Chapter 3 - THE BRACELET IN THE BURNED CAR
Cole stared at Ethan.
For fifteen years, Ethan Cross had been the man standing closest to his back.
Not Ryan.
Not his father.
Ethan.
“What is he talking about?”
Ethan did not look at Ryan.
“He’s twisting something.”
Ryan laughed.
“That isn’t a denial.”
Cole’s voice sharpened.
“Ethan.”
Ethan finally met his eyes.
“I sent you to Milwaukee.”
Natalie’s stomach tightened.
Vanessa went very still.
Cole said, “Why?”
“Ryan told me there was a problem with the Wisconsin route. Said it couldn’t wait until morning.”
Ryan leaned back in the booth.
“There.”
Ethan continued.
“I verified enough of it to believe there was a problem.”
“You verified with whom?”
“A dispatcher who worked for Ryan.”
“And where is he now?”
“Gone.”
Ryan smirked.
Cole noticed.
“So you moved me out of Chicago.”
“Yes.”
“The night my wife disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“And you never thought that mattered?”
Ethan’s jaw worked.
“Not until tonight.”
Cole stepped closer.
“I buried her.”
“I know.”
“You watched me bury her.”
Ethan absorbed it.
“I know.”
For one terrible second, Natalie thought Cole might hit him.
He did not.
That frightened Ryan more.
Cole had always been most dangerous when anger became quiet.
Natalie stepped forward.
“Cole.”
He looked at her.
“Don’t do something because you need somebody to punish.”
Ryan’s eyebrows lifted.
Even after everything, Natalie knew her husband.
Cole looked away.
Ethan reached inside his jacket.
Frank moved instantly from the counter.
“Slow.”
Ethan glanced at him.
Then, surprisingly, obeyed.
He removed a small key ring.
“I have something.”
Ryan’s face changed.
“What?”
Ethan ignored him.
“The police released your vehicle after the investigation.”
Natalie stared.
“My vehicle?”
“What was left of it.”
Cole said, “I had it stored.”
Natalie looked at him.
“Why?”
His answer was simple.
“Because it was yours.”
There were so many things inside those four words that Natalie could not answer.
Ethan continued.
“Most of the personal items were catalogued. A few came back later.”
Ryan stood.
“Cole, this is getting ridiculous.”
Ethan turned toward him.
“You’re nervous.”
“I’m tired of being accused by a dead woman.”
Natalie looked directly at him.
“I’m standing right here.”
Ryan’s mouth closed.
Ethan said to Cole, “There was one thing I kept.”
“Why?”
“Because it bothered me.”
He glanced toward Natalie.
“Silver bracelet. Small oval links. One blue stone.”
Natalie’s face drained.
Cole noticed instantly.
“You know it.”
“My grandmother gave it to me.”
Ethan nodded.
“It was found under the passenger seat.”
Ryan exhaled.
“That proves she was in the car.”
“No,” Natalie said.
Every head turned toward her.
“It proves someone wanted people to think I was.”
Ryan’s eyes narrowed.
Natalie looked at Cole.
“I wasn’t wearing it that night.”
“Are you certain?”
“I hadn’t worn it for almost a month.”
“Why?”
“The clasp was loose.”
Cole remembered.
“You asked me to have it repaired.”
“Yes.”
“I forgot.”
A strange expression passed across his face.
A tiny domestic failure had survived beside murder and betrayal.
Natalie almost smiled.
Almost.
“I put it in the little porcelain dish on my vanity.”
Cole looked toward Ryan.
Ryan shook his head.
“She’s lying.”
Natalie ignored him.
“It was in our bedroom when Ryan picked me up.”
Ethan said, “Then whoever put it in the car had access to the house.”
Cole looked at him.
“Who?”
“You.”
Natalie stiffened.
“Me.”
Cole’s expression remained unreadable.
“Ryan.”
Ryan looked away.
“And Ethan,” Cole finished.
Ethan nodded.
“I had emergency access.”
Vanessa asked quietly, “No household staff?”
“Not to the private floor.”
Ryan spread his hands.
“So now what? We’re all suspects?”
Cole looked at him.
“No.”
Ryan gave a bitter laugh.
“You’re going to believe every word she says because she appeared pregnant in a diner?”
Cole moved so quickly that Ryan stopped smiling.
Cole leaned both hands on the table.
“My wife is alive.”
He spoke very softly.
“You seem to be the only person in this room unhappy about that.”
Ryan held his gaze.
“That baby changes things.”
Natalie felt Cole tense.
Ryan continued.
“You know it does.”
Cole said, “Say one more word about my child.”
Natalie touched Cole’s arm.
He stopped.
Again.
Vanessa noticed that too.
She had probably seen hundreds of men obey Cole Barrett.
Tonight she was watching Cole Barrett listen to Natalie.
Ethan said, “The bracelet is at the house.”
Cole looked at Natalie.
“Do you want to see it?”
She hesitated.
The Barrett house.
Her bedroom.
The place she had not allowed herself to picture for eight months.
“I don’t know.”
“You choose.”
That surprised her.
Cole meant it.
Ryan watched the exchange with something close to disgust.
“You think this changes who he is?”
Natalie looked at him.
“No.”
Ryan blinked.
“I know exactly who Cole is.”
Cole’s face tightened.
Natalie continued.
“That’s why your lie almost worked.”
Silence.
“You didn’t tell me he wanted me dead because I believed Cole was cruel.”
Her voice shook.
“You told me because you knew I understood how far he would go for the family.”
Ryan’s eyes flickered.
“And at that time, I wasn’t sure if I was still his family.”
Cole looked devastated.
Natalie forced herself onward.
“So yes. I was afraid enough to stay gone.”
Ryan smiled faintly.
“You still should be.”
Vanessa suddenly spoke.
“Stop.”
Everyone looked at her.
She had been composed all evening.
Now anger cracked through.
“Eight months ago, Ryan came to Baltimore.”
Ryan’s face sharpened.
Vanessa looked at Cole.
“He met my father privately.”
“When?”
“Five days after Natalie’s funeral.”
Ryan said, “Business.”
Vanessa ignored him.
“I passed the library. They were arguing.”
“What about?” Cole asked.
“I only heard one sentence.”
Ryan stood again.
“Vanessa.”
She looked directly at him.
“You told my father, ‘The hard part is done. Now keep your end.’”
Ryan’s face went still.
Cole whispered, “What end?”
“I don’t know.”
Vanessa’s voice broke slightly.
“My father told me later that the Barrett family was considering a formal alliance.”
Cole stared at her.
“We weren’t.”
“I know that now.”
Ryan shook his head.
“This is absurd.”
Vanessa continued.
“My father encouraged me to meet Cole four months later.”
Natalie felt something unexpectedly complicated.
Vanessa had not been waiting in the wings.
She had been moved onto the board after Natalie vanished.
Maybe Vanessa had been used too.
Cole turned to Ethan.
“Bring the car.”
Ryan laughed.
“You’re taking her home?”
Cole did not answer him.
Natalie said, “I want the bracelet.”
Cole nodded.
“And something else.”
He looked at her.
She had not thought about it in months.
Not consciously.
But now the memory returned so clearly that she could see the bedroom exactly as it had been.
Cream curtains.
Dark wood.
Wedding photograph beside the lamp.
“I hid something behind our wedding picture the week before I disappeared.”
Cole frowned.
“What?”
“A photograph.”
Ryan stopped moving.
Natalie saw it.
So did Cole.
She looked directly at Ryan.
“It was a picture I took accidentally at the South Yard.”
Ryan’s voice lowered.
“Natalie.”
She continued.
“There were two men in the background.”
Vanessa’s eyes shifted toward Ryan.
Natalie looked at her.
“One of them was Ryan.”
Then she looked back at Ryan.
“And tomorrow night, if that photograph is still where I left it, we’re going to find out who the other man was.”
May you like
Ryan’s silence answered before anyone else could.
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