Chapter 9 - The Hidden Driver
The toll image showed Vane’s SUV traveling north.
The driver’s face was partly concealed.
The passenger seat appeared empty.
Margaret forwarded the location to investigators.
Brad demanded to see the image.
Margaret refused.
“If Emily is in that vehicle, every minute matters.”
Brad looked genuinely frightened.
For the first time, Margaret wondered whether he truly did not know where Emily had been taken.
Vane admitted he drove Emily to a private guesthouse owned by the Gable family.
She regained consciousness during the trip.
She threatened to expose them.
At the guesthouse, Mrs. Gable’s physician sedated her.
Vane left before midnight.
When he returned the next morning, Emily was gone.
Mrs. Gable claimed she had escaped.
Brad believed his mother.
Margaret did not.
“Who had access to the guesthouse?”
Mrs. Gable remained silent.
One security guard spoke.
“Mr. Gable’s head of operations.”
A man named Richard Cole.
He was not at the party.
Brad called him.
No answer.
Margaret searched the guest list.
Cole’s wife was present.
She stood near the ballroom doors, trembling.
Margaret approached her.
May you like
“Where is your husband?”
The woman whispered, “He said he was fixing Brad’s mistake.”
