eight. Her private conference suite.”
“Then she'd better hope the fire department reaches her before I do.”
Anthony shook his head.
“You don't understand. She has Henry Vale with her.”
“Good.”
“Vincent, Henry killed men for Father before he started working for Evelyn.”
Vincent's expression darkened.
“And you trusted him?”
Anthony looked away.
Anna pulled two wires apart.
The lock clicked.
Dominic kicked the door open.
Gray smoke rolled into the corridor.
“Move,” he ordered.
They hurried toward the service stairwell.
Anna checked a maintenance display.
“The electrical fire is contained to one cabinet for now, but the smoke-control system has been disabled.”
Vincent radioed the lobby.
“Have the fire department take control of the evacuation. No guest stays upstairs because of some automated announcement.”
“Understood,” a guard replied. “Lucy is safe with the nurse.”
Vincent exhaled.
“Keep her away from the restricted areas.”
They descended two flights before Anna stopped.
“My mother.”
Vincent turned.
“We're getting her.”
“She was moved toward the freight corridor. That's accessible from the seventeenth-floor maintenance landing.”
Dominic looked at the building plan.
“The same passage where they carried Anna?”
“Yes.”
Anthony stepped forward.
“I know the access code.”
Anna stared at him.
“You knew how to reach my mother all this time.”
Anthony looked miserable.
“Yes.”
“Then open the door.”
They moved through a narrow corridor lined with pipes and electrical conduits.
At its end stood a reinforced steel door.
Anthony entered six digits.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
The display read ACCESS DENIED.
“Evelyn changed it,” he muttered.
Anna examined the hinges.
“The old mechanical override should still work.”
Vincent handed her Salvatore's brass key.
Anna inserted it into a concealed lock beneath the control panel.
The mechanism turned.
A heavy bolt slid back.
They entered a dim service passage.
At the far end, two guards stood beside a wheelchair.
Margaret Reed sat in it.
Her hands were tied.
Anna cried out.
“Mom!”
One guard reached for his weapon.
Dominic struck him before he could raise it.
Vincent seized the other by the jacket and slammed him against the wall.
“Hands where I can see them.”
The guard obeyed.
Anna ran to the wheelchair.
She knelt and carefully removed the restraints.
Margaret looked at her daughter.
For several seconds, she seemed unable to speak.
Then she raised one trembling hand.
“Annie?”
Anna broke.
“Mom.”
She wrapped her arms around the older woman.
Margaret held her as tightly as her weakened arms allowed.
“I looked for you,” Anna whispered.
“I know.”
“I thought you left me.”
Margaret began to cry.
“I never wanted to leave you.”
Vincent turned away, giving them a moment.
He remembered his own father lifting him onto his shoulders at a neighborhood festival.
Anthony, younger and smaller, running beside them.
For eleven years, Vincent had believed the past was something no amount of money could change.
Watching Anna embrace her mother, he understood that some damage could still be repaired.
But only if people finally told the truth.
Margaret noticed Anthony standing behind Vincent.
Her expression changed.
“You.”
Anthony lowered his eyes.
“Margaret.”
“You brought the medicine every month.”
Anna looked between them.
“What?”
Margaret nodded.
“He never came inside. But I heard him speaking to the guards.”
Anthony swallowed.
“I made sure they treated you.”
Margaret's face hardened.
“You made sure I stayed alive.”
He couldn't answer.
“There's a difference.”
Anthony looked as though she'd struck him.
Dominic checked his radio.
“The firefighters have reached the upper floors. Guests are coming down the west stairs. We need to move.”
Vincent knelt beside Margaret.
“Mrs. Reed, can you tell me who killed my father?”
She studied him.
“You look so much like him.”
“Please.”
Margaret gripped the arms of the wheelchair.
“Salvatore discovered Evelyn had stolen from the workers. He planned to take the records to the authorities that night.”
Vincent nodded.
“I heard his recording.”
“Then you know he came back for Anthony.”
Anthony stared at her.
Margaret continued.
“Henry Vale was waiting near the freight elevator. Salvatore saw him holding Anthony against the wall.”
Anthony's breathing changed.
“I remember Henry grabbing me.”
“Your father tried to pull you away.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“There was a struggle. Henry drew a gun.”
Vincent's stomach tightened.
“And?”
“He shot Salvatore.”
Anthony staggered backward.
“No.”
Margaret looked at him.
“You were there.”
“I didn't see the gun.”
“You heard it.”
Anthony pressed both hands against his face.
Margaret's voice grew steadier.
“Salvatore fell beside the freight doors. Henry ordered two men to move him. Later, they staged the crash.”
Vincent stared at his brother.
“Your father was still breathing when Henry took him away,” Margaret added.
Silence filled the corridor.
For eleven years, Vincent had imagined his father dying alone in a wrecked car.
The truth was far worse.
He had been shot while trying to save Anthony.
Then taken away while his son stood nearby.
Vincent turned toward his brother.
“Was he alive?”
Anthony's eyes filled.
“I don't know.”
“Anthony.”
“I didn't know!”
His voice cracked.
“Henry said Father was dead. Evelyn told me there was nothing I could do.”
Margaret shook her head.
“There was something you could do.”
Anthony stared at her.
“You could have told the truth.”
Anna placed a hand on her mother's shoulder.
“Why did they keep you?”
Margaret looked at Vincent.
“Because I copied the original financial records. Evelyn never knew where I put them.”
Vincent leaned closer.
“Do you still have them?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Margaret hesitated.
“I hid them somewhere the hotel couldn't alter electronically. Somewhere Salvatore knew.”
Vincent glanced at his father's watch.
“The old archive?”
“Not that one.”
Margaret shook her head.
“The original service records on twenty-eight. Behind the fire-control panel.”
Anna's eyes widened.
“That panel was scheduled for replacement tomorrow.”
Margaret nodded.
“After tonight, the evidence would be gone.”
Dominic looked toward the stairwell.
“Then we have to get it before the fire spreads.”
Vincent stood.
“First, Margaret gets downstairs.”
Anna shook her head.
“I'm coming back with you.”
“You just got your mother back.”
“And she spent eleven years protecting evidence that could free her.”
Margaret squeezed Anna's hand.
“Go carefully.”
Before they could move, Anthony caught Vincent's arm.
“There's something you still don't know.”
Vincent looked at him.
Anthony's voice trembled.
“I was the one who gave Henry Vale the access code that let him reach Father.”
Vincent went still.
Anthony swallowed.
“I didn't pull the trigger.”
May you like
He looked at Margaret.
“But if I hadn't opened that door, our father might still be alive.”
