Chapter 7 - Building C.
Thomas wanted Claire in a police car going in the opposite direction.
Claire refused.
The argument lasted less than a minute because the responding Boston police captain made the decision for both of them.
No civilian was entering Harbor Point until officers cleared the site.
Mason objected immediately.
"By seven, Building C will be rubble."
Captain Laura Bennett looked at him without sympathy.
"Then we'll stop the demolition."
"You don't understand my father."
"Mr. Cole, I understand court orders and heavy equipment."
Tessa almost smiled.
Claire did not.
At five-thirty, they followed three unmarked police vehicles toward South Boston while dawn began turning the harbor from black to gray.
Harbor Point rose behind temporary fencing like the skeleton of a city that had run out of money midway through being born.
Five unfinished towers stood along the water.
Cranes were frozen above them.
Stacks of steel beams sat under blue tarps.
The place should have been empty at that hour.
It was not.
Two excavators were already positioned beside Building C.
A demolition crew in reflective jackets stood near a mobile office.
Captain Bennett stared at Mason.
"You said seven."
Mason's face tightened.
"They moved it up."
One excavator engine started.
Police vehicles accelerated.
Officers blocked the access road while Bennett stepped out with a loudspeaker.
"Shut down the equipment."
For several seconds, nothing happened.
The excavator's arm lifted.
Claire's heart hammered.
Bennett repeated the order.
The machine stopped.
A man in a white hard hat approached with paperwork in one hand.
"We have authorization from Cole Development."
Bennett held up a temporary preservation order her office had secured on the drive over.
"Now you have authorization to do nothing."
The man's confidence disappeared.
Thomas stayed beside Claire inside the SUV.
Mason stood outside with two detectives.
Tessa sat in the rear seat checking her phone every few seconds.
"The wedding video has four million views."
Claire stared through the windshield.
"Please don't tell me that."
"You need to know what they're saying."
"Not right now."
Tessa put the phone down.
"Most people think you invented the pregnancy to trap Mason."
Claire looked at her.
Tessa grimaced.
"You said not to tell you, but pretending it isn't happening won't make it stop."
Thomas turned in the front seat.
"Our communications team will handle it."
Claire shook her head.
"No statements yet."
"Claire."
"If we say one thing that turns out to be wrong, Richard will use it."
Thomas studied her for a moment.
"You're learning quickly."
"I wish I wasn't."
Captain Bennett returned twenty minutes later.
"We can enter Building C."
Thomas immediately started to object.
Claire cut him off.
"I'm going."
"No."
"Natalie's recording was addressed to me."
"That doesn't make you a detective."
"And being my father doesn't make you my jailer."
Thomas's expression hardened.
Tessa looked out the window as if suddenly fascinated by concrete barriers.
Claire lowered her voice.
"Dad, please."
That changed him.
Thomas exhaled.
"You stay between officers."
"Fine."
"You do exactly what Bennett says."
"Fine."
"If she says run, you run."
Claire nodded.
Mason overheard them and shook his head.
"She shouldn't go inside."
Claire looked at him.
"You lost voting privileges in my life around midnight."
Tessa snorted despite herself.
Mason said nothing else.
Building C smelled of wet concrete, metal, and stagnant water.
Temporary lights hung from exposed beams.
Their footsteps echoed through unfinished corridors.
Mason led them down a concrete stairwell to the lowest mechanical level.
The temperature dropped as they descended.
Claire could hear pumps running somewhere behind the walls.
At the bottom, Mason stopped in front of a locked steel door.
Bennett looked at him.
"Code."
Mason entered six digits.
The keypad flashed red.
He tried again.
Red.
"He changed it."
One detective stepped forward with a pry tool.
Mason shook his head.
"Wait."
He crouched and removed a plastic cover beside the keypad.
Behind it was a manual key slot.
He reached beneath his shirt and pulled a small brass key from a chain around his neck.
Claire stared at it.
"You've been wearing that through our entire relationship?"
Mason did not look at her.
"Yes."
"What did you tell me it opened?"
His silence reminded her.
A storage box containing letters from Natalie.
Letters from his dead sister.
Another true object wrapped in a false story.
The key opened the door.
Inside, pipes ran along the ceiling and walls in dense rows.
Mason searched until he found a blue pipe stamped H-17.
A metal access panel sat behind it.
He reached toward the latch.
Claire remembered Natalie's warning.
If Mason brings you there, make him open it first.
"Stop."
Mason froze.
Claire looked at Bennett.
"Natalie specifically said he should open it."
Bennett frowned.
"Why?"
"She didn't say."
Mason gave Claire a bitter half-smile.
"Still don't trust me."
"No."
He nodded once.
"Fair."
He pulled the panel open.
Nothing happened.
Inside was a waterproof black case.
Mason lifted it out and placed it on the floor.
Bennett photographed everything before allowing him to touch the latches.
The case contained three handwritten ledgers, two encrypted drives, and a sealed envelope.
The envelope had Claire's name on it.
Her breath caught.
"That's new."
Mason looked genuinely confused.
Bennett handed it to Claire after photographing the front.
Claire opened it carefully.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
CLAIRE,
IF YOU ARE READING THIS, MY FAMILY HAS PROBABLY TURNED YOU INTO A WEAPON AGAINST SOMEONE ELSE.
DO NOT LET THEM MAKE YOU DEFEND A LIE JUST BECAUSE YOU ONCE AGREED TO PART OF IT.
TRUTH DOES NOT BECOME LESS TRUE BECAUSE IT EMBARRASSES YOU.
NATALIE.
Claire read the note twice.
The words hit harder than she expected.
She had spent six months defending the first lie because admitting it would expose her own participation.
That shame had made her easy to control.
Tessa read over her shoulder.
"She knew you would blame yourself."
Mason looked away.
Bennett opened one ledger with gloved hands.
Rows of dates, project codes, amounts, and initials filled the pages.
Thomas leaned closer without touching it.
"R.C."
Mason nodded.
"Richard."
Tessa pointed toward another recurring initial.
"G.V."
Thomas's face went blank.
Gregory Vale.
Then Claire saw two letters she recognized immediately.
T.H.
She stared at her father.
Thomas did not move.
"Dad."
He looked at the ledger.
There were six entries bearing his initials.
Each listed millions of dollars.
Claire felt the floor drop beneath her all over again.
"What is that?"
Thomas's face had lost color.
"I don't know."
Mason laughed once without humor.
"That's what everyone says in my family too."
Thomas turned on him.
"Be quiet."
Claire stepped between them.
"No."
She pointed toward the ledger.
"You don't get to shut people up either."
Thomas looked wounded.
It barely registered.
Claire continued.
"Are those your initials?"
"Yes."
"Did you transfer money to Richard?"
"I financed several Cole projects over the years."
"Off the books?"
"Never."
"Then why are you in his hidden ledger?"
Thomas had no answer.
Bennett closed the book.
"We will determine that later."
A detective at the entrance suddenly called out.
"Captain."
Everyone turned.
The officer held a radio to his ear.
"There's movement on the east access road."
Bennett frowned.
"Police?"
"Negative."
A loud metallic impact shook dust from the ceiling.
Claire jumped.
Another impact followed.
Mason looked upward.
"That's the excavator."
Bennett grabbed her radio.
"I ordered all equipment shut down."
The lights flickered.
Then went out.
Emergency red lamps came on along the corridor.
The mechanical pumps stopped.
A low alarm began to sound.
One of the detectives cursed.
"Power's been cut."
Water began rushing somewhere nearby.
Mason stared toward the pipe network.
"We need to move."
Bennett took the case.
"Everyone out."
They ran toward the stairwell.
Claire stayed between Tessa and her father.
Behind them, a pipe burst with a violent hiss.
Water sprayed across the mechanical room.
The stairwell door refused to open.
A detective pushed against it.
Locked.
Mason looked at the keypad.
Dark.
Thomas swore.
Water spread across the floor toward their shoes.
Bennett ordered an officer to force the door.
Before he could, a voice came from the other side.
"Back up."
Claire recognized it.
Natalie.
A heavy strike hit the door.
Then another.
The lock broke.
The door swung inward.
A woman stood on the other side holding a demolition hammer.
Her auburn hair was pulled into a rough ponytail.
A scar ran beneath her left ear.
She looked at Mason first.
Then at Claire.
May you like
"You took long enough."
THE WEDDING LIE
