CHAPTER 11: RICHARD’S FINAL LIE
Emily traveled to the prison three days later.
She did not bring Elizabeth Elena.
Elena remained with the baby at the coastal house, protected by federal officers. Sofia had entered witness protection temporarily, though she promised Elena she would testify when the Black Harbor hearings began.
Richard entered the visitation room wearing a gray prison uniform.
He looked older.
His hair had thinned. The confidence that once filled every room had been replaced by something restless and watchful.
Still, when he saw Emily, he smiled.
“I knew you would come.”
Emily sat behind the glass.
“You received messages from Catherine Reed.”
Richard’s smile disappeared.
“I received many messages.”
“She told you your daughter was alive.”
Richard studied her.
“Do you believe everything the police show you?”
“I believe you worked with Vincent.”
“He worked with me.”
“You were never in control.”
Richard leaned closer to the glass.
“You came here to insult me?”
“I came here because Catherine’s message suggested you have another child.”
For the first time, Richard looked uncertain.
Emily placed a photograph against the glass.
It showed a young woman in a hospital bed holding a newborn.
The woman’s face was turned away.
Richard stared at it.
“Who is she?”
“You tell me.”
He looked again.
His hand tightened around the telephone.
“Her name was Laura.”
“Laura Bennett?”
Richard said nothing.
Investigators had found Laura’s name in Catherine’s phone.
She had worked as Richard’s assistant before he married Emily.
Laura disappeared eight months after leaving the company.
Vincent’s records claimed she had moved to Europe.
There was no evidence she ever boarded a plane.
“You had a relationship with her,” Emily said.
“It ended.”
“She became pregnant.”
Richard looked toward the guard.
“Where did you get this?”
“Catherine arranged the birth at Black Harbor’s private clinic.”
“Black Harbor had closed.”
“The public facility had closed. The network continued.”
Richard pressed his forehead against the glass.
“I was told the baby died.”
“You believed Vincent?”
“He showed me a death certificate.”
“You created false documents for a living.”
His eyes lifted toward hers.
Emily continued.
“Laura discovered your financial crimes. Vincent offered to make the problem disappear.”
“I never asked him to hurt her.”
“You never needed to ask.”
Richard sat back.
For years, Emily had imagined what it would feel like to see him powerless.
She had expected satisfaction.
Instead, she felt only distance.
Richard was still searching for a version of events in which he was less guilty than everyone around him.
“Is she alive?” he asked.
“The baby survived.”
“Where is she?”
“She was adopted through Black Harbor.”
“By whom?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“Find her.”
“No.”
His eyes opened.
“She is my daughter.”
“She may be. But she is not another possession for you to claim.”
“I have a right to know.”
“You spent years using rights, money, and fear to control people. This is not about what you want.”
Richard’s face hardened.
“You came here to punish me.”
“I came because you have something the investigators need.”
“What?”
“The private ledger Vincent made you keep.”
Richard went still.
Emily had guessed.
His reaction confirmed it.
Vincent never trusted anyone completely. Richard would have protected himself by keeping evidence against his mentor.
“Give the ledger to Detective Cole,” Emily said. “It may identify Laura’s daughter and other children transferred through the network.”
“And what do I receive?”
“Nothing.”
He laughed without humor.
“You still don’t understand how the world works.”
“I understand perfectly.”
Emily stood.
“If you cooperate, a young woman may learn the truth about her mother. If you refuse, you will remain exactly what you have always been.”
“And what is that?”
“A man who destroys people when there is nothing to gain except control.”
Emily placed the telephone back on its hook.
Richard struck the glass.
“Emily!”
She turned toward the door.
“Her name is Grace.”
Emily stopped.
Richard’s voice came through the small speaker above the glass.
“I saw the name once. Grace Bennett. Vincent sent monthly payments to a family in Maine.”
Emily faced him again.
“Where is the ledger?”
Richard lowered his voice.
“Inside the chandelier.”
The chandelier in the mansion had been removed as evidence after Elena pushed Emily down the staircase.
Richard had hidden a digital storage device inside its central frame.
He had believed no one would search the object he intended to use as a murder weapon.
Emily left without thanking him.
That evening, forensic investigators opened the chandelier.
Inside, they found a drive containing thirty years of payments, bribes, illegal adoptions, and concealed deaths.
One file contained a current address.
Grace Bennett was twenty-one years old.
She lived in Portland, Maine.
And according to her employment records, she worked as a nursery assistant.
Emily stared at Grace’s photograph.
May you like
She had Richard’s eyes.
But she also wore the silver half of a familiar pendant around her neck.
