Chapter 5: The Last Witness
Nobody moved.
The engines hummed somewhere beyond the walls of the aircraft.
A passenger laughed nervously two rows behind me, unaware that the air around us had turned electric.
I looked at Captain Reed.
“Were you the last person to see my father alive?””
He didn’t answer.
That was answer enough.
My voice hardened.
“Yes or no?””
Captain Reed slowly closed the cockpit door.
“Yes.””
Daniel exhaled.
I stared at him.
“When?””
“The night before he died.””
“Where?””
“In his office.””
“Why?””
“He asked me to meet him.””
“What did he want?””
Captain Reed looked exhausted suddenly.
“He knew someone was following him.””
I folded my arms.
“Why didn’t you tell the police?””
“I did.””
“Then why wasn’t it in the report?””
“Because the report was altered.””
My eyes narrowed.
“By whom?””
He paused.
Then said, “Your brother.””
Julian.
The name seemed to poison everything it touched.
I sat down again.
Captain Reed took the seat opposite me.
Daniel remained standing.
“What happened that night?”” I asked.
Captain Reed looked at the empty runway through the window.
“Your father gave me a key.””
My eyes went to the brass key on the tray.
“The one in your hand?””
“Yes.””
“What did it open?””
“Room 17.””
“So you knew about the archive.””
“Yes.””
“And you helped him hide it.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because your father trusted me.””
I laughed once.
“People keep saying that word like it excuses everything.””
“It doesn’t.””
“Then tell me the truth.””
Captain Reed looked directly at me.
“The truth is that your father suspected Julian.””
My stomach dropped.
“You knew?””
“Yes.””
“Why didn’t you tell me?””
“Because your father specifically ordered me not to.””
“Why?””
“He believed they would use you against him.””
“Who is they?””
Captain Reed’s jaw tightened.
“Everyone who had something to lose.””
Daniel stepped closer.
“There were seven accounts.””
Captain Reed nodded.
“Seven companies. Six countries. Forty-two million dollars.””
“And my mother?””
“Her identity was used to authorize the transfers.””
“Was she involved?””
“No.””
I closed my eyes.
“Then why use her name?””
“Because she had been dead long enough that no one expected her to challenge the transactions.””
Daniel spoke quietly.
“And because your mother had been the original accountant on the family trust.””
I looked at him.
“She was.””
“Which gave whoever was behind it an old paper trail.””
I stared at the key.
“Then where is Room 17?””
Captain Reed answered.
“Still beneath the building.””
“But the building was sold.””
“The building was sold.””
He paused.
“The basement wasn’t.””
I felt a chill.
“You’re saying they sold the property and left a hidden room underneath it?””
“Yes.””
“Who owns it now?””
Daniel answered.
“A company called Northbridge Holdings.””
My phone buzzed.
A photo appeared.
A brick building.
Gray sky.
The old Bennett headquarters.
Then another image.
A close-up of a basement door.
Black paint.
Silver number.
17.
Underneath it was a message.
*YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES.*
I showed Captain Reed.
His face went pale.
“Where did they get this?””
“You tell me.””
He stood.
“We need to leave.””
“Where?””
“Back entrance.””
Daniel shook his head.
“No.””
Captain Reed turned.
“What?””
“We go through the terminal.””
“That’s exactly what they expect.””
Daniel looked at me.
“They expect you to trust the captain.””
Captain Reed’s expression hardened.
“You keep making this about me.””
“Because you’re hiding something.””
“I’m trying to keep her alive.””
“And how did that work for her father?””
The silence that followed was brutal.
I stood.
“Enough.””
Both men stopped.
“I’m going to Room 17.””
Captain Reed shook his head.
“No.””
“Why?””
“Because whoever is sending those messages wants you there.””
“Exactly.””
Daniel frowned.
“What are you thinking?””
“I’m thinking they wouldn’t tell me where to go unless they believed they had control of what happens when I arrive.””
Captain Reed looked at me.
“Rachel…”
I held up the key.
“So I go there.””
“Not alone,” Daniel said.
I looked at him.
“You’re coming?””
“Yes.””
Captain Reed grabbed his jacket.
“I’m coming too.””
I almost smiled.
“How heroic.””
“It isn’t heroic.””
“Then what is it?””
“Personal.””
He walked toward the aircraft door.
I followed.
The terminal was crowded.
Families reunited.
Business travelers rushing toward gates.
Children dragging suitcases behind them.
Nobody looked suspicious.
That was what scared me.
We reached a service corridor.
Captain Reed opened a door.
Before he could step through, a voice came from behind us.
“Rachel?””
I froze.
I knew that voice.
I turned.
Julian stood twenty feet away.
Perfect suit.
Gray overcoat.
Same polished smile he had worn at our father’s funeral.
For a second, I was twenty-nine again, standing beside him while he told reporters how “heartbroken” the family was.
Now he smiled at me.
“Thank God,” he said.
“I’ve been looking everywhere.””
Daniel moved in front of me.
Julian’s eyes narrowed.
“Daniel.””
“Julian.””
“What are you doing here?””
Julian’s gaze shifted toward Captain Reed.
“Captain, thank you for getting her here safely.””
I felt my stomach drop.
“You knew he was on my flight?””
Julian smiled.
“Of course.””
“How?””
“I own the company that chartered the aircraft.””
Captain Reed’s face tightened.
“You don’t own this aircraft.””
“No.””
Julian looked at him.
“But I own the route.””
I stared at my brother.
“What do you want?””
He smiled again.
“The key.””
I didn’t move.
“You know about Room 17.””
“I know everything.””
“Did you kill Dad?””
Julian’s smile disappeared.
For the first time, I saw something naked in his expression.
Not guilt.
Fear.
He stepped closer.
“Rachel, you need to understand something.””
“What?””
“Dad wasn’t supposed to find the accounts.””
“Did you kill him?””
Julian said nothing.
I took one step toward him.
“Did you kill our father?””
He looked at the key in my hand.
Then at me.
“No.””
Relief came so quickly that it almost made me dizzy.
Then Julian whispered,
“But I know who did.””
He reached into his coat.
Captain Reed immediately stepped forward.
“Slowly.””
Julian pulled out a photograph.
He held it toward me.
I took it.
It was my father, standing outside Room 17.
The date was printed in the corner.
Three days before his death.
And beside him stood a woman.
A woman I recognized instantly.
The same woman who had been on my flight.
The same woman who had slipped me the note.
My mother’s former accountant.
Elliot Shaw.
But there was one problem.
Elliot had disappeared eleven years earlier.
And in the photograph, he was standing beside my father with one hand resting on the shoulder of a little girl.
A little girl with my face.
My breathing stopped.
Julian leaned closer.
“That’s why you were never supposed to know about Room 17.””
I looked at the photograph again.
The child standing beside my father was me.
But I had never seen that picture.
May you like
And written across the back, in my father’s handwriting, were six words:
*Rachel was never the daughter they knew.*