CHAPTER 4 — THE VOICE FROM THE GRAVE

Evelyn’s mother had died when Evelyn was twelve.

At least, that was what she had been told.

Celeste Vance’s body had been found inside a burned car near the coast. Dental records confirmed her identity. A funeral followed three days later.

Evelyn remembered the closed casket.

She remembered her father standing beside it without shedding a tear.

She remembered hating him for that.

Now Celeste’s voice filled the hidden room.

“Your father made choices you do not understand,” the recording continued. “If you open Nightingale, people will die.”

Mara worked quickly, tracing the signal.

“It’s being transmitted through an old satellite network.”

“Is it live?” Evelyn asked.

“No. It was programmed to play when the archive opened.”

Gabriel sat down slowly.

“I never knew Celeste was involved.”

Evelyn turned on him.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“I knew Daniel built a system. I didn’t know she helped him.”

“What kind of system?”

Gabriel looked toward the Nightingale folder.

“Your father believed powerful families could not be defeated through courts. Judges were bought. Evidence disappeared. Witnesses changed their stories.”

“So he built Nightingale.”

“He built something capable of collecting every secret, every payment, every private crime.”

“A blackmail network?”

“A weapon.”

Mara interrupted them.

“There’s more.”

A second file appeared beneath the recording.

It contained a list of names.

Mayors.

Judges.

Police commissioners.

Senators.

Business leaders.

Some were still alive.

Others had died under strange circumstances.

Beside each name was a colored symbol.

Red.

Blue.

Or black.

Evelyn scrolled down.

Julian Thorne was marked red.

Beatrice Thorne was marked black.

Gabriel Reed was marked blue.

Then she found her own name.

EVELYN VANCE — STATUS: ACTIVATED

She looked at Gabriel.

“What does activated mean?”

“I don’t know.”

A phone rang inside one of the locked drawers.

Gabriel stared at it.

“That phone has been disconnected for nine years.”

It rang again.

Evelyn opened the drawer and answered.

No one spoke at first.

Then a man whispered, “Evie?”

Her knees nearly failed.

Only one person had ever called her that.

“Dad?”

The connection crackled.

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“Do not trust Gabriel.”

Then the line went dead.