Chapter 10 - Beneath the Villa
By noon, federal agents had the video.
By one, Thomas Bell's office was empty.
By two, Emma, Marcus, Adrian, and Lauren were back at the villa.
No party now.
No music.
The pool was still blue and beautiful, as if nothing had happened.
Emma hated it.
Adrian led them to the basement wine cellar.
"My father built this house in 1987," he said. "There are old maintenance tunnels under the west wing. Most were sealed."
Emma showed him the steel key.
"Any idea what this opens?"
He shook his head.
Lauren walked along the stone wall, touching the mortar.
"Nora once told me Richard kept records where nobody could burn them."
Marcus frowned. "Stone room?"
"Maybe."
Emma noticed a brass plate behind a wine rack.
One word was engraved into it.
HARRINGTON.
Adrian and Marcus moved the rack.
Behind it was a narrow steel door.
The key fit.
The door opened into a cramped concrete passage.
Cold air rolled out.
Emma switched on her phone flashlight.
"Stay behind me," Adrian said.
"It's my mother's evidence."
"And my father's house."
Lauren sighed. "Can both of you be stubborn after we survive this?"
They moved single file.
The tunnel ended at a small underground room.
Inside were metal cabinets, a desk, and an old desktop computer.
On the wall hung photographs.
Politicians. Judges. CEOs. Charity galas. Private dinners.
Emma recognized Thomas in half of them.
Then she saw Vivian.
Not as Adrian's wife.
Ten years younger.
Standing beside Richard Harrington.
Adrian took the photo down.
"This was before I met her."
On the back, someone had written:
VIVIAN CROSS - INTERNAL AUDIT - DO NOT HIRE.
Adrian whispered, "Her last name wasn't Cross then."
"What was it?" Emma asked.
He turned the photo over.
The label read:
VIVIAN COLE.
Lauren gasped.
Emma felt every hair rise on her arms.
"Cole," she said. "Like Gavin Cole."
A slow clap came from the tunnel behind them.
Thomas Bell stepped into the doorway.
Gavin stood beside him.
And Vivian stood between them.
May you like
"Family reunion," Thomas said.
Dust hung in the underground room like smoke. Emma ran her fingers over one cabinet drawer and found fresh scratches around the lock. Someone had been there recently. Maybe that night. Maybe minutes before they arrived.
