Chapter 15 - The Black SUV
The SUV hit the west gate before it fully opened.
Metal screamed.
One side of the gate bent outward, but the vehicle forced through and disappeared onto the county road.
Deputies ran for their cruisers.
Jack grabbed the nearest officer. “Rebecca Lane is in that vehicle. Passenger side. Her hands are tied.”
The officer nodded and sprinted away.
Claire stood frozen.
“She came back for us.”
Jack looked at her.
“The necklace. She must have hidden the phone.”
“Then Margaret caught her.”
Sirens faded down the road.
Charles tried to stand.
Luis stopped him gently.
“I’m going after my wife.”
“No, sir.”
Charles looked at Jack. “You would.”
Jack answered carefully. “I would want to. That’s not the same as it being smart.”
Charles sank back down.
For the first time, Ethan spoke without anger.
“My mother has a house near the river.”
Everyone turned.
He was sitting on the grass with an ice pack against his shoulder while a paramedic checked him.
“She told me it was sold.”
“Where?” Jack asked.
Ethan gave the address.
A deputy radioed it in.
Claire stared at her husband.
“What else did she tell you not to tell us?”
Ethan looked away.
“That Martin Shaw has been helping her move money for years.”
“How many years?”
“I don’t know.”
“Try.”
He swallowed.
“Since before we got married.”
Claire’s face crumpled for half a second, then hardened again.
“You married me knowing she wanted access to my foundation?”
“No.”
“You knew something.”
“I knew she thought your board seat could help Vale Holdings if we ever had a liquidity problem.”
Jack’s stomach turned.
A liquidity problem.
That was rich-people language for taking someone else’s lifeboat because your yacht had a leak.
Claire stepped closer.
“Did you marry me because of the foundation?”
Ethan looked at her for a long time.
“No.”
She waited.
Then he added the sentence that destroyed what little remained.
“But my mother encouraged it because of the foundation.”
Claire closed her eyes.
A deputy ran across the lawn.
“We found the SUV.”
Jack stood.
“Where’s Rebecca?”
May you like
The deputy’s expression told him the answer would not be simple.
“The vehicle is empty.”
