“She was escorted to a separate interview room. The two officers outside were found unconscious.”
Charles stood abruptly.
“I told you.”
Collins raised his weapon.
“Admiral, sit down.”
Charles ignored him.
“She's going to Nightfall.”
Victoria looked at him.
“Who?”
Charles's voice broke.
“Your mother.”
Chapter 5: The Woman in the Blue Dress
The team moved through the hotel corridors.
Security cameras showed Eleanor leaving the conference room at 9:47 p.m.
She was accompanied by a hotel employee carrying a black folder.
At the elevator, the employee handed her a coat.
Eleanor put it on.
Then she disappeared from the camera's view.
Collins stopped the footage.
“Who is that employee?”
The hotel security manager shook his head.
“We don't know. He's not on our staff.”
Victoria stared at the screen.
“Can you get a clearer image?”
The manager enlarged the frame.
The employee's face became visible.
Victoria recognized him.
“That's Lieutenant Commander Daniel Price.”
Admiral Reed frowned.
“Price? He's been retired for four years.”
Victoria turned.
“Who was he?”
“Former naval security officer. Worked under Whitmore.”
Charles, standing behind two agents, looked at the screen.
Then he closed his eyes.
“Damn it.”
Collins turned.
“You know him?”
“He was part of Nightfall.”
“Where would he take Eleanor?”
Charles shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Victoria stepped forward.
“Try harder.”
Charles looked at her.
“There's an old naval residence near Annapolis. It was used as a temporary intelligence site.”
“Address?”
“I don't remember.”
“Admiral.”
He finally gave a street name.
Collins immediately relayed it to the team.
Victoria was already moving toward the exit.
Reed stopped her.
“Commander, you're not going alone.”
“I'm not going alone.”
“You're a witness in an active investigation.”
“And my mother may be at that location.”
Reed held her gaze.
Then he nodded.
“Two agents will accompany you.”
Victoria looked toward the hotel entrance.
Rain was beginning to fall outside.
Her phone vibrated.
A new message.
DON'T COME TO THE HOUSE.
Victoria stopped.
Another message appeared.
THEY KNOW YOU'RE COMING.
Then a photograph.
Eleanor Whitmore sat in a chair inside a dimly lit room.
Her hands were tied.
Standing behind her was a woman in a cream-colored coat.
Victoria's heart stopped.
The woman turned toward the camera.
Her face was older.
Her hair was streaked with silver.
But the eyes were unmistakable.
Margaret Hayes.
Victoria's mother.
Beneath the photograph was a message:
SHE WANTS TO SEE YOU.
Victoria looked up.
Collins watched her.
“What is it?”
She showed him.
He immediately called for additional support.
But Victoria's attention was fixed on the woman in the photograph.
Her mother was alive.
And she was standing behind the woman who had ordered her invitation to the gala.
The phone vibrated again.
A final message appeared.
COME ALONE, VICTORIA. OR ELEANOR DIES.
Victoria looked at Collins.
He shook his head.
“No.”
“She has Eleanor.”
“We're not sending you into an unknown location alone.”
“If we wait, she could kill her.”
“That's exactly what they want you to do.”
Victoria looked at the photograph again.
Then she noticed something.
A clock on the wall behind her mother.
The time was 9:52.
The photograph had been taken only minutes earlier.
And beneath the clock was a small framed picture.
A lighthouse.
Blackwater Point.
Victoria slowly lowered her phone.
“It's not the Annapolis residence.”
Collins frowned.
“What?”
“It's Blackwater Point.”
She zoomed in on the picture.
“My father left the location in the photograph. They want us to think they're taking Eleanor somewhere else.”
Collins looked at the image.
Then at Victoria.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded.
“That's the place where the lighthouse never shines.”