Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO LEFT NO FOOTPRINTS
“Victor!”
Marcus ran for the stairs.
Vincent grabbed Sophie’s hand.
“Stay beside me.”
They rushed upward.
The dining room erupted the moment they returned.
Guests were standing.
Two were shouting.
Someone demanded police.
Someone else wanted the doors opened.
Vincent ignored all of them.
“Where is Victor Shaw?”
Silence.
A silver-haired investor pointed toward the bathroom corridor.
“He went that way thirty seconds ago.”
Marcus and a guard ran.
Vincent turned toward Lydia.
“You were supposed to keep everyone in this room.”
“I am not your employee.”
“No.”
Vincent’s voice became colder.
“You’re the woman whose building contains an illegal underground detention room.”
Lydia’s face tightened.
“And if I were you, I’d worry less about employment.”
Marcus returned.
“Bathroom is empty.”
Vincent looked toward the locked doors.
“Exit?”
“Still sealed.”
“Windows?”
“Seventy-second floor.”
“Then he’s inside.”
Marcus nodded.
“Or in another passage.”
Vincent scanned the room.
Twelve people had become eleven.
Everyone suddenly understood the problem.
Victor Shaw had disappeared without opening a door.
Vincent walked to the center of the room.
“Phones on the table.”
An attorney named Harold Pierce frowned.
“You can’t legally confiscate—”
Vincent cut him off.
“You can give Marcus your phone voluntarily.”
“Or you can explain to the police why you refused while a kidnapped man was somewhere beneath your feet.”
Harold placed his phone down.
Others followed.
Lydia did not.
Vincent looked at her.
She slowly removed hers.
Marcus collected them.
Sophie remained attached to Vincent’s side.
He lowered his voice.
“Did the ring man say anything about Victor?”
She thought.
“They called someone Mr. V.”
Vincent’s eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was Gabriel there?”
She shook her head.
“I only saw him later.”
“Tell me what happened from the beginning.”
Sophie looked overwhelmed.
Vincent immediately softened his voice.
“Only what you remember.”
She stared at the carpet.
“Mom picked me up from school yesterday.”
Sophie’s mother, Hannah Carter.
Vincent knew her only slightly.
After Daniel died, Vincent had offered financial support.
Hannah refused almost all of it.
She had said she wanted her daughter to grow up knowing that money could not fix everything.
Vincent had respected her for that.
Sophie continued.
“A black car followed us.”
Her voice dropped.
“Mom noticed.”
“What did she do?”
“She drove to Aunt Rachel’s apartment.”
“Did she make it?”
“No.”
Sophie shook her head.
“A van blocked the street.”
Marcus listened from several feet away.
“Men got out.”
“One had the ring.”
“Darren?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to your mother?”
Sophie squeezed Vincent’s hand.
“They pulled her out.”
Her eyes filled.
“She told me to run.”
Vincent felt fury rise.
“Did you?”
“I tried.”
She looked ashamed.
“They caught me.”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“They put us in different cars.”
“Then what?”
“I woke up downstairs.”
“At Bellgrave?”
“I didn’t know where I was.”
“There was a bed.”
“A sink.”
“A camera.”
“And a red door.”
Vincent glanced at Lydia.
She was staring at Sophie.
Not with confusion anymore.
With dread.
Sophie continued.
“Yesterday I heard Mr. Shaw outside.”
Victor.
“He was angry.”
“He said my dad stole something.”
“What?”
“A key.”
Vincent frowned.
“Did your father ever give you a key?”
Sophie shook her head.
“No.”
“Did he give your mother one?”
“I don’t know.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“Sophie, what did Darren ask you?”
“He kept asking about my necklace.”
Vincent looked down.
Sophie wore a thin silver chain.
A small star-shaped pendant rested against her sweater.
“May I see it?”
She held it up.
“My dad gave it to me.”
“When?”
“The night before he died.”
Vincent’s chest tightened.
“Did he say anything?”
“He said I should never take it off.”
Vincent looked at Marcus.
Marcus nodded.
“Could be storage.”
Vincent gently asked Sophie for the necklace.
She hesitated.
Then removed it.
Vincent examined the silver star.
Heavy for its size.
He pressed the center.
Nothing.
Marcus took it.
He rotated one point.
The star separated into two pieces.
Inside was a tiny black memory card.
Every person near them went silent.
Sophie stared.
“I didn’t know.”
Vincent felt suddenly sick.
Daniel had hidden evidence on his daughter.
Or hidden evidence with his daughter because he believed nobody would search a child.
Marcus took the memory card.
“We need an isolated laptop.”
Lydia spoke immediately.
“My office.”
Vincent looked at her.
“You suddenly want to help.”
“I want whoever built those rooms out of my club.”
Vincent studied her.
Then nodded.
“Marcus goes first.”
They crossed the dining room.
Two guards remained with the guests.
Lydia led Vincent, Sophie, and Marcus toward an office behind the bar.
The office door was locked.
Lydia used her fingerprint.
Inside sat an elegant walnut desk.
Two monitors.
A private safe.
Marcus disconnected the main network cable before booting the computer.
He inserted the memory card through an adapter.
A password box appeared.
“What would Daniel use?”
Vincent asked.
Sophie answered immediately.
“Bluebird.”
Vincent looked at her.
“It was Mom’s nickname.”
Marcus typed BLUEBIRD.
Incorrect.
Sophie frowned.
“Try lowercase.”
Incorrect.
Vincent thought of Daniel.
Precise.
Cautious.
He would never use something that simple.
Then Sophie said, “Fourteen.”
“Why?”
“Dad always wrote fourteen after Bluebird.”
“Bluebird14?”
Marcus typed it.
The folder opened.
There were dozens of files.
Financial statements.
Images.
Audio.
A spreadsheet labeled GABRIEL.
Vincent clicked.
His blood went cold.
Payments dated fourteen years earlier.
Shell corporations.
Offshore transfers.
Millions of dollars.
One recipient appeared repeatedly.
SHAW STRATEGIC SERVICES.
Victor.
Another appeared six times.
MERCER HOSPITALITY GROUP.
Lydia.
Vincent turned toward her.
Lydia stared at the screen.
“No.”
Marcus moved between her and the door.
“I have never seen those transactions.”
“Your company received them.”
“My father controlled Mercer Hospitality fourteen years ago.”
“Where is your father?”
“Dead.”
Vincent looked back at the spreadsheet.
One final column carried initials.
G.H.
Gabriel Hale.
A payment of fifty million dollars had been authorized by Gabriel three days after his plane crashed.
Impossible.
Sophie suddenly pointed at another file.
“Play that one.”
It was an audio recording.
DANIEL_FINAL_03.
Vincent clicked.
Daniel Carter’s voice came through the speakers.
Calm.
Tired.
Terrified.
“If Vincent is hearing this, I probably failed.”
Sophie covered her mouth.
Vincent reached for her.
Daniel continued.
“Gabriel Hale did not authorize the fifty-million-dollar transfer.”
“Someone kept his credentials active after the crash.”
“I traced the approval chain.”
“It originates inside Hale Meridian.”
“The person responsible has been beside Vincent for years.”
A pause.
Daniel breathed.
Then said the words that made Vincent look toward the door.
“Victor Shaw is involved.”
“But Victor is not the person in charge.”
Lydia whispered, “Oh God.”
Daniel continued.
“The person above Victor has access to Hale family trusts, Bellgrave infrastructure, company legal records, and the crash investigation.”
“Only one person fits.”
Static cut through the recording.
Daniel spoke again.
“If anything happens to me, Vincent needs to know—”
The office lights went out.
Sophie screamed.
A metallic click sounded behind Vincent.
May you like
Then a man’s voice came from the darkness.
“You should have left your brother dead.”
