Chapter 5 - What Their Mothers Knew
Augustus took them to an old brownstone in Brooklyn Heights.
Charlotte recognized it before the car stopped.
Her mother had brought her there as a child.
She remembered cookies in the kitchen.
Music upstairs.
A dark-haired boy refusing to let her use his telescope.
Dominic.
“You pushed me,” she said.
He stared at her.
“What?”
“The telescope.”
Memory slowly surfaced.
“You broke my model airplane.”
“You told me girls couldn’t fly.”
“I was nine.”
“You were obnoxious.”
“I’m beginning to understand your grudge.”
For the first time since the Marlowe Club, Charlotte laughed.
It surprised both of them.
Then the front door opened and the moment disappeared.
Inside, Augustus led them to the basement.
Behind an old bookcase was a steel door.
Charlotte stared at him.
“Mom built this?”
“Your mothers did.”
Inside were filing cabinets, photographs and two obsolete computers.
Nothing had been touched in years.
Augustus opened a drawer.
“Haven wasn’t just a charity.”
He removed a ledger.
“Catherine and Evelyn discovered a financial network laundering money through New York construction projects. When witnesses tried to expose it, they disappeared, withdrew statements, or suddenly lost everything.”
Dominic opened another file.
“Rainer Development.”
“My father’s company.”
Augustus nodded.
“And mine.”
Charlotte looked at him.
“So you were involved.”
“I invested in projects. I didn’t know the money was dirty until Catherine showed me.”
“Why didn’t you go to the FBI?”
“We did.”
“And?”
“The investigator receiving the evidence was on the payroll.”
Dominic understood.
“So our mothers created Haven.”
“They started moving witnesses and their families. New identities. New cities. Sometimes new countries.”
Charlotte looked around.
“My mother helped people disappear.”
Augustus smiled sadly.
“She was extraordinarily good at it.”
“Apparently she taught me something.”
“Yes.”
Dominic found a folder labeled RAINER.
Inside was a photograph of his father, Victor, standing beside Vanessa.
A third man had been cut from the picture.
“Who was here?”
Augustus shook his head.
“I never knew.”
Charlotte opened another folder.
CARVER.
Inside were documents bearing Augustus’s signature.
Transfers.
Millions of dollars.
Augustus studied them.
“Forged.”
Dominic looked closer.
“Good forgery.”
“Catherine discovered it before she died.”
“Who had authority to sign for you?”
“My chief financial officer.”
“Name?”
“Henry Vale.”
Charlotte frowned.
“I know that name.”
Augustus looked at her.
“You shouldn’t.”
“I heard Mom arguing with someone the night before she died.”
The room went silent.
“She said, ‘Henry, if Augustus discovers what you’ve done, he’ll bury you.’”
Augustus gripped the table.
“You never told me.”
“I was twelve. You told me Mom crashed because she drove too fast.”
He looked as though she had struck him again.
Dominic searched the files.
“Henry Vale died ten years ago.”
“No,” Augustus said.
“His boat exploded.”
“A body was never recovered.”
Charlotte’s phone rang.
Emma.
Charlotte answered immediately.
“You okay?”
Emma’s voice trembled.
“There are federal agents at the hospital.”
“What?”
“They’re asking about you.”
Dominic and Augustus exchanged a glance.
“Names?”
“Agent Daniel Mercer and Agent Lisa Grant.”
Augustus swore softly.
“What?”
“Daniel Mercer worked the original Haven investigation.”
Dominic reached for his coat.
“Then we finally have someone legitimate.”
Augustus grabbed his arm.
“No.”
Dominic stared at his hand until Augustus released him.
“Mercer was the agent Catherine believed was compromised.”
Charlotte felt cold.
Her phone vibrated again.
Unknown number.
A video.
Peter Wallace appeared on-screen.
Behind him sat Vanessa Rainer.
She was tied to a chair.
Her face was bruised.
Dominic moved closer.
Peter smiled into the camera.
“Mr. Rainer. Miss Carver. Mr. Carver. I’m disappointed.”
Vanessa screamed behind the gag.
“You found one of our locations. Congratulations.”
Peter held up the stolen memory card.
“But this is useless without the full encryption key.”
Charlotte touched her earrings.
“Midnight tomorrow,” Peter continued. “Bring both earrings and Augustus’s original Haven ledger.”
Augustus looked at the book in his hand.
“Come without them, Vanessa dies.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Peter leaned closer.
“And Charlotte?”
The smile vanished.
“Ask your father why Catherine Carver was driving toward the Rainer estate the night she died.”
The video ended.
Charlotte slowly turned.
Augustus did not meet her eyes.
“Dad.”
Nothing.
“Look at me.”
He did.
“Why was Mom going there?”
Augustus sat down.
“Because she discovered who ordered Evelyn’s death.”
Dominic stopped.
“Who?”
Augustus looked at him.
“Your father.”
Dominic’s face emptied.
Charlotte whispered, “And Mom?”
“She was taking the evidence to Vanessa.”
Dominic stared.
“Why Vanessa?”
“Because Catherine believed Vanessa would testify against her brother.”
Charlotte looked at the kidnapping video.
“Then Vanessa wasn’t part of it?”
“Not originally.”
“What happened?”
Augustus’s voice lowered.
“Catherine never reached the estate.”
Dominic asked the question neither wanted answered.
“Who stopped her?”
May you like
Augustus looked at Charlotte.
“I did.”
