Julian’s face lost its last trace of color.
Nora continued.
“You removed it from the chart room because you thought the evidence was hidden inside.”
Gabriel smiled.
“You found the clock?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Julian grabbed Nora’s shoulders.
“Where is it?”
She shoved him away.
“I don’t know.”
He looked at the funeral director.
Mr. Vale was standing near the side wall now, shaking.
Julian’s eyes narrowed.
“You.”
Vale backed away.
“I did what you asked.”
“Where is the clock?”
“I gave it to your driver.”
“My driver never received it.”
Vale looked terrified.
“Then I don’t know.”
Julian cursed.
Gabriel suddenly laughed.
It was a small sound.
But everyone heard it.
“You still don’t understand.”
Julian turned.
Gabriel lifted the tiny brass bell.
“The clock was never evidence.”
Nora stared at him.
“Then why did Eleanor mention it?”
“Because it was a message.”
“About what?”
Gabriel looked toward the windows.
Beyond them, through sheets of rain, the gray sea rolled below the cliffs.
“The tide.”
Nora’s mind raced.
Then she remembered.
Briar House had been built above an old smuggler’s inlet.
At low tide, a stone tunnel beneath the eastern cliff became accessible for less than an hour.
Eleanor had shown it to Nora once.
She had called it the dead man’s road.
Nora looked at the great clock over the conservatory doors.
Three forty-two.
Low tide was approaching.
She turned to Gabriel.
“She’s alive.”
His silence answered her.
Sophie gasped.
“What?”
Nora moved closer.
“Eleanor is alive.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“She was when I last saw her.”
Sophie almost collapsed.
“Where?”
Gabriel spoke quickly.
“Julian couldn’t kill her until she told him where the original audit documents were. He kept her somewhere on the estate.”
Julian shouted, “Enough!”
Nora ignored him.
“The tunnel.”
Gabriel nodded.
“I heard the guards talking. There is a chamber beneath the eastern cliffs.”
Julian looked at the security men.
That was the confirmation Nora needed.
She ran.
A guard moved to intercept her.
Sophie grabbed a chair and shoved it into his path.
He fell.
Guests surged toward him.
Nora reached the service corridor.
Behind her came footsteps.
She did not look back.
She ran through the kitchen, down the servants’ staircase, across the old pantry, and into the east wing.
Smoke damage still blackened the corridor from the fire.
Eleanor’s study stood open.
The walls were burned.
The desk was destroyed.
But Nora did not stop.
At the end of the corridor was a narrow staircase leading below ground.
She descended.
The air became colder.
The sound of the storm faded.
At the bottom, an iron door opened into an old wine cellar.
Nora found the hidden tunnel behind a rack of empty bottles.
She pulled the lever Eleanor had shown her years ago.
Stone moved against stone.
A dark passage opened.
“Nora!”
She turned.
Sophie stood at the top of the stairs.
“Stay there!”
“No.”
“Sophie—”
“If she’s alive, I’m coming.”
There was no time to argue.
Together they entered the tunnel.
Water dripped from the ceiling.
The passage smelled of salt, earth, and rust.
Ahead, daylight flickered faintly.
Then they heard a sound.
A cough.
Nora ran.
The tunnel opened into a stone chamber carved into the cliff.
An old wooden table stood in the center.
Ropes.
Empty medicine bottles.
A lantern.
And against the far wall—
“Eleanor!”
The old woman sat on the floor with her wrists tied to a pipe.
Her silver hair was loose around her face.
Her clothes were dirty.
Her skin was pale.
But her eyes were open.
Very open.
Very angry.
“Nora,” she said.
Sophie fell to her knees.
“Grandmother.”
Eleanor stared at her granddaughter.
For one second, the hardness disappeared.
Then she looked at Nora.
“You took your time.”
Nora laughed and cried simultaneously.
“I had to interrupt your funeral.”
“Was it tasteful?”
“Too many roses.”
“I knew it.”
Nora began cutting the rope with a piece of broken metal from the table.
Sophie held Eleanor’s face between her hands.
“They told me you were dead.”
“I gathered.”
“Julian—”
“I know.”
A noise came from the tunnel.
Footsteps.
Fast.
Eleanor’s expression changed.
“He’s coming.”
Julian Cross appeared in the passage.
He was alone.
And this time he was holding a gun.
Sophie stood.
“Don’t.”
Julian pointed it at Nora.
“I need the documents.”
Eleanor looked almost bored.
“You’ve always needed something, Julian.”
“Where are they?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“You burned my study. Kidnapped Gabriel. Locked me in a cave. Organized my funeral. And somehow you still believe I’m going to help you?”
His hand trembled.