Chapter 15 - The Mill With No Front Door
They approached the Newburgh mill from the river.
Nobody used the front entrance.
Victor had made sure of that.
The old building stood beside the Hudson like a black skeleton against the late afternoon sky.
Broken windows reflected cold light.
Rust streaked the brick.
The main loading yard appeared empty.
Matteo's team found pressure triggers beneath two floor panels near the front doors.
Victor had been right.
Gabriel looked at the photograph from the security camera again.
His mother had been taken by people who knew exactly how he would react.
They expected force.
They expected speed.
They expected him to enter through the obvious door.
For once, Gabriel refused to behave as expected.
He, Chloe, and Matteo entered through an old drainage passage revealed on city plans.
Victor stayed at the mansion with Dr. Park and trusted security.
He had fought that decision until Chloe signed one question.
"If Beatrice comes back, who should she see waiting?"
Victor had stopped arguing.
Now Chloe crawled through a damp concrete tunnel behind Matteo.
Gabriel followed last.
"I cannot believe you are here," he whispered.
Chloe looked back.
"You have mentioned that."
"Several times."
"Because it remains unbelievable."
"You brought me."
"I failed to stop you."
"Different thing."
Matteo turned.
"Could you two continue this after we find Mrs. Costello?"
Chloe whispered, "He started it."
Gabriel gave her a look.
The absurdity lasted only a second.
Then they reached a metal grate beneath the mill basement.
Voices carried from above.
One belonged to Samuel Greco.
Another was female.
Chloe could not hear Beatrice, of course.
That fact suddenly mattered in a painful new way.
A deaf captive could not call out from another room.
The people holding her could move around without worrying that she would overhear plans.
But they also made the same mistake everyone had made around her for years.
They assumed silence meant helplessness.
Matteo cut the grate quietly.
They entered a boiler room.
On the far wall, someone had drawn a small white arrow in chalk.
Chloe noticed first.
The arrow pointed left.
Beneath it were two letters.
C.B.
Gabriel stared.
"She left that?"
"Looks like it."
They followed the arrow.
A second appeared at the end of the corridor.
Then a third.
Beatrice had turned captivity into a map.
At the next junction, the chalk marks stopped.
Instead, a pearl lay on the floor.
Gabriel picked it up.
His face tightened.
"From her necklace."
Chloe pointed toward a stairwell.
Another pearl rested on the first step.
They climbed.
Voices grew louder.
Samuel spoke.
"He will come through the front."
The woman answered.
"If the charges fail?"
"They won't."
Matteo glanced at Gabriel.
Gabriel's expression did not change.
They reached a door with light beneath it.
Chloe crouched beside a cracked panel.
Inside, the fake interpreter stood near a camera tripod.
Samuel stood behind Beatrice.
Beatrice sat in a chair with her hands free.
That was deliberate.
They needed her to sign.
The fake interpreter held up cue cards.
Beatrice signed toward the camera.
Chloe watched through the crack.
The interpreter said, "Again."
Beatrice's face remained blank.
The woman signed, "Say you came willingly."
Beatrice signed something else.
Samuel looked toward the interpreter.
"What did she say?"
The fake interpreter hesitated.
"She says she wants water."
Chloe almost smiled.
Beatrice had actually signed, "Your hair looks like a frightened squirrel."
Even kidnapped, she was still Beatrice.
The interpreter leaned closer.
"Do it correctly."
Beatrice signed, "I am doing exactly what I want."
The woman grabbed Beatrice's wrist.
Gabriel shifted beside Chloe.
She caught his arm before he moved.
He looked at her.
She shook her head.
Not yet.
Samuel walked into frame.
"Tell her this is simple."
The interpreter signed.
"Gabriel brings the drive."
"You record the message."
"Everyone goes home."
Beatrice looked at Samuel.
Then she signed very slowly.
Chloe read it.
"You were at Vincent's warehouse."
Samuel's face changed even though he did not understand the signs.
The interpreter did.
She stopped translating.
Beatrice repeated the sentence.
Samuel looked at the woman.
"What is she saying?"
"Nothing important."
Beatrice smiled.
Then she signed, "He pays you less than he paid Rinaldi."
The interpreter's face flashed with surprise.
Beatrice saw it.
Chloe understood what she was doing.
She was testing the fake interpreter for information.
Samuel grew impatient.
"Record it."
The woman turned the camera on.
Beatrice faced the lens.
The interpreter signed instructions off-camera.
Beatrice began her message.
"I am safe."
"I left the house by choice."
"Gabriel should bring the chapel drive to Newburgh alone."
Those were the visible signs.
But Beatrice's left hand rested against her skirt.
Her fingers moved separately.
Tiny motions.
Fingerspelling.
N.
O.
R.
T.
H.
Chloe leaned closer.
Then Beatrice spelled DOCK.
Then V.
Then ALIVE.
North dock.
Vincent alive.
She was sending a second message under the first.
The fake interpreter never noticed.
Samuel never looked at her hands closely enough.
Gabriel did.
He could not read the letters fast enough, but he understood she was doing something.
Chloe whispered, "She is telling us Vincent is alive and pointing to North Dock."
Matteo's eyes sharpened.
"North Dock here?"
"Maybe."
The recording ended.
Samuel checked his watch.
"Move her."
The fake interpreter grabbed Beatrice's arm.
Gabriel moved before Chloe could stop him again.
He entered the room silently from behind Samuel.
Matteo moved with him.
Samuel turned.
His face emptied.
"Gabriel."
Gabriel's voice was quiet.
"Take your hand off my mother."
The interpreter released Beatrice immediately.
Samuel reached inside his jacket.
Matteo already had him covered.
"Don't."
Samuel froze.
Beatrice stood.
She looked at Gabriel.
For one second, relief overwhelmed everything else.
Then she slapped his shoulder.
Hard.
Gabriel stared at her.
She signed furiously.
Chloe translated.
"She says you were supposed to follow the chalk and wait for her to create a distraction."
Gabriel looked offended.
"We followed the chalk."
Beatrice pointed at him.
Then at the door.
Then signed, "Bad listener."
Chloe laughed despite the situation.
Gabriel looked at her.
"Do not encourage her."
A loud metallic sound came from beneath them.
Matteo's expression changed.
Samuel smiled.
"Too late."
The lights went out.
A low alarm began somewhere in the building.
Gabriel grabbed Beatrice.
Chloe grabbed the fake interpreter before she could run.
Matteo seized Samuel.
The floor vibrated.
Not an explosion.
Machinery.
A steel fire door began descending over the only hallway exit.
Samuel laughed.
"Dominic knew you would find another way in."
Gabriel looked at him.
"Where is he?"
Samuel smiled wider.
"North Dock."
Chloe's heart kicked.
Beatrice's hidden message.
Samuel continued.
May you like
"And if you want the rest of your brother back, you have seven minutes."
