CHAPTER 18 WHAT ADRIAN TOOK FROM THE CRASH
Elena stopped the film.
The room went dark.
For several seconds, neither she nor Adrian spoke.
Then Elena turned toward her brother.
“Start talking.”
Adrian lowered his eyes.
“I was twenty-four.”
“That is not an explanation.”
“Dad called me that night. He said someone had forced his car off the road.”
“You told me you were asleep.”
“I lied.”
Elena stepped closer.
“Why?”
“Because he made me promise.”
“To hide his murder?”
“To protect someone.”
Adrian looked toward the frozen image on the wall.
“Dad was alive when I arrived. His car had been damaged, but it had not caught fire yet. Rebecca’s mother was there with a baby.”
“What baby?”
“I never knew.”
“You were standing beside them.”
“She kept the child covered. Dad told me to drive them away before the police arrived.”
Elena’s voice hardened.
“And you did?”
“Yes.”
“Where did you take them?”
“To a church outside Macon. A man was waiting there.”
“What man?”
“I never saw his face.”
Adrian reached into his coat and removed his phone.
“I can show you the location.”
Elena did not take it.
“What happened after you left?”
“Dad called me again. He said he was going to meet Captain Hale and turn over evidence against Thomas.”
“But Captain Hale helped bury the investigation.”
“I did not know that then.”
“When did the car catch fire?”
“After I left.”
Elena felt the walls of the hidden room closing around her.
“You abandoned him.”
Adrian’s face tightened.
“He ordered me to go.”
“And you obeyed?”
“I was trying to save the child.”
“What child?”
“I told you, I don’t know.”
Elena pointed toward the ledger.
“It says they were waiting for a girl. It mentions Rebecca. Her mother was carrying a newborn. You expect me to believe you never asked who she was?”
“I asked Dad.”
“And?”
“He said the fewer people who knew, the longer she would live.”
A sound came from the passage behind them.
Both turned.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Careful.
Someone was coming through the hidden door.
Adrian moved in front of Elena.
“Stay behind me.”
The footsteps stopped outside the room.
A woman’s voice came from the darkness.
“Adrian?”
Rebecca stepped into the light.
She saw the projector.
The ledger.
The image of her mother holding the infant.
Her face emptied of color.
“What is this?” she asked.
Elena held up the ledger.
“It appears to be your family history.”
Rebecca stared at her mother’s image.
“That is impossible.”
“You recognize the location?” Adrian asked.
Rebecca did not answer.
Instead, she moved closer to the projected frame.
Her eyes fixed on the blanket wrapped around the baby.
A small embroidered symbol could be seen near the infant’s shoulder.
Rebecca touched the image with two fingers.
“My mother kept a blanket like that in a locked chest.”
Elena’s pulse quickened.
“Where is it now?”
Rebecca turned toward her.
“It disappeared the day Grace was born.”
Before Elena could respond, every light in the passage went out.
A mechanical sound echoed behind them.
May you like
The hidden steel door slammed shut.
Then the ventilation system began pumping smoke into the room.
