Chapter 3
THE BELLWEATHER THEATER
The Bellweather had been abandoned for twelve years.
Once, presidents had given speeches from its stage. Celebrities had attended premieres beneath its red marquee. By the time Olivia arrived, half the letters were missing and rain had stained the stone facade black.
It was 7:46 p.m.
Fourteen minutes before the time Adrian Vale had texted her.
COME ALONE.
BRING THE TOKEN.
NO POLICE.
Olivia had ignored two of those instructions.
Rebecca waited in a van two blocks away with a former federal prosecutor named Elena Torres, the only law-enforcement-adjacent person Rebecca trusted.
Olivia knew Elena from an old corruption case.
When Olivia called and explained what had happened, Elena had said only, “I knew Daniel was in trouble. I didn’t know it was this much trouble.”
Now Elena’s voice came through a tiny earpiece.
“We have eyes on the rear entrance.”
Olivia walked toward the theater.
“Any sign of Miles?”
“Not yet.”
“Claire?”
“No.”
Rebecca added, “The building has tunnels beneath the stage. Old scenery access.”
“Can you enter?”
“We’re trying.”
Olivia reached the front doors.
They opened before she touched them.
A man in a dark suit waited inside.
“Phone.”
She gave him a burner.
He patted her down.
He missed the second transmitter sewn into her coat.
“Token.”
Olivia showed him the silver device.
He reached for it.
She closed her fist.
“I give it to Vale.”
The man studied her.
Then stepped aside.
Inside, dust covered the lobby.
Old movie posters hung crooked on the walls.
The auditorium beyond was dark except for one spotlight.
Adrian Vale stood at center stage.
Miles sat in a chair beside him.
Olivia forgot every plan.
“Miles!”
He jumped up.
“Mom!”
A man grabbed his shoulder.
Olivia moved forward.
Vale raised one hand.
“Stop.”
“Let him go.”
“He’s not mine.”
“What?”
“Arthur’s people brought him.”
“Where is Arthur?”
“Close.”
Olivia looked around.
“Where’s Claire?”
Vale’s expression tightened.
“I don’t know.”
“You said you knew where they would bring Miles.”
“I did.”
“So you’re part of this.”
“I’m part of many things I regret.”
“That sounds like something a politician says when cameras are nearby.”
Vale almost smiled.
“There’s the Olivia Daniel talked about.”
She froze.
“You knew him well.”
“Well enough.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Did Arthur?”
Vale looked toward the balcony.
“That answer is complicated.”
“No. Death is simple. Somebody did something and my husband didn’t come home.”
Miles began crying quietly.
Olivia forced herself to lower her voice.
“Let my son go.”
Vale said, “I can’t.”
“Won’t.”
“I can’t.”
A slow clap came from the balcony.
Arthur Holloway stepped into view.
Claire’s father looked exactly as he did in photographs: silver hair, expensive suit, grandfatherly smile.
“You were always very good on television, Olivia.”
She stared up at him.
“Where is your daughter?”
Arthur sighed.
“Claire has made unfortunate choices.”
“You mean she found out what you were doing.”
“I mean she confused curiosity with competence.”
A door opened near the stage.
Two men brought Claire in.
Her wedding dress was gone. She wore hotel sweatpants and a white robe. A bruise darkened one cheek.
“Olivia,” she said.
Arthur descended the stairs.
“Now we have everyone we need.”
Rebecca whispered in Olivia’s ear, “Keep him talking.”
Arthur reached the stage.
“Give me the token.”
Olivia held it up.
“First Miles leaves.”
“No.”
“Then no token.”
Arthur smiled.
“You think you have leverage because you’re holding a key. You don’t know what the key opens.”
“Then why do you want it?”
His smile faded.
Vale watched him carefully.
There was fear in the senator’s face.
Olivia noticed.
Arthur noticed too.
“Adrian,” Arthur said, “you look pale.”
“I was under the impression children were not part of this.”
“Your moral standards are remarkably flexible when convenient.”
Vale stepped toward Miles.
“The boy goes.”
One of Arthur’s men blocked him.
Vale looked at Arthur.
“You said nobody gets hurt.”
Arthur laughed.
“Adrian, people have been hurt for you since you were thirty-two.”
Claire stared at her fiancé.
“What does he mean?”
Vale did not answer.
Arthur did.
“He means the senator you were about to marry has benefited from more buried investigations, ruined witnesses, and purchased endorsements than you could count.”
Claire’s face crumpled.
Vale said, “I didn’t know about all of them.”
“That is your defense?”
“No.”
Claire looked away.
Arthur pointed to Olivia’s hand.
“The token.”
“What’s the password?”
“That is not your concern.”
“It becomes my concern when you kidnap my son.”
Arthur walked toward Miles.
Olivia raised the token.
“I will break it.”
He stopped.
For the first time, real anger appeared.
“That device is more durable than it looks.”
“I’ll test that.”
“Mom?” Miles whispered.
“I’m okay, baby.”
Arthur crouched beside him.
“Miles, your father played games with you, didn’t he?”
Olivia’s skin crawled.
“Don’t talk to him.”
Arthur ignored her.
“Secret words. Numbers. Treasure maps.”
Miles stared at the floor.
Arthur smiled.
“He remembers.”
Vale said sharply, “Arthur.”
“What?”
“You’re frightening him.”
“That may improve his memory.”
Vale moved between them.
Arthur straightened.
“Still pretending to be good?”
“I’m telling you to step away from the child.”
Arthur looked almost disappointed.
Then he nodded at one of his men.
The man raised a pistol and shot Vale in the chest.
Claire screamed.
The senator fell.
Chaos erupted.
Olivia ran toward Miles.
Arthur’s men moved.
A fire alarm shrieked.
Rebecca had triggered it.
Emergency lights flashed.
Claire dropped beside Vale.
Olivia reached Miles.
One guard grabbed her.
She drove the silver token into his eye.
He shouted.
Miles ducked beneath his arm.
Olivia pulled him behind a row of seats.
“Stay down.”
Elena’s voice burst through her earpiece.
“We’re inside.”
Gunshots cracked from the rear corridor.
Arthur shouted, “Get the token!”
Olivia crawled toward the aisle.
Miles grabbed her sleeve.
“Mom.”
“Not now.”
“I remember the word.”
She stopped.
“What word?”
“The game Daddy made me play.”
Her pulse hammered.
“What was it?”
Miles whispered, “Firefly.”
Olivia stared.
“Firefly?”
“He said when the lights go out, fireflies show the way.”
Daniel had called him Firefly when he was a baby.
A memory struck Olivia so sharply she almost gasped.
Summer nights in their old backyard.
Miles chasing tiny lights.
Daniel lifting him onto his shoulders.
Seven fireflies, buddy. Count them.
Seven.
Three disappeared behind the fence.
Two hovered above the hydrangeas.
Daniel had laughed.
Remember that: seven, three, two.
Olivia had thought it was a counting game.
A guard appeared at the end of the row.
She pulled Miles down.
Then a shot cracked.
The guard fell.
Elena Torres stood behind him holding a weapon.
“Move!”
Olivia and Miles ran toward her.
Rebecca came through a side door.
Arthur disappeared backstage with two men.
Elena shouted to her team, “After Holloway!”
Claire remained beside Vale.
Blood covered her hands.
“Help him!”
A medic from Elena’s team rushed forward.
Vale’s eyes fluttered open.
He looked at Olivia.
“Token.”
“You’re worried about that now?”
“No.” He coughed. “Don’t use the password.”
“What?”
“Firefly is bait.”
Olivia froze.
Miles looked at him.
Vale struggled to breathe.
“Daniel knew Arthur might get the word from the boy. Firefly opens a decoy archive.”
“Then what opens the real one?”
Vale smiled weakly.
“Daniel never told me.”
Claire pressed cloth against his wound.
“You idiot.”
“Good to see you too.”
She was crying.
“You knew my father was doing this.”
“Yes.”
“You still married me?”
“I loved you.”
Claire stared at him as if love were suddenly the ugliest word in the room.
Elena returned.
“Holloway escaped through a service tunnel.”
Olivia cursed.
Rebecca knelt beside them.
“Then he’ll go for the original.”
“What original?” Olivia asked.
Rebecca looked at Vale.
He closed his eyes.
Claire answered.
“My mother’s files.”
Olivia stared.
“Your mother died twenty years ago.”
Claire looked at Rebecca.
Rebecca said, “That’s what Arthur told everyone.”
Claire went completely still.
“What?”
Rebecca swallowed.
“Your mother is alive.”
For a second no one moved.
Then Claire stood.
“You knew?”
“I found out six months ago.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Rebecca.”
“Daniel moved her after someone found the safe house.”
Olivia felt the ground shift again.
“Daniel knew Claire’s mother?”
“Yes.”
“What else did my husband know?”
Rebecca’s eyes filled.
“More than he had time to tell you.”
Miles tugged Olivia’s coat.
“Mom.”
She looked down.
He was holding something.
A folded piece of paper.
“Where did you get that?”
“The man who grabbed me put it in my pocket.”
Olivia unfolded it.
Five typed words.
ASK THOMAS ABOUT THE CAR KEYS.
She stared.
Thomas Mercer.
Daniel’s older brother.
The man who delivered the eulogy at Daniel’s funeral.
The man Miles called Uncle Tommy.
Olivia looked at Rebecca.
“What car keys?”
Rebecca went pale.
“I don’t know.”
Vale, still on the floor, heard the name.
His eyes opened.
“Thomas?”
Olivia turned.
“You know him?”
Vale looked at the note.
Then at Olivia.
“Your husband’s brother was at the yellow house.”
The room seemed to shrink.
“What did he do?”
Vale hesitated.
Then he said, “He gave Arthur the keys to Daniel’s car.”
Olivia’s stomach dropped.
“That car went off a bridge the next night.”
May you like
Vale nodded.
“And that,” he whispered, “is why you need to find Thomas before Arthur does.”
