Chapter 6 - The Lie They Built for Him

Arthur sat on the kitchen floor beside Leo until the shaking stopped.

"You never have to say those words again," he told him. "Not for anyone."

Leo leaned against him. "They said you'd go to jail if I didn't."

Arthur closed his eyes.

Victoria had not just planned to make Leo disappear.

She had prepared a story to explain it.

Detective Collins crouched nearby. "Leo, did they tell you what would happen after you recorded that message?"

"The red-ring man said Dad would sign papers because he'd be scared."

Arthur's jaw tightened.

"What papers?"

Leo shrugged. "He said grown-up papers."

Collins stood. "We need to find Pike."

An officer entered from the garage. "Victoria's Mercedes is gone. The tunnel door was open."

"Gate logs?" Arthur asked.

"No exit recorded."

Arthur stared at him.

"That's impossible."

Elena shook her head. "Not if someone opened the old service gate manually."

Arthur looked at her.

She pointed toward the west lawn. "There's a maintenance gate behind the hedges. I saw a contractor use it last week."

Collins immediately radioed another unit.

Arthur's phone rang.

Unknown number.

He answered on speaker.

"Arthur."

Graham Pike's voice came through, calm and polished.

"You're making a terrible mistake."

Collins motioned for Arthur to keep him talking.

Arthur's voice turned flat. "You helped lock my son inside a wall."

"I did no such thing."

"Leo saw you."

A pause.

"Children misunderstand things."

"He described your ring."

Another pause.

Arthur could almost hear Pike thinking.

Then the lawyer sighed.

"Listen carefully. Victoria is unstable. She came to me with a plan. I tried to stop her."

Collins wrote something and slid it toward Arthur.

ASK WHERE SHE IS.

Arthur did.

Pike hesitated.

"I don't know."

Then, faintly in the background, a car door slammed.

And a woman's voice said, "Graham, we don't have time."

Victoria.

Arthur stood so fast the chair behind him fell over.

"I heard her."

Pike hung up.

Collins was already dialing a trace request.

Thirty seconds later, she looked up.

"The call bounced through a burner, but we got a tower sector."

"Where?"

"Near Bennett Financial Center."

Arthur went still.

His company headquarters.

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