Chapter 9 - Margaret Remembers the Last Call
Victor had never known why his father changed flights.
The official itinerary showed Arthur scheduled to travel the next morning.
Instead, he boarded the compromised plane that night.
Now Margaret remembered why.
A man called the Wellington home.
He claimed Victor had been taken after leaving a university alumni event.
Victor was thirty-two, already working inside the company.
Margaret panicked.
The caller knew where Victor had been.
What he wore.
Which car he drove.
He told Margaret not to contact police.
He said Arthur needed to fly to Montreal immediately.
A second call reached Arthur directly.
Arthur believed the threat.
He boarded the company plane.
Victor stared at his mother.
“Where was I?”
“At home.”
“What?”
“You came through the front door twenty minutes after the plane took off.”
Margaret began crying.
“You had left the event early. Your phone battery was dead.”
Victor remembered.
Rain.
A dead phone.
A headache.
He had gone home without telling anyone.
By the time Margaret reached Arthur’s office, the plane was already airborne.
It crashed forty-seven minutes later.
Victor sat down.
His father had boarded the sabotaged aircraft because he thought his son’s life was in danger.
Thomas had not needed to force Arthur onto the plane.
He weaponized Arthur’s love.
Lucy sat beside Victor.
She did not say anything.
That helped.
Margaret whispered, “I blamed myself for years.”
Victor looked at her.
“You didn’t sabotage the plane.”
“I made the call.”
“You were lied to.”
“I still made it.”
Victor understood the guilt.
He had spent years believing if he had answered his phone, his father might be alive.
Two people could carry the same tragedy from opposite ends.
Neither caused it.
Thomas did.
Federal investigators traced the original kidnapping call through archived telecom records.
It originated from a Wellington Global security office.
Thomas had access.
But another employee was present that night.
Elaine Foster.
She admitted she made the call.
Thomas stood beside her.
He told her Victor was actually in danger.
She believed him.
Or chose to.
She never knew Arthur would die.
Victor struggled with that distinction.
Lucy did not let him simplify it.
“She still made the call.”
“Yes.”
“She still hid it for eleven years.”
“Yes.”
“She can be manipulated and responsible.”
Victor looked at her.
“You sound like your father.”
She smiled sadly.
“I’ll take that.”
Then Marcus received an alert.
Charles had used his credit card at a gas station eighty miles north.
Agents reached him within an hour.
He was not fleeing.
He was driving to a cabin Arthur once owned.
Charles believed Thomas might go there.
Why?
Because Arthur kept a second physical archive beneath the cabin floor.
Charles had remembered after hearing about the red book.
Victor met him there with federal agents.
Charles looked exhausted.
“You thought I ran.”
“I considered it.”
“Fair.”
They searched the cabin.
Under a loose floorboard they found a steel case.
Inside was Arthur’s handwritten journal.
The final entry was dated the day of the crash.
Thomas knows Michael copied the ledger.
Elaine is frightened.
Charles signed the replacement work order because I asked him to keep Thomas calm.
Tonight someone threatened Victor.
I am taking the plane because I need Thomas to believe his plan still works.
Victor stopped reading.
Margaret whispered, “Arthur knew.”
He continued.
I have arranged for the pilots to divert after takeoff and land at a secure field. Federal investigators will meet us there.
Victor looked at the agents.
“Was there ever a federal operation?”
Records were checked.
Yes.
A confidential corruption inquiry had been opened.
Arthur was cooperating.
The agents waiting at the secure field never saw his plane.
The journal continued.
If Thomas changes the sabotage before departure, the pilots may not know.
Michael has the duplicate ledger.
Margaret has the chips.
Charles has the letter.
I have split the truth because no single person should be able to bury it.
Victor stared at the page.
His father had divided the evidence.
Margaret.
Charles.
Michael.
Three people.
Three pieces.
Thomas spent eleven years hunting each one.
Then Lucy turned the page.
One final line.
There is a fourth copy.
Only Victor can find it.
Victor frowned.
He had no idea what his father meant.
Then Charles looked at him.
“Your anniversary.”
Victor stared.
“What?”
Charles pointed toward the date of Arthur’s journal entry.
“Tomorrow is the anniversary of the day you joined Wellington Global.”
The restaurant celebration tonight had been for Victor’s business anniversary.
His father had given him something on his first day.
Victor suddenly remembered.
May you like
A silver desk clock.
It had sat in his office for eleven years.
