Chapter 5 - THE LOCKET WITH TWO SECRETS|
There are moments when fear makes your mind go completely blank.
And there are moments when fear sharpens every memory you've ever had.
Seeing the photograph of my broken jewelry box did both.
For several seconds, I could only stare at the screen.
Then I remembered something important.
The locket wasn't in my apartment.
I'd moved it.
Two days earlier, I'd found the delicate silver chain tangled around the corner of my jewelry box.
Afraid it might break, I'd slipped the locket into the pocket of my brown winter coat.
That coat was hanging inside the mansion's staff closet.
I looked toward Gabriel.
"It's still here."
Detective Brooks leaned forward.
"What's still here?"
"The locket."
I explained.
Gabriel let out a breath.
"Then whoever broke into your apartment hasn't found it."
"Yet," Detective Brooks said.
She took my phone and photographed the messages.
"Claire, do not respond."
I nodded.
"Can we get it?"
"With an officer present."
She called one of the uniformed officers waiting outside.
Together, we walked through the mansion toward the staff hallway.
Every shadow suddenly seemed dangerous.
Every creak made me turn.
I hated feeling that way.
I'd spent six months cleaning these rooms, polishing these floors, and carrying laundry through these corridors.
Now the house felt like a place where secrets had been hiding behind every door.
At the staff closet, I opened the wooden cabinet.
My brown coat hung exactly where I'd left it.
I reached into the right pocket.
Nothing.
My heart sank.
Then I checked the left.
My fingers closed around something cold.
I pulled out the locket.
A tiny oval piece of silver with a blue sapphire embedded in its center.
Gabriel stopped moving.
For a moment, he seemed unable to speak.
Then he held out his hand.
"May I?"
I gave it to him.
He turned it over.
On the back, two initials had been engraved.
E.R.
Gabriel pressed his thumb against them.
"My father gave this to my mother on their tenth anniversary."
He swallowed.
"She wore it every day."
Detective Brooks examined the clasp.
"Does it open?"
Gabriel nodded.
He pressed the tiny catch.
Inside were two miniature photographs.
One showed Gabriel at approximately twelve years old.
The other showed Daniel as a smiling little boy.
Gabriel laughed softly.
"She used to say her heart had two halves."
His voice broke.
"And she carried both everywhere."
I felt tears sting my eyes.
Detective Brooks leaned closer.
"There's something behind the photographs."
Gabriel frowned.
He carefully lifted the first photograph.
A tiny strip of yellowed paper had been tucked beneath it.
On the paper was a series of numbers.
317-42-19.
Beneath Daniel's photograph lay another strip.
It contained four words.
"THE TRUTH IS BELOW."
We looked at one another.
Gabriel repeated them.
"Below what?"
Detective Brooks examined the locket again.
"There might be another compartment."
She gently pressed the back.
Nothing happened.
I looked at the sapphire.
"Could the stone be a button?"
Gabriel glanced at me.
"Try it."
I pushed the blue stone.
A faint click sounded.
The back panel slid open.
Inside was a tiny folded square of paper.
Gabriel carefully removed it.
The handwriting belonged to Eleanor Romano.
It contained only three lines.
"Gabriel, trust the woman who protects your father."
"The key opens the box, but the numbers open the truth."
"Daniel was never the enemy."
Gabriel read the note twice.
Then he looked at me.
"Trust the woman who protects your father."
I shook my head.
"She couldn't have meant me."
Detective Brooks studied the paper.
"Not necessarily."
I frowned.
"She died eighteen years ago."
"Which means the message was intended for someone in a particular role," Detective Brooks explained.
"Someone who proved herself trustworthy through her actions."
Gabriel turned toward the hallway.
"Or my mother knew that my father would eventually need help."
He looked back at the note.
"And she wanted him to recognize the right person."
I thought about Vincent handing me the locket three weeks earlier.
He had struggled for several minutes to explain why it mattered.
Finally, he'd simply placed it in my hand and said, "Good heart."
At the time, I'd assumed he was thanking me.
Now I understood he'd been making a decision.
He had entrusted me with something he'd hidden from his own son.
Gabriel carefully returned the note to the locket.
"Claire, thank you."
I shook my head.
"I haven't done anything yet."
"You kept it safe."
He looked toward the photographs.
"That's more than you realize."
Detective Brooks checked her watch.
"We have twenty minutes before midnight."
Gabriel straightened.
"Then we go to Riverside Terminal."
"Not without a plan."
"He has my father."
"And whoever he is expects you to come."
Gabriel looked at her.
"Are you suggesting I stay home?"
"I'm suggesting you give us a chance to recover both men alive."
Detective Brooks called her team.
Within minutes, investigators were reviewing the terminal's layout, nearby streets, and available surveillance.
Gabriel wanted to accompany them.
She refused.
He argued.
She remained calm.
Finally, she placed a photograph of Vincent on the desk.
"Do you want your father rescued, Gabriel, or do you want revenge?"
Gabriel went silent.
"Because those are two very different things."
He looked down.
Then nodded.
"Rescue him."
Detective Brooks softened slightly.
"That's what we're going to try."
While officers prepared, Gabriel's attorney called.
His name was James Whitmore, and he'd served the Romano family for more than twenty years.
Gabriel put him on speaker.
"James, tell me you found something."
"I found considerably more than I expected."
Gabriel leaned forward.
"Go on."
"Your mother's estate included a protected trust for Daniel."
"We know that."
"But the trust was never properly distributed because Daniel was declared deceased."
Gabriel frowned.
"Then what happened to the money?"
"Most of it remained invested."
"How much?"
James hesitated.
"Gabriel, the current valuation is approximately ninety-two million dollars."
I nearly dropped my phone.
Gabriel stared at the desk.
"Ninety-two million?"
"Yes."
"And Isabella tried to take control of it?"
"She appears to have tried to obtain broad authority over Vincent's financial and medical decisions, including assets connected to the trust."
Detective Brooks began writing.
James continued.
"There's another complication."
Gabriel closed his eyes.
"Of course there is."
"Your mother's trust contains a condition."
"What condition?"
"If Daniel is alive, he becomes the primary beneficiary."
Gabriel nodded.
"That's what she would have wanted."
"But if Daniel is legally unable to manage his affairs, a trustee controls distributions."
"Who?"
James paused.
"Under the original document, Vincent."
"And after my father?"
"Gabriel, according to an amendment submitted six weeks ago, Isabella Varela."
The room went silent.
Gabriel slowly raised his head.
"Submitted by whom?"
"Martin Keller."
The attorney Isabella had named.
The man removed from the family's legal affairs.
I remembered the questionable signature in the blue folder.
"That's why she needed Mr. Vincent's signature," I whispered.
Gabriel looked at me.
"She wanted to become Daniel's trustee."
Detective Brooks nodded.
"And if she could keep him hidden while controlling his legal status, she'd gain access to the assets."
Gabriel gripped the desk.
"But she still needed to prove the amendment was valid."
James cleared his throat.
"Actually, Gabriel, there's something else."
"What?"
"The amendment is scheduled for an emergency review tomorrow morning."
Gabriel stared.
"Tomorrow?"
"Yes."
"Who authorized that?"
"That's what I'm trying to determine."
Detective Brooks looked at her watch.
Eleven fifty-eight.
Her radio crackled.
A voice announced that officers had reached Riverside Terminal.
Everyone went silent.
Then another voice came through.
"Movement near the south entrance."
Gabriel stood.
"What do they see?"
Detective Brooks raised her hand.
"Quiet."
The radio hissed.
"One van."
A pause.
"Two men exiting."
Another pause.
"Possible elderly male inside."
I pressed my hands together.
Please be Vincent.
Please let him be alive.
Suddenly, shouting exploded through the radio.
"Police!"
"Hands where we can see them!"
Then came the unmistakable sound of breaking glass.
Gabriel stepped forward.
"What's happening?"
Detective Brooks listened.
A voice shouted for medical support.
My heart pounded.
Finally, the radio crackled again.
"We have the victim."
Gabriel gripped the table.
"Is he alive?"
Detective Brooks repeated the question.
A terrible silence followed.
Then the officer answered.
"Alive and conscious."
Gabriel covered his face.
For a moment, I thought he might collapse.
But the officer hadn't finished.
"Detective, there's something else."
Brooks lifted the radio.
"Go ahead."
"The elderly man says another patient was transported earlier."
Gabriel looked up sharply.
"Who?"
The officer hesitated.
"He says it's his other son."
I stared at Gabriel.
Daniel.
The radio crackled once more.
"And Detective?"
"Yes?"
"The van driver says the younger Romano is being transferred to a private aircraft."
Gabriel's expression hardened.
"Where?"
The officer answered.
"Teterboro Airport."
Detective Brooks checked the time.
May you like
It was midnight.
And somewhere in New Jersey, a man who had spent eighteen years believing his family abandoned him was about to disappear again.
