Chapter 12 - THE SECRET ROOM
Nathan arrived ten minutes later.
I showed him the photograph.
His expression changed immediately.
“Where did you get this?”
“He came here.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Nathan locked the doors.
Then he studied the photograph.
“This man is Victor Vale.”
“Who?”
“A private financier.”
“That tells me nothing.”
“It should.”
Nathan looked at me.
“Victor disappeared twenty years ago.”
“And my mother?”
“He disappeared the same year she supposedly died.”
I stared at him.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“Then why are you acting like you expected this?”
Nathan didn't answer.
That was enough.
“You're hiding something.”
He looked away.
I stepped closer.
“Tell me.”
Nathan finally sighed.
“Your mother wasn't killed.”
“I know.”
“She disappeared because she was investigating the same network that destroyed my family.”
“What network?”
“Not the Vances.”
My heart stopped.
“Then who?”
Nathan pulled out a folder.
Inside were photographs.
Banks.
Politicians.
Judges.
Businessmen.
And my father.
But the photograph was dated fifteen years before I was born.
My father stood beside Victor Vale.
Behind them was a building I recognized.
My childhood home.
I looked up.
“What is this?”
Nathan pointed to the floor plan.
“There's a room beneath your old house.”
“There wasn't.”
“There was.”
He turned another page.
“Your mother hid something there.”
“What?”
“We don't know.”
“Then we're going.”
Nathan grabbed my arm.
“Grace, the house has been abandoned for years.”
“Good.”
“Someone has been watching it.”
I looked toward the window.
A black SUV sat across the street.
Engine running.
Lights off.
Nathan saw it too.
His hand went to his weapon.
The SUV suddenly accelerated away.
Nathan swore.
“They know.”
May you like
“Know what?”
“That we've found the house.”
