Chapter 8 - The Other Vincent
Nolan Price kept staring at Vincent as if his mind could not force two conflicting images to exist at the same time.
Vincent cut the restraints from his wrists.
"Describe him."
Nolan rubbed circulation back into his hands.
"He looked like you."
"How close?"
"Close enough that I opened the medical storage door for him."
Dominic leaned against his cane.
"What happened after you opened it?"
Nolan looked ashamed.
"He asked me to check a damaged lock."
"Then?"
"I turned around."
He touched the cut above his eyebrow.
"That is all I remember until I woke up here."
Vincent crouched.
"Did he speak?"
"Yes."
"Sound like me?"
Nolan hesitated.
"Almost."
"Almost is useful."
"His voice was lower."
Dominic remembered Angela saying the man's eyes looked lighter and he smelled of cedar.
Different eyes.
Different scent.
Different voice.
A disguise built for seconds, not scrutiny.
Enough to fool people who expected to see Vincent.
Not enough to survive a conversation.
"Anything else?" Dominic asked.
Nolan looked at Vincent's hands.
"He used his right hand for the flashlight."
Vincent lifted his left hand.
"I am left-handed."
Another mistake.
Too many mistakes.
Dominic felt the shape of the manipulation becoming clearer.
The fake Vincent was not designed to be perfect.
He was designed to be remembered.
The flaws were breadcrumbs proving he was fake once the witnesses were questioned carefully.
That meant whoever created him wanted the deception discovered eventually.
Dominic looked around the railcar.
"They wanted us to find Nolan."
Vincent nodded.
"And clear me."
"Partly."
"Why clear me after framing me?"
Dominic's eyes moved to the message on the wall.
"Because confusion costs time."
A guard found fresh tire tracks beyond the loading bay.
Another found a strip of torn tape with strands of Clare's hair attached.
She had been moved again.
Dominic checked the current time.
11:42.
His signed authority document still had not transmitted because the corporate network remained locked.
Yet the kidnappers had already abandoned North Harbor.
They did not care whether Arthur actually received power.
They only needed Dominic away from the estate during the attempt.
His phone rang.
Mrs. Bell.
Dominic answered immediately.
"Ellie?"
"She is safe."
Mrs. Bell's voice shook.
"But the council room has been opened."
Dominic's gaze sharpened.
"By whom?"
"Mr. Voss."
"What did he do?"
"He said authority had transferred and ordered the guards to stand down."
Vincent heard enough to understand.
"He knows the document did not send?"
Dominic asked Mrs. Bell, "Where is Arthur now?"
"Your private study."
Dominic looked at Vincent.
That room contained the offline master keys for several Vale companies and properties.
The same study had supposedly been used to delete the seventeen minutes of camera footage.
Arthur was moving toward the exact place the conspiracy had already touched.
Dominic's phone vibrated with another call.
Charles Wynn.
Dominic merged it.
"Speak."
The attorney sounded breathless.
"Arthur just ordered me to certify the transfer manually."
"Did you?"
"No."
"Good."
"He says you are incapacitated."
Dominic looked at the abandoned rail yard around him.
"I am standing."
"He has four council votes supporting emergency recognition."
Vincent cursed.
Dominic remained calm.
"Names."
Charles gave them.
Two were predictable allies of Arthur.
One surprised Dominic.
The fourth hurt.
Martin Keane.
The man who had helped identify North Harbor.
Dominic remembered Martin volunteering to come with them.
He had seemed useful.
Perhaps too useful.
"Where is Martin?"
"With Arthur."
Dominic ended the call.
Vincent looked at Nolan.
"Can you walk?"
"Yes."
"Then you are coming back with us."
Nolan shook his head.
"You do not understand."
Dominic looked at him.
"Then improve my understanding."
Nolan lowered his voice.
"The man who looked like Vincent was not alone."
"How many?"
"I heard two voices before I blacked out."
"Male?"
"One male."
He swallowed.
"One female."
Dominic thought of Angela.
"Did you recognize her?"
Nolan shook his head.
"No, but she called the other man by a name."
Vincent leaned closer.
"What name?"
Nolan looked directly at Dominic.
"Daniel."
The name meant nothing for a second.
Then Dominic felt the past open beneath him.
Daniel Vale was his older brother.
Daniel had been dead for fifteen years.
Vincent saw the change in Dominic's face.
"Boss?"
Dominic's voice became quiet.
"My brother's name was Daniel."
Nolan stared.
"I know."
"Then why did you not say that first?"
"Because the man answered to it."
Rain rattled against the railcar roof.
Dominic remembered Daniel as thirty-six, laughing too loudly at family dinners, reckless with money, brilliant with people, and impossible to control.
He remembered the car found burning beside the river.
He remembered identifying Daniel's watch because there had been almost nothing else left.
Arthur had handled the funeral arrangements.
Arthur had also been Daniel's closest friend.
Dominic turned toward Vincent.
"Get us home."
The drive back took nine minutes at a speed that would have terrified anyone else.
Dominic called Mrs. Bell twice.
Ellie remained safe.
Arthur remained in the study.
Martin remained with him.
Clare remained missing.
At 11:48, the estate gates opened for Dominic's vehicle.
Arthur's men were waiting in the great room.
Not Vale guards.
Private contractors wearing dark jackets with no house insignia.
Vincent stopped walking.
"Those are Voss Protective Systems men."
Dominic entered anyway.
Arthur came down the stairs holding a black metal case.
Martin Keane followed.
"You signed authority to me," Arthur said.
Dominic looked at the case.
"And you broke into my study."
"I used emergency access."
"There is no emergency access to that room."
Arthur smiled.
"There is now."
Vincent took one step forward.
Four contractors moved their hands toward concealed weapons.
Dominic raised his cane.
Everyone stopped.
"Arthur, where is Clare Rowan?"
Arthur's face remained controlled.
"I do not know."
"Wrong answer."
"It is the only one I have."
Martin stepped between them.
"Dominic, this has gone too far."
Dominic looked at him.
"You voted for emergency recognition."
Martin did not deny it.
"Because someone is kidnapping employees, drugging you, cutting cameras, and impersonating security inside your own house."
"So you gave authority to the man whose company installed the compromised system."
Martin's face tightened.
"I chose continuity."
"You chose quickly."
Arthur lifted the metal case.
"This contains corporate emergency credentials."
"Put it down."
"No."
Dominic's eyes moved to the contractors.
"Do they know your authority never activated?"
Arthur froze.
Dominic continued.
"The signed document has not been delivered."
Martin looked at Arthur.
"You said it was certified."
Arthur's expression changed for the first time.
"Charles confirmed it."
"Call him."
Martin took out his phone.
Arthur grabbed his wrist.
That one movement told Dominic more than another hour of argument could have.
Martin stared at Arthur's hand.
"Let go."
Arthur released him.
Martin called Charles.
The attorney answered after one ring.
Martin put him on speaker.
"Did Dominic's temporary authority transfer take effect?"
"No."
Arthur's face went pale.
Charles continued.
"The executed copy was never transmitted."
Martin lowered the phone.
Every contractor in the room looked at Arthur.
Their legal justification had disappeared.
Dominic pointed his cane toward the front door.
"Leave."
Nobody moved.
Arthur's voice turned hard.
"You think paperwork matters now?"
Dominic looked at the contractors.
"Any man who stays after I repeat myself becomes an armed trespasser inside my home."
One contractor stepped backward.
Then another.
Arthur stared at them.
"Hold your positions."
They did not.
Within seconds, the balance shifted without a shot being fired.
Arthur remained beside the staircase with Martin and the metal case.
Dominic approached him.
"Open it."
Arthur did not move.
Vincent took the case from his hand.
Inside were no corporate credentials.
There was a single old photograph.
Dominic picked it up.
It showed Daniel Vale standing beside Arthur fifteen years earlier.
Between them was a third man Dominic did not recognize.
On the back, someone had written a date.
The date was three days after Daniel's funeral.
Dominic stared at it.
May you like
His brother was smiling in a photograph taken after he was supposed to be dead.
