Chapter 7 - The Night on the Highway
The words remained suspended in the library.
For allowing you to live.
Agent Sloan ordered Victoria’s attorneys to step back.
Vance moved closer.
“What does that mean?”
Victoria said nothing.
Sloan placed both hands on the table.
“If a child’s life was threatened and you concealed it, this conversation has moved far beyond obstruction.”
Victoria’s composure began to crack.
“Conrad was not a good man.”
“No one here believed he was,” Vance replied.
“He discovered Elena had copied the shipping records.”
Victoria’s fingers tightened.
“He ordered men to intercept the Hale family before they reached Washington.”
Maya’s knees weakened.
“What happened?”
Victoria stared at the floor.
“Their vehicle was forced off the road.”
“Were my parents killed?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I was not there.”
“Then how did I survive?”
Victoria looked up.
“Because someone refused to follow Conrad’s orders.”
Vance’s voice turned sharp.
“Who?”
“A driver named Samuel Reed.”
The name struck him immediately.
“Reed worked estate security for the Vaughns.”
“He also worked secretly for Conrad,” Victoria said.
“He helped stage the crash.”
“But when he saw Elena’s daughter inside the vehicle, he could not kill a child.”
Maya’s eyes filled with tears.
“What did he do with me?”
“He drove through the night.”
“He left you near a highway patrol route with the medal your mother had hidden in your coat.”
“Why didn’t he speak to police?”
“Because Conrad threatened his wife and sons.”
Maya closed her eyes.
A memory surfaced.
Rain against a windshield.
A man crying behind the steering wheel.
A rough coat wrapped around her shoulders.
A voice telling her to walk toward the lights.
The image was no longer a nightmare.
It had happened.
“Where is Samuel Reed?”
Victoria looked toward Vance.
“He died eleven years ago.”
“Convenient,” Sloan said.
“He did not die naturally.”
Victoria’s voice dropped.
“He sent me a letter.”
“He said he intended to confess.”
“Two days later, his car exploded.”
Vance stepped forward.
“Why did he contact you?”
“Because he believed I had helped him protect the child.”
Maya’s face hardened.
“You did not protect me.”
“I kept Conrad from finding you.”
“You also kept my family from finding me.”
“Yes.”
Victoria’s eyes met hers.
“And that is the crime I committed.”
Maya shook her head.
“No.”
“That is only the crime you are willing to admit.”
A technician appeared in the doorway.
“We recovered additional frames from the microfilm.”
Agent Sloan took the pages.
Her expression changed as she read.
One frame contained bank transfers.
Another contained coded shipments.
The final frame showed a handwritten statement.
At the bottom was Elena Hale’s signature.
May you like
Beside it were six words.
If we disappear, Victoria knows why.
