Chapter 8 - BLACKRIDGE FARM
Mara received Malcolm’s warning twelve minutes before the tactical convoy reached Blackridge Farm.
She ordered everyone to stop.
Four armored vehicles pulled onto the shoulder of a rural road.
The estate gates stood half a mile ahead.
Mara called the hospital.
Malcolm answered on speaker.
“How did you know?”
His breathing was labored.
“Vale tracks police frequencies.”
“We’re using encrypted channels.”
“Not yours.”
Mara glanced toward the communications officer.
“What do you mean?”
“He owns the company that services the county emergency network.”
Mara swore quietly.
“What’s at Blackridge?”
“A trap.”
“What kind?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“I haven’t been there in months.”
“Ethan saw you there last summer.”
Silence.
Malcolm exhaled.
“I treated Vale.”
“For what?”
“Heart condition.”
“Off the books?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He didn’t want it public before the election.”
Mara rubbed her forehead.
“What else is at the property?”
“Underground storage.”
“For what?”
“I was never told.”
“Richard?”
“He used it.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because Richard kept people separated.”
“Compartmentalized.”
“Yes.”
Mara looked at the tactical commander.
“How do we get inside without using the main gate?”
Malcolm answered.
“North field.”
“Fence?”
“Old section.”
“Cameras?”
“Yes.”
“How many guards?”
“Usually four.”
“Usually?”
“I don’t know what Vale has done since Claire escaped.”
Mara’s voice hardened.
“You helped create this.”
“I know.”
“You signed a false death certificate.”
“I know.”
“You sedated Claire.”
“I know.”
“You helped put her in a coffin.”
A long silence followed.
Then Malcolm whispered.
“I thought they were going to move her.”
Mara stared at the phone.
“Where?”
“Canada.”
“You expected me to believe that?”
“No.”
“At least you understand something.”
Malcolm coughed.
“I believed Richard when he said Claire would wake in a vehicle.”
“Why?”
“Because I had already done it once.”
Mara froze.
“What did you say?”
The tactical commander looked at her.
Malcolm continued.
“Claire wasn’t the first.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know her real name.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“What happened?”
“Richard brought a woman to my clinic.”
“She was unconscious.”
“He needed documents saying she had died.”
“Did he put her in a coffin too?”
“No.”
“She was transported in an ambulance.”
“To where?”
“Blackridge.”
Mara’s pulse quickened.
“What happened to her?”
“I never saw her again.”
“Description?”
“Mid-thirties.”
“Dark hair.”
“Scar on her right cheek.”
Mara wrote it down.
“Anything else?”
“She wore a necklace.”
“What kind?”
“A silver bird.”
Laura, listening from the secure facility through a separate line, suddenly spoke.
“What kind of bird?”
Malcolm hesitated.
“Swallow.”
Laura went silent.
Claire looked at her.
“What is it?”
Laura covered her mouth.
Claire stood.
“Laura.”
“My mother had one.”
Claire stared.
“Your mother?”
“Our mother.”
Claire’s face changed.
Their shared father had rarely spoken about Laura’s mother.
She was supposedly dead.
A car accident in Arizona.
Claire had been told that story as a teenager.
Laura’s voice shook.
“My mother had a swallow necklace.”
Claire whispered.
“You told me she died five years ago.”
“That’s what Richard told me.”
Mara felt the entire investigation shift again.
“Laura, what was your mother’s name?”
“Evelyn Mercer.”
Mara wrote it.
“I’ll check.”
Laura interrupted.
“No public records.”
“Why?”
“She lived under another name after my parents separated.”
“What name?”
“Elaine Moore.”
Mara sent both.
Two minutes later, an analyst responded.
No verified death certificate existed for Evelyn Mercer.
There was, however, a missing-person report filed by Laura three years earlier.
The case had been closed after a letter supposedly written by Evelyn stated that she was leaving voluntarily.
Laura’s hands shook.
“I never believed that letter.”
Claire stared at her sister.
“Richard knew your mother?”
Laura looked sick.
“I met Richard through her.”
Claire felt cold.
“Explain.”
“My mother worked for Senator Vale.”
“In what role?”
“Personal accountant.”
Mara swore.
Now it made sense.
Evelyn had known where Vale’s money moved.
If she tried to leave, she became a liability.
Richard had made her disappear.
Malcolm’s voice came through the speaker.
“I’m sorry.”
Laura turned toward the phone.
“Did you drug my mother?”
Malcolm did not answer.
“DID YOU?”
“Yes.”
Laura closed her eyes.
Claire grabbed her before she collapsed.
Mara spoke carefully.
“Malcolm, was Evelyn alive when she left your clinic?”
“Yes.”
“Was she alive when she reached Blackridge?”
“Yes.”
“What happened after that?”
“I don’t know.”
“You are going to help us find out.”
The tactical commander tapped Mara’s shoulder.
A drone feed appeared on a tablet.
Blackridge Farm stretched below them.
One barn.
Two houses.
An old chapel.
No visible people.
Then thermal imaging changed the picture.
Multiple heat signatures appeared beneath the chapel.
Mara looked at the commander.
“Underground.”
He nodded.
Another heat source moved near the private cemetery.
Then the drone camera zoomed.
A rectangular object lay beside an open grave.
White.
Claire’s coffin.
Mara’s jaw tightened.
“We have the coffin.”
Laura’s voice came through the phone.
“Do not touch it.”
Mara frowned.
“Why?”
“Richard knew Ethan might hide something inside.”
“So?”
“So Vale may have wired it.”
The tactical commander ordered an explosives team.
The drone moved closer.
A figure suddenly stepped from behind the chapel.
Rebecca Sloan.
Claire’s sister looked directly toward the drone.
Then she raised both hands.
She held a piece of cardboard.
Three words were written across it.
ETHAN IS NEXT.
Mara stared.
Rebecca pointed toward the chapel.
Then toward herself.
Then shook her head violently.
A man emerged behind her.
Richard.
He grabbed Rebecca by the hair and dragged her backward.
The cardboard fell.
Richard looked directly toward the drone.
Then he raised a phone.
Mara’s phone rang immediately.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Richard spoke.
“You brought too many people.”
Mara signaled everyone to remain still.
“Let Rebecca go.”
“She brought me here.”
“Did she?”
Richard laughed.
“You really have no idea what family you’re protecting.”
“Where is Jonathan Vale?”
“Watching.”
“From where?”
“Everywhere.”
“Release Rebecca.”
“I’ll release her when Claire gives me Ethan.”
Mara’s voice became ice.
“That will never happen.”
Richard sighed.
“Then Rebecca dies first.”
A second figure appeared beside him.
The masked gunman from the hospital.
He held a pistol against Rebecca’s back.
Richard continued.
“And when Claire refuses again, I release everything I know about Detective Mara Quinn.”
Mara froze.
The tactical commander looked at her.
Richard laughed softly.
“Yes.”
“You thought this was only Claire’s nightmare?”
Mara gripped the phone.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about your brother.”
Mara stopped breathing.
Her younger brother, Sean Quinn, had disappeared nine years ago.
His body had never been found.
Richard’s next words erased the world around her.
“You’ve been looking in the wrong place for nine years.”
Mara whispered.
“Where is he?”
Richard looked toward the old private cemetery.
May you like
“Under your feet.”
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