Chapter 9 - The Judge In The Contact List.
Ava stared at the message until the words seemed to separate from the screen.
James took Nolan's phone and photographed the message with his own.
Elena read the contact name and went pale.
"Judge Harold Vance."
Ava recognized it immediately.
Vance had signed the emergency conservatorship that kept Elena confined under a false identity.
He had also attended Ava's engagement dinner two months earlier and toasted Nolan as "the kind of young man every father hopes his daughter finds."
James's jaw tightened.
"Where is Nolan?"
A crash sounded upstairs.
They ran back through the cellar passage.
By the time they reached the foyer, the mansion had become a different place.
Several guests were filming openly now.
Two security guards stood beside the main entrance instead of beside Victor.
Celeste was arguing with someone on the phone.
Victor was nowhere visible.
Neither was Nolan.
Ava looked toward the front hall.
"They left."
The older security guard shook his head.
"Front gate is locked by police."
Elena pointed toward the garage corridor.
"There is a service tunnel."
James looked at her.
"Of course there is."
Ava noticed Celeste trying to end her call.
"Who are you talking to?"
Celeste smiled with brittle composure.
"My attorney."
Ava held up Nolan's phone.
"Is your attorney Judge Vance?"
Celeste's expression collapsed for half a second.
That was enough.
A guest near the fireplace gasped.
Another guest whispered Vance's name into her phone while recording.
Celeste lunged toward Ava.
James stepped between them so quickly that Celeste stopped inches from his chest.
"Back away."
"Your daughter is stealing private property."
Ava looked at Nolan's phone.
"Then call the police."
Celeste stared at her with genuine hatred.
"You ungrateful little girl."
Ava felt the old reflex to apologize.
She watched it rise inside her and then let it die.
"I am twenty-five."
"You would have nothing without this family."
"I had a mother before this family buried her."
The room went quiet.
Celeste looked toward Elena.
"She ruined everything."
Elena took one step forward.
"No, Celeste. I documented it."
Sirens became audible beyond the gates.
Celeste turned toward the staircase.
James blocked that path too.
"Stay where you are."
Ava heard tires squeal behind the mansion.
She ran toward the side windows.
A black SUV burst from a hidden garage exit and accelerated across the garden road.
Nolan was driving.
Victor sat in the passenger seat.
Ava's heart dropped.
"They're getting away."
James did not move toward the door.
"No."
Ava looked at him.
He held up his phone.
"I sent the license plate and vehicle description to the officers before we left the cellar."
Ava stared at him.
James gave the smallest shrug.
"Old habits."
The first police cruisers entered the front drive.
Elena's expression remained tense.
"Victor won't run without a destination."
"Where would he go?"
Elena looked at the storage drive in her hand.
"Somewhere he believes the evidence can still be traded."
Nolan's phone vibrated again.
A new message appeared from JUDGE H.
DO NOT COME TO MY HOUSE.
May you like
Seconds later, another message arrived.
USE THE AIRFIELD.
