Chapter 7 - THE PRISONER WHO WALKED OUTEvelyn stared at the photograph until her eyes watered.
Her mother had died when Evelyn was twenty.
That was what Edward had told her.
Margaret’s funeral had been private because the body was badly damaged in a house fire. Evelyn had never been allowed to see her.
Now Margaret was alive.
Samuel searched the memory card for the nursing facility’s address.
The file had been erased from its original directory, but Helena recovered fragments of location data.
“Westbridge Behavioral Center,” she said.
Samuel knew it.
Westbridge was privately owned through Northbridge Fiduciary.
David’s network.
The police dispatched officers immediately.
They found Margaret in a secured room registered under a false name.
She was weak but mentally alert.
When investigators told her Evelyn was alive, she began crying.
Her first question was not about her daughter.
It was about David.
“Did Daniel find her?”
At the hospital, Margaret entered Evelyn’s room in a wheelchair.
Evelyn looked at the mother she had mourned for sixteen years.
Margaret looked older, thinner, and frightened, but her voice was familiar.
“I tried to come back.”
Evelyn’s computer answered.
WHY DID FATHER HIDE YOU?
Margaret lowered her head.
“Because I helped Daniel Rowe.”
Samuel stood near the window.
Helena remained beside the door.
Margaret continued.
“Daniel’s father was Edward’s first business partner. They built the earliest Sterling company together.”
“What happened?” Samuel asked.
“Edward forced him out.”
“Why?”
“He accused him of theft. Daniel always claimed Edward fabricated the evidence.”
Jessica crossed her arms.
“So David wanted revenge.”
“At first.”
Margaret looked at Evelyn.
“Then he learned how much the company would be worth.”
The computer spoke.
YOU HELPED HIM.
“I gave him financial records. I believed Edward had destroyed an innocent family.”
“And the fire?”
“Daniel arranged it after I tried to stop him. Edward rescued me but told the world I had died. He feared Daniel would come after Evelyn.”
“Why place you in Westbridge?”
“Edward intended to move me. He died before he could. Daniel found me first.”
Sixteen years of isolation.
Twelve years since Edward’s death.
Seven years of marriage to the man responsible.
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Samuel’s phone rang.
Detective Price spoke rapidly.
David had been arrested at a private airfield while attempting to leave the state.
Samuel exhaled.
“Keep him isolated.”
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“The transport vehicle never reached the detention center.”
Samuel’s relief disappeared.
“How?”
“It was intercepted.”
“By whom?”
“Two men wearing police uniforms. They had valid identification and knew the route.”
Northbridge had infiltrated more than hospitals and courtrooms.
It had people inside law enforcement.
Samuel turned toward Jessica.
“David escaped.”
Jessica touched the empty place where her torn dress had been repaired.
“He will come for the key.”
“I uploaded it to a secure server.”
“He does not know that.”
An alarm sounded from the hospital entrance.
The lights flickered.
Evelyn’s computer went offline.
Samuel moved to the window.
Three black vehicles blocked the emergency driveway.
Men in security uniforms entered the building.
The police officer outside Evelyn’s room reached for his radio.
Static answered.
Helena pushed Margaret’s wheelchair behind the bed.
Jessica grabbed a metal stand.
Samuel locked the door.
The handle turned from the other side.
A man’s voice called out.
“Hospital maintenance.”
No one answered.
The door shook.
Then stopped.
Silence filled the room.
Samuel looked toward the ceiling vent.
A faint chemical odor entered through the air system.
Helena recognized it first.
“Cover your mouths.”
Samuel pulled the fire alarm.
Sprinklers activated, soaking the room and slowing the vapor.
The men outside began forcing the door.
Jessica climbed onto the bed and opened the window.
They were six floors above the ground.
“There is nowhere to go.”
Margaret pointed toward a service panel beside the medical cabinet.
“This building was renovated by Northbridge. There may be a maintenance shaft.”
Samuel opened it.
Behind the panel was a narrow passage containing electrical cables and ventilation pipes.
They moved Evelyn onto a portable chair and entered one at a time.
The bedroom door broke open seconds later.
Samuel led them through darkness until they reached a stairwell.
Police sirens approached from several directions.
The attackers fled.
David had not come to kill Evelyn.
He had come to force her out of the hospital.
Samuel understood why when his phone reconnected.
Sterling Global’s board had called another emergency meeting.
Northbridge planned to sell the company’s most valuable assets before the court could reverse the guardianship order.
The meeting would take place at Sterling Tower in forty minutes.
Evelyn’s computer restarted.
Her message appeared immediately.
TAKE ME THERE.
Helena protested.
“You nearly died yesterday.”
Evelyn stared at her.
Samuel nodded.
“We go.”
At Sterling Tower, directors gathered inside the top-floor boardroom.
Security locked the elevators.
Northbridge representatives distributed sale documents worth more than fourteen billion dollars.
The chairman called the meeting to order.
Then the private elevator opened.
David stepped out.
He wore a fresh black suit.
One arm was wrapped around Helena’s throat.
Somewhere during the escape from the hospital passage, she had been separated from the group.
David pressed a concealed blade against her side.
Jessica entered the boardroom behind him, her face white with terror.
David looked toward the directors.
“No one leaves until my wife signs.”
The elevator doors opened again.
Evelyn Sterling rolled into the room.
Her body remained weak.
May you like
Her eyes did not.
And David smiled as though he had been waiting for her.
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