Chapter 20 - Eleanor’s Choice
Eleanor disappeared before sunrise.
Her hotel suite had been cleared.
Phone disconnected.
Passport activity flagged.
The obvious conclusion was betrayal.
I refused to accept obvious conclusions without proof.
By noon, federal agents confirmed that the payment authorization bearing Eleanor’s name had been generated from her corporate credentials.
Julian paced Mark’s conference room.
“She used us.”
“Maybe,” I said.
He stopped.
“Clare.”
“She handed us documents that expose her father. Why sabotage the center afterward?”
“To control the narrative.”
“Possible.”
“You’re defending her.”
“I’m asking questions.”
Mark looked up from his laptop.
“She boarded a flight.”
“To where?”
“Toronto.”
Julian exhaled sharply.
“Running.”
Mark shook his head.
“Flight landed forty minutes ago. She never got off.”
Silence.
“What?” I said.
“Her name was on the manifest. Airport security cannot locate her.”
My skin went cold.
Not running.
Missing.
Three hours later, an anonymous message arrived on my private phone.
It contained one photograph.
Eleanor sat in a chair inside what looked like an empty warehouse.
Her hands were bound.
A newspaper lay across her lap.
Today’s date.
Beneath it was a message.
RETURN THE DRIVE.
Julian read it over my shoulder.
“Absolutely not.”
“They think we have it.”
“Federal agents have it.”
“They don’t know that.”
Another message appeared.
MIDNIGHT. PIER 46. CLARE ALONE.
Julian actually laughed.
“No.”
“I’m not going.”
“Good.”
“I’m sending something else.”
At eleven forty-five, an armored evidence van rolled toward Pier 46 carrying a duplicate hard drive Mark’s technicians had created.
I was nowhere near it.
Neither was Julian.
Federal agents handled the exchange.
The kidnappers never appeared.
Instead, police found Eleanor locked inside a shipping container three blocks away.
She was dehydrated, bruised, and furious.
I met her at the hospital the next morning.
She looked at me.
“You didn’t come.”
“No.”
“Smart.”
“Thank you.”
She smiled painfully.
“My father always said people become stupid when someone they care about is threatened.”
“Apparently he raised disappointing women.”
That made her laugh, then wince.
“What happened?”
Her expression became serious.
“My father used my login credentials. I discovered the fire payment yesterday. Before I could reach the FBI, his security chief grabbed me.”
“Your father ordered the fire?”
“I don’t know.”
“But?”
“He knew about it before it happened.”
That was enough to put investigators much closer.
Then Eleanor reached for my hand.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Your husband is about to lose the company.”
My stomach dropped.
“When?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
“The shareholder meeting isn’t for another week.”
“My father moved it.”
“How?”
“He invoked an emergency debt provision.”
Eleanor squeezed my fingers.
“He knows the criminal investigation is closing in.”
“So he’s accelerating.”
“Yes.”
She looked at me with bleak certainty.
“By noon tomorrow, Adrian intends to take Whitmore Group away from Julian.”
I stood.
“Then we have until noon.”
For the first time since this began, Eleanor smiled.
May you like
“You really are terrifying.”
“So I’ve been told.”
