Chapter 10 - The Island That Did Not Exist On Paper
Detective Ortiz called for units to block the marina road before Christopher reached the first vehicle.
Adrian Vale grabbed his sleeve.
"If Danton has the bracelet, police arriving with sirens will not stop him from destroying the archive."
Christopher turned.
"Then what will?"
"Knowing where the entrance is."
"Do you?"
Adrian nodded.
"William made sure Estelle never learned the full route."
Naomi stared at him.
"You just said Danton is heading there."
"He may know the island, but the pump house entrance is a decoy."
Christopher looked across the water.
The island appeared as a dark strip of pine trees through morning mist.
"Then where is the real entrance?"
Adrian pointed to the shoreline west of the boathouse.
"Under the old stone dock."
Ortiz swore.
"Nobody is going into an underground archive while a suspect is already on the property."
Christopher looked at her.
"Then get there first."
They drove to the marina with two patrol vehicles.
Danton's SUV sat abandoned beside the boat ramp.
One rental skiff was missing.
The marina attendant said a man matching Danton's description had taken it less than five minutes earlier.
Ortiz commandeered another boat.
Christopher, Adrian, Naomi, and two officers climbed aboard.
The ride across the lake took four minutes.
Christopher spent every second imagining the bracelet in Danton's hand.
Rachel had worn that small chain while laughing in his kitchen, sleeping beside him, and holding newborn Emma.
Now it was being used by the people who had tried to erase everything she left behind.
They approached the island from the western side.
Danton's skiff was tied near the pump house.
The small wooden structure looked abandoned.
Ortiz motioned for Christopher and Naomi to remain behind the officers.
Christopher ignored her until she physically blocked his path.
"You have a daughter waiting for you."
That stopped him.
Ortiz and the officers entered the pump house.
Seconds later, she called out.
"Empty."
Adrian looked unsurprised.
"He took the bait."
They moved along the shoreline to the old stone dock.
The dock had partially collapsed years earlier.
Beneath it, algae covered a rusted metal ring set into the retaining wall.
Adrian pulled it.
A narrow section of stone shifted inward.
Naomi stared.
"William built this?"
"During the Cold War."
"Of course he did."
The passage beyond was low and damp.
Christopher entered behind Ortiz.
After thirty feet, the tunnel widened into a concrete chamber lit by old emergency strips.
At the far end stood a steel door.
Its center contained the same oval-shaped lock they had seen in the red room safe.
Christopher's heart sank.
The lock was empty.
No bracelet.
No Danton.
Ortiz examined the floor.
Fresh mud marks led toward the door.
Then stopped.
"He was here."
Adrian touched the lock.
"But he could not open it."
"Why not?"
"The bracelet is only half the key."
Christopher turned.
"What is the other half?"
Adrian looked at him.
"Emma."
Christopher felt anger rise immediately.
"No."
"I did not mean physically."
"Explain."
"William designed the lock to require the bracelet insert and a six-digit code."
"What code?"
"Rachel chose it."
"Do you know it?"
"No."
Christopher stared at the door.
"Then why say Emma is the other half?"
Adrian took a breath.
"Rachel told William the code was something only she and Emma would always share."
Emma had been an infant at the time.
Christopher frowned.
"She could not share a secret with a baby."
"Not a secret."
Adrian looked at him.
"A date."
Christopher understood.
Emma's birthday.
He tried the six digits in month-day-year format.
A red light flashed.
Naomi looked at him.
"Maybe Rachel's birthday."
Red again.
Christopher thought of Rachel's bracelet.
The blue stone.
Emma's middle name.
Then he remembered something Rachel once told him during the pregnancy.
She had discovered she was pregnant on October ninth.
It was the first day she privately thought of Emma as real.
Christopher entered 1009 followed by the last two digits of the year.
The lock remained red.
Adrian frowned.
"Three attempts may trigger a delay."
"That information would have been useful earlier."
Christopher stepped back.
His phone rang.
Yvette.
He answered immediately.
"Is Emma okay?"
"Yes."
Yvette sounded frightened.
"But someone sent a package to the hotel."
Christopher's stomach tightened.
"Do not open it."
"Security already inspected it."
"What is inside?"
"A photograph of Rachel holding Emma."
Christopher looked at Adrian.
"Anything else?"
"A note."
"Read it."
Yvette hesitated.
"It says, 'Ask the child what her mother called the day she found out.'"
Christopher felt every person in the chamber become still.
"Who sent it?"
"No return name."
Juliette.
Or someone who wanted them to think it was Juliette.
Christopher closed his eyes.
"Put Emma on, but do not tell her why."
A moment later, Emma's small voice came through the phone.
"Daddy?"
"Hi, sweetheart."
"Did you find the bracelet?"
"Not yet."
He tried to sound normal.
"Can I ask you something about Mommy Rachel?"
"Okay."
"Did she ever tell you about a special day she called something funny?"
Emma was quiet.
Christopher waited.
"Blue Day."
Adrian looked sharply at him.
"What was Blue Day?" Christopher asked.
"My birthday before my birthday."
Christopher's throat tightened.
"Do you know when it was?"
Emma giggled faintly.
"Ten-ten."
Christopher frowned.
Rachel had learned she was pregnant on October ninth.
"October tenth?"
"Mommy said the doctor told her on ten-ten that I was really there."
Christopher remembered Rachel's first prenatal appointment.
October 10.
He had not been present.
He had not even known about Emma yet.
"Thank you, sweetheart."
"Are you coming back?"
"Yes."
"Yvette made pancakes."
"Save me one."
Emma promised.
Christopher ended the call.
Adrian looked at the keypad.
"Ten-ten and the year."
Christopher entered the six digits.
The light turned green.
The steel door unlocked with a deep mechanical click.
Ortiz raised her weapon and opened it slowly.
The room beyond was dry, cool, and lined with metal shelves.
Document cases sat beneath dust covers.
A small table held an old cassette recorder, several sealed envelopes, and a fireproof document chest.
Naomi whispered.
"My God."
Adrian walked toward the chest.
"This is William's private archive."
Christopher scanned the shelves.
Labels identified family trusts, property deeds, board agreements, medical records, and personal correspondence spanning decades.
One shelf had been disturbed recently.
Dust marks showed that a box had been removed.
Ortiz pointed to muddy footprints.
"Danton found another way in."
A door at the back of the archive stood slightly open.
Adrian's face changed.
"That should be locked from the inside."
Ortiz moved toward it.
The door opened into a narrow service shaft leading toward the pump house.
Danton had entered through the decoy after all.
He simply knew more than Adrian expected.
Christopher rushed to the table.
Rachel's sealed envelope was still there.
So was a cassette marked R.M. - IF NEEDED.
The fireproof chest, however, was open.
Empty.
"The trust copy," Adrian said.
"Gone."
Christopher looked toward the service shaft.
"Danton took it."
A sound came from behind the shelves.
Ortiz spun around.
"Police."
No answer.
Another sound followed.
A weak cough.
They moved toward the back corner.
A woman was sitting on the floor behind a storage cabinet.
Her hands were tied.
Blood marked one sleeve.
Christopher recognized her immediately.
Juliette.
She looked up at him.
"He took the trust."
Ortiz knelt to check her injury.
"Where did Danton go?"
Juliette struggled to breathe evenly.
"Back tunnel."
Christopher crouched in front of her.
"Where is Rachel's bracelet?"
Juliette gave a bitter laugh.
"You still think Danton stole it from the red room."
"Who did?"
Her eyes met Christopher's.
"I did."
Christopher felt rage flash through him.
"Why?"
"Because Estelle told Danton to take it, and I knew if he got there first, Emma was dead."
"Where is it?"
Juliette looked toward the open archive door.
"I used it to open the exterior lock before he caught me."
"Where is it now?"
"He has it."
Christopher stood.
Juliette grabbed his wrist.
"Wait."
He looked down.
"What?"
"He did not come for the trust copy alone."
"Then what else?"
Juliette looked at Rachel's cassette on the table.
"Estelle wants that recording more than anything."
Christopher picked it up.
"She does not have it."
Juliette shook her head.
"That is not the one."
Christopher stared at the label.
"What do you mean?"
"Rachel made two recordings."
Adrian went pale.
"How do you know that?"
Juliette looked at him.
"Because Estelle has spent six years searching for the second one."
Christopher felt dread settle over him.
"What is on it?"
Juliette's answer came slowly.
"Rachel naming the person who was with Estelle when they planned her accident."
Ortiz asked the obvious question.
"Who?"
May you like
Juliette looked at Christopher.
"Someone you still trust."
