Chapter 10 - Plan B
Clara sat back down.
"When was that recorded?"
"Two days before the wedding," Rachel said.
"Who's the man?"
"Victor Hale. Head of Sterling corporate security."
Clara knew him. He had smiled at her during the rehearsal dinner.
"What does 'use them' mean?"
"I don't know."
"Convenient."
"I know."
Rachel did not defend herself.
Clara called Martin immediately.
At 10:15 a.m., Ethan arrived at Martin's office demanding to see Clara.
She agreed.
He looked as if he had not slept.
"My mother is gone," he said.
"Gone where?"
"Victor Hale?"
Ethan stared. "How do you know his name?"
Clara played Rachel's recording.
Ethan sat down hard.
"I never heard that."
"Do you expect me to believe anything you say?"
"You knew that before the pool."
"I knew she was cruel. I didn't know..."
"You always stop your sentences right before responsibility."
His eyes filled, but Clara felt no urge to comfort him.
"What is Plan B?"
"I don't know."
"Think."
Ethan paced.
Then he stopped.
"Insurance."
"What?"
"After the acquisition loan, Mom made me increase key-person insurance and collateral coverage. She asked questions about whether guarantors could be replaced if someone became incapacitated."
Clara went still.
Martin's face sharpened.
"Replaced by whom?"
Ethan looked at Clara.
"A spouse or legal representative."
Clara's phone rang.
One of the guards assigned to her parents.
She answered.
"Ms. Devereux, your parents aren't in their room."
Her heart stopped.
"What do you mean?"
"We found the balcony door open. Their phones are here."
Then Martin's assistant rushed in holding a package.
"This was just delivered."
Inside was Helen's blue wedding shoe.
Still stained with pool water.
Clara did not scream.
She wanted to.
Instead, she said, "Lock the building down. Pull every camera. Call the police now."
They were not dragged.
They walked.
"Zoom in," Clara said.
The image sharpened.
The woman turned her face toward the camera.
Rachel.
Clara felt betrayed so completely it almost made her calm.
She called Rachel.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Ethan stood near the conference table. "I told you not to trust anyone around my family."
Clara spun toward him. "You don't get to say that."
Martin interrupted. "Another camera. Loading dock."
Rachel's car left the garage at 10:02.
Robert sat in the passenger seat.
Helen was in back.
Neither looked restrained.
"Why would they go with her?" Clara whispered.
Her phone buzzed.
A text from her father's number.
Clara read it twice.
Then a second message arrived.
SORRY. PHONE WAS OFF. WE CHOSE TO GO.
She called.
Robert answered.
"Dad!"
"We're okay."
"You can't vanish after someone sends Mom's shoe in a box!"
A pause.
"What shoe?"
Clara looked at Martin.
The room went quiet.
"You didn't send it?"
"No."
Robert's voice changed. "Clara, get out of that office."
"Why?"
"Because Rachel says Victor Hale has access to Sterling security, hotel security... and the building where Martin works."
The lights went out.
May you like
Emergency alarms began to chirp.
At the far end of the office, the elevator bell rang.
