Chapter 29 - THE FACE IN THE SHADOWS
We scrambled up the spiral staircase into the dim light of the conservatory, gasping as fresh ocean air filled our lungs.
Standing near the shattered glass doors of the garden exit was a tall man wearing a dark wool coat and a wide-brimmed hat.
He held an old silver pocket watch in his gloved hand, looking at us with calm, calculating intensity.
As he stepped into the pale beam of Marcus’s flashlight, I recognized his features from thirty-year-old photographs in the Boston legal archives.
It was Sterling Vance—the long-lost business partner who had vanished without a trace in 1998.
"You have your father's stubborn persistence, Miss Bennett," Sterling Vance spoke, his voice dry and raspy like autumn leaves.
"Eleanor Caldwell spent twenty years in California trying to suppress what is stored in this vault," he added smoothly.
"Why didn't you step forward during Eleanor's trial in San Francisco?" I demanded, stepping firmly between Marcus and Vance.
May you like
Vance smiled faintly, placing his silver watch back into his vest pocket as two armed guards stepped into the conservatory behind him.
"Because Eleanor was merely a franchise manager for a much larger enterprise operating out of New England," Vance revealed coldly.
