Chapter 4 - THE VAULT IN WHITE PLAINS
The vault opened at 9:12 the next morning.
Audrey refused to let Nicholas stand beside her when she used the key.
He didn't argue.
That surprised the manager.
It surprised Audrey more.
The private vault company required the physical key, identification matching Thomas Fallon's estate paperwork, and a court document Audrey still possessed from probate.
Box 806 contained no money.
Just records.
A cassette recorder.
Two notebooks.
And a photograph of Julian Rainer and Thomas Fallon sitting inside a diner.
Both men were smiling.
On the back:
WE GET THEM OUT BEFORE CHRISTMAS.
Audrey frowned.
“Get who out?”
Nicholas looked at the notebooks.
“I don't know.”
She opened one.
Her father had documented unusual freight movements at Harbor Nine.
Trucks arriving without manifests.
Containers leaving under duplicate numbers.
Payments made to ghost employees.
Nicholas recognized none of it.
“These routes belonged to Victor.”
Audrey looked up.
“Who is Victor?”
“My uncle.”
Nicholas's father's younger brother.
Victor Rainer had helped build the family business.
He was sixty-four now.
Publicly retired.
He lived on a Connecticut estate, attended charity events, and still appeared at major family gatherings.
Nicholas had trusted him since childhood.
“Graham worked for him before he worked for you?”
“Yes.”
Audrey turned another page.
Thomas had written:
J.R. says Victor is using family warehouses without Alessandro's approval.
Nicholas stared.
“Alessandro was my father.”
“So your father didn't know?”
“Apparently not.”
Another entry:
Julian wants to close the routes and take records to the authorities. Says Nicholas must be kept out until we know who Graham answers to.
Audrey stopped.
Nicholas read over her shoulder.
That explained the warning.
Her father hadn't distrusted Nicholas because he believed Nicholas was dangerous.
He distrusted him because Nicholas was Julian's younger brother and a possible target.
Audrey picked up the recorder.
A tape was already inside.
They found an old player in the vault office.
Thomas's voice came first.
“December fourteenth. Julian says Victor agreed to meet.”
Then Julian.
Younger than Nicholas.
Similar voice.
Different energy.
“If this works, Nick never has to inherit this mess.”
Nicholas closed his eyes.
Audrey listened.
Julian continued.
“My father wants the legitimate companies separated. Construction. Hotels. Freight. Everything else gets turned over.”
Then Thomas:
“And Graham?”
“We don't tell him until Victor confirms.”
The tape crackled.
Someone entered the room.
A third voice.
Victor Rainer.
Audrey watched Nicholas recognize it.
Victor sounded amused.
“You boys think you can erase fifty years because you've developed consciences?”
Julian answered.
“We're trying to stop fifty more.”
The recording abruptly ended.
Audrey looked at Nicholas.
“That was the night they died?”
“Same date.”
She opened the second notebook.
Most pages were blank.
Only the final one contained writing.
VICTOR KNOWS.
GRAHAM HAS TWO MASTERS.
IF I DON'T MAKE IT HOME, GET AUDREY AND LIAM AWAY FROM NEW YORK.
Audrey sat down.
Her father had known they might die.
He had still gone.
Nicholas quietly asked, “How old were you?”
“Twenty-three.”
“Liam?”
“Four.”
She pressed a hand over her mouth.
Then Reyes called.
Nicholas answered.
His expression slowly hardened.
“What?”
He ended the call.
“Victor is on his way to my estate.”
Audrey stared.
“Why?”
“Graham called him last night.”
“Do you know what he told him?”
“No.”
Nicholas put the notebooks back into the box.
“But Victor told my staff he's coming because he's worried about me.”
Audrey almost laughed.
Nicholas didn't.
Then she noticed one final item beneath the photograph.
A handwritten list of names.
Graham Keene.
Victor Rainer.
Frank Hollis.
Martin Crane.
And one she recognized.
She pointed.
“That man was at dinner last night.”
Nicholas looked.
Arthur Vale.
One of the twenty-three guests.
He had been sitting three chairs from Nicholas when Nicholas noticed the bruises.
Audrey remembered something else.
When Nicholas asked about the fingerprints, Arthur hadn't looked at her.
He'd looked at Graham.
May you like
And now they knew Graham's conspiracy didn't exist outside the mansion.
At least one member had been sitting at Nicholas's dinner table.
