Chapter 16 - Elias Vance
Clara Vance refused Raymond’s first request to meet.
She refused the second.
On the third, she sent a message.
PUBLIC PLACE. TEN MINUTES. NO CAMERAS.
They met at a diner halfway between Westbridge and Albany.
Raymond arrived early.
Clara made him wait twenty minutes anyway.
When she finally sat opposite him, she did not order coffee.
“You have ten minutes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“That took four seconds.”
Raymond swallowed.
“Elias saved my life.”
“I know.”
“He went back for the drive.”
“I know.”
“I tried—”
“Don’t.”
Clara’s eyes hardened.
“Do not make me imagine the last minutes of my brother’s life so you can feel forgiven.”
Raymond closed his mouth.
She leaned forward.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone he was dead?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of Gregory?”
“Yes.”
“Then you chose your fear over my right to know.”
Raymond stared at the table.
“Yes.”
Clara’s face trembled.
“My brother missed my birthday dinner on Wednesday.”
Raymond looked up.
“I called him thirteen times.”
He had no response.
“Thursday morning I reported him missing. Thursday afternoon I saw your funeral announcement.”
Her voice broke.
“All that time, my brother was in your casket.”
Raymond blinked back tears.
Clara did not soften.
“Do you know what your family did to him?”
“No.”
“You erased his name.”
The accusation entered Raymond deeper than anything police or lawyers had said.
“I will fix it.”
“You cannot.”
“I can make sure he is buried under his name.”
“That is the minimum.”
“Yes.”
“I can make sure the investigation recognizes what he did.”
“The minimum.”
“Yes.”
“I can compensate—”
Clara stood so suddenly her chair scraped.
“Do not buy my brother.”
Raymond stood too.
“I didn’t mean—”
“I know exactly what you meant.”
People turned.
Clara lowered her voice.
“You Archers think money is the difference between guilt and consequence.”
Raymond stared.
She was right often enough that he could not defend himself.
Clara sat again.
“You want to do something for Elias?”
“Yes.”
“Tell the truth when it costs you.”
Raymond nodded.
She left after nine minutes.
Raymond remained for an hour.
Back in Westbridge, investigators searched Colin Sykes’s office.
They found nothing useful.
His laptop had been wiped.
His company phone replaced three days earlier.
His paper files were ordinary.
But one detail bothered Bell.
Colin had not appeared at work that morning.
His wife said he was on a business trip.
Archer Properties had authorized no trip.
By evening, police issued a request to locate him.
Gregory called Nicole.
“Colin is missing.”
“I know.”
“Police searched his office.”
“I know.”
“They’re going to blame me for whatever he did.”
Nicole said nothing.
“Nicole.”
“What do you want?”
“I need you to believe I did not order that fire.”
“I don’t know what I believe.”
“I told Colin to handle Raymond.”
Her heart stopped.
Gregory continued quickly.
“I meant stop the investigation. Recover documents. Pressure him if necessary.”
“Pressure?”
“Legally.”
“Colin poured accelerant in a warehouse.”
“We don’t know that.”
“His SUV was there.”
“He had a team.”
“Gregory.”
“I did not tell him to kill Raymond.”
Nicole closed her eyes.
The same sentence.
Always phrased exactly the same.
“Did you tell him Raymond had to be removed?”
Silence.
“That was about the Alder Ridge vote.”
“Words matter.”
“I know that now.”
“Elias is dead.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get to hide behind what you meant.”
Gregory’s voice cracked.
“What do you want me to do?”
For the first time he sounded frightened rather than strategic.
Nicole looked at Emma playing nearby.
“Tell the police everything.”
“And go to prison?”
“That depends on what you did.”
“You’re asking me to destroy Emma’s father.”
“No.”
Nicole’s voice remained calm.
“I’m asking Emma’s father to decide whether he still wants his daughter to grow up learning that truth is only for people without money.”
Gregory said nothing.
Then the line went dead.
An hour later Detective Bell called.
They had found Colin’s SUV at a commuter station.
May you like
Inside was one item.
Gregory Hart’s missing second phone.
