Chapter 14 - THE PLAN FOR MAYA
I did not tell Maya immediately.
Not because I wanted to protect her from the truth.
I had learned what that kind of protection could become.
I waited until we were back inside the secure residence.
Then I told her exactly what Sarah said.
Maya sat very still.
“Disappear how?”
“I don't know.”
She looked at me.
“Dead?”
“I don't know.”
“Daniel.”
“I won't lie to you.”
I sat across from her.
“That possibility exists.”
She stared at the floor.
For several seconds, she seemed to leave the room without moving.
Then she asked, “When?”
“Vale hasn't said.”
“Why?”
“He wants to bargain.”
She nodded.
“Of course.”
I waited.
Maya finally looked up.
“I want to hear it.”
“No.”
Her expression hardened.
“You don't decide that.”
She was right.
The correction stung.
But it was necessary.
“I meant I don't want you in the room with Vale.”
“Why?”
“Because he may use details to hurt you.”
“He already did.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“You know pieces.”
She stood.
“But people keep talking about what happened to me while I sit in another room.”
I stared at her.
“Doctors.”
“Agents.”
“Lawyers.”
“You.”
Maya's eyes filled.
“I know everyone is trying to help.”
“But I am tired of being the subject of my own life instead of the person living it.”
I stood too.
“What do you want?”
“To decide what I hear.”
I nodded slowly.
“All right.”
“To decide when I leave a room.”
“Yes.”
“To decide whether I testify.”
“Yes.”
“To decide whether I ever walk into that house again.”
“Yes.”
She breathed out.
“Thank you.”
I almost said you don't have to thank me.
But that would have made the moment about my guilt.
So I said, “You're welcome.”
Vale's attorneys agreed to a controlled interview the next morning.
Maya watched remotely.
She could leave the feed at any moment.
I sat behind the observation glass.
Richard Vale entered wearing detention clothes instead of a tailored suit.
For the first time, wealth could not change his wardrobe.
He looked irritated by that.
Sarah sat opposite him with two federal prosecutors and Agent Ortiz.
Vale's attorney began.
“My client is prepared to provide information concerning a conspiracy to unlawfully seize Carter-Mercer Logistics and coerce Maya Carter.”
Sarah said, “In exchange for?”
“Consideration.”
“No promises.”
Vale smiled.
“You always were difficult, Sarah.”
“You always were indicted eventually, Richard.”
His smile faded.
Then he looked toward the mirrored glass.
He knew I was there.
“Hello, Daniel.”
I said nothing.
Sarah continued.
“What plan concerned Maya Carter?”
Vale folded his hands.
“Victoria believed Maya was the obstacle.”
“To what?”
“Company control.”
“Why?”
“Daniel's corporate documents required spousal authorization on several transfers.”
“Because Maya co-owned the business.”
“Yes.”
“And Victoria knew Maya would refuse.”
“Obviously.”
“What was the initial plan?”
“Discredit her.”
“How?”
“Affair allegations.”
“Financial misconduct.”
“Emotional instability.”
My stomach turned.
Every strange detail from my first night home had been manufactured.
The deleted messages.
The fake lover.
The documents.
The way Victoria told me Maya had been emotional.
They had built a narrative before I arrived.
Sarah asked, “And if that failed?”
Vale looked toward the glass again.
“Removal.”
“Define removal.”
“My understanding was that Maya would leave voluntarily.”
“Your understanding?”
Vale smiled.
“You want stronger words than I can truthfully give.”
“What did Victoria want?”
“She wanted a permanent solution.”
Maya's image disappeared from the monitor beside me.
She had left the feed.
Good.
Sarah continued.
“What does permanent mean?”
“Ask Victoria.”
“We're asking you.”
Vale leaned back.
“Victoria asked whether an accident could be arranged.”
My hands went cold.
“When?”
“February.”
Only weeks after my deployment began.
“What kind of accident?”
“Vehicle.”
“Similar to Michael Carter?”
Vale's face changed.
His attorney whispered something.
Vale answered carefully.
“I did not agree.”
Sarah almost laughed.
“Because murder offended you?”
“Because repeating a method is stupid.”
The room went silent.
His attorney closed his eyes.
Vale had just admitted more than he intended.
Sarah did not react.
“Who did Victoria ask to arrange it?”
“Initially me.”
“And you refused?”
“Yes.”
“What happened then?”
“She asked Julian.”
My heart pounded.
“Did Julian agree?”
“No.”
That surprised me.
Vale continued.
“Julian wanted control.”
“He wanted Maya frightened.”
“But he said killing her would bring too much attention.”
For one awful moment, gratitude tried to appear.
I crushed it.
Declining murder did not erase assault and kidnapping.
Sarah asked, “Then why wasn't the plan abandoned?”
Vale smiled without humor.
“Because Victoria rarely abandoned anything.”
“What did she do?”
“She contacted someone else.”
“Who?”
“That is the missing page.”
“Name.”
“I want an agreement.”
“No.”
“Then we're finished.”
Sarah closed her folder.
Vale looked surprised.
“You're walking away?”
“You are already facing enough charges to spend the rest of your natural life in prison.”
She stood.
“If you possess evidence that prevents another crime and choose to hide it, we'll add that decision to the list.”
She walked toward the door.
Vale's attorney whispered urgently.
Sarah reached for the handle.
“Wait.”
Vale glared at his lawyer.
Then at the glass.
“Gavin Price.”
I knew the name.
Not well.
Former security consultant.
Victoria had hired him for charity events.
He had also worked private protection for Vale.
“What did Price do?”
“He surveilled Maya.”
“Where?”
“Home.”
“Office.”
“Bank.”
“Doctor.”
My stomach turned.
Maya had never been alone.
“What was he supposed to do?”
“Stage a crash.”
“When?”
“March twenty-first.”
“What happened?”
“She didn't drive.”
I remembered that date.
Maya had told me her car battery died.
Had someone disabled it?
Vale continued.
“Second attempt was April.”
“What happened?”
“Rosa started driving her.”
Rosa.
Again.
A woman with no badge.
No weapon.
No training.
Just courage.
She may have saved Maya's life without knowing it.
“What about May?”
“After Rosa interfered, Victoria shifted strategies.”
“To kidnapping?”
“Temporary confinement.”
Sarah stared at him.
“You have interesting vocabulary.”
“I didn't manage that part.”
“But you supplied the property.”
“Yes.”
“Where is Gavin Price?”
Vale hesitated.
“I don't know.”
“Last contact?”
“Six days ago.”
“Before you ran?”
“Yes.”
“What did you tell him?”
Vale's eyes moved toward the glass.
“To clean up.”
My pulse thundered.
“Clean up what?”
Sarah asked.
“Loose ends.”
“Which loose ends?”
Vale remained silent.
Sarah leaned closer.
“Was Maya one of them?”
Vale looked away.
That was enough.
The interview ended.
Within minutes, federal alerts went out for Gavin Price.
Maya was moved again.
So was Rosa.
So was Samuel.
Price's home was empty.
Vehicle gone.
Phone off.
Passport still present.
Agents searched his property.
Inside a locked cabinet, they found surveillance photographs.
Hundreds.
Maya leaving the company office.
Maya at grocery stores.
Maya at church with Rosa.
Maya standing at our mailbox.
Maya crying inside her parked car.
And photographs of me from before deployment.
This was not six months old.
Price had been watching us for nearly a year.
One photograph showed Maya and me eating at a restaurant on our anniversary.
Another showed my father.
The timestamp was nine years old.
Two days before he died.
Gavin Price had worked for Vale then too.
The homicide investigation shifted immediately.
Price was no longer only a current threat.
He might have helped kill my father.
That night, Maya sat beside the window with the curtains closed.
“I used to think I was imagining it.”
“What?”
“Being watched.”
She touched the curtain.
“Sometimes I'd see the same car.”
“Why didn't you tell anyone?”
“I did.”
My chest tightened.
“Who?”
“Victoria.”
Of course.
“She told me grief and loneliness were making me paranoid.”
Maya looked at me.
“After a while, I believed her.”
The cruelty of that was almost elegant.
Create fear.
Then convince the frightened person that fear proves instability.
I sat beside her.
“You weren't paranoid.”
“No.”
“You weren't unstable.”
“No.”
“You weren't unfaithful.”
A faint smile.
“Definitely not.”
“You weren't weak.”
She looked at me.
“I know that one now.”
We sat quietly.
Then my secure phone buzzed.
Agent Ortiz.
A traffic camera had picked up Gavin Price's vehicle.
Thirty miles south.
Heading toward Norfolk.
Again.
I stood.
“What?”
Maya saw my face.
“Price.”
“Where?”
“Norfolk.”
Her expression changed.
“The terminal?”
“Maybe.”
Then she stood too.
“No.”
“What?”
“He isn't going to the terminal.”
“How do you know?”
Maya walked toward the table where facility maps had been spread earlier.
She pointed toward the Chesapeake coast.
“Your mother has another property.”
I frowned.
“What property?”
“Not in her name.”
“Whose?”
“Julian showed me once.”
She traced a road east of Norfolk.
“A cottage near Sandbridge.”
“Why?”
“He said Victoria used it when she wanted privacy.”
“Address?”
Maya closed her eyes.
Then recited it.
I relayed the location.
Agents moved.
Twenty-five minutes later, they reached the cottage.
Empty.
But warm coffee sat on the counter.
A bed had been slept in.
Maps covered the table.
And inside the fireplace, investigators found partially burned photographs.
Maya.
Rosa.
Samuel.
Me.
Four loose ends.
Four targets.
May you like
Gavin Price was no longer hiding.
He was hunting.
