Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 61

Like his father, Sebastian was a little confused by Vivian’s lack of reaction after the fact. She’d just experienced something traumatic and, though at first she’d been a mess, now that things had settled down? Calm, put together, as if nothing had happened.

“Did you look everything over?” Samuel prompted as he rubbed his hands across his face. He looked tired and his son couldn’t blame the man.

It’d been a hell of a day.

“I did. I also heard Mr Morris’ report.”

“And?”

“Something’s off.”

Samuel’s sharp gaze locked onto his son and tried to bore through him. “What do you mean?”

Instead of answering right away, Sebastian pulled out a thumb drive and held it out for his father. “You need to watch the security footage first.”

Samuel took the drive from Sebastian, who watched his father circle the desk to take a seat. His laptop was already on and took no time to load what was on the drive. “Any in particular?”

“I labelled the important ones.” Taking a seat in chair Vivian had vacated, he leaned back and waited.

Sebastian watched his father’s face as file after file of security footage from different streets and angles were watched. Once he’d gone through them all Samuel was frowning. “They’re either bad at their job, or…”

“‘Better not be the target’s. If you hit her you know it’s our heads.’” Sebastian nodded. “Mr Morris heard one of them say that in the parking garage. Vivian was the target.”

“Hmm…” Samuel leaned back in his chair, his finger tapping the desk. It’d taken Sebastian a few times of watching the security footage in full to notice but his father had caught it on the first play through. After a minute of silent contemplation his father spoke again. “They weren’t supposed to hurt Vivian, so they only shot at Mr Morris. But when they pulled out of the parking lot they shot at the car twice… then never again. Not a single shot was fired the entire chase. Why?”

Sebastian shrugged. “My guess? If it led to a crash it’d harm Vivian. Or they were worried a stray bullet might hit her — not that it mattered with the bullet proofing on the car. But it seems stupid for them to expect Vivian to just pull over; Mr Morris wouldn’t have allowed that. What if they’d gone home, what then? Would they have followed them all the way here? Whatever their contingency plan was when the abduction failed at the mall… I can’t figure it out.”

“Did you view security footage from before they arrived at the mall? How did they know they were there in the first place?” Samuel inquired, his finger still tapping away.

Sebastian held up a small device, black and no bigger than his thumbnail. Setting it carefully on the desk within his father’s reach, he waited for Samuel to pick it up and inspect before speaking. “It’s a tracker.”

“… where did you find this, Sebastian?”

“Mr Morris said he saw the men look through the car and one of them asked about taking something, but another told him to leave it — that they’d retrieve it another time. When he looked through Vivian’s school bag he found that; it was hidden in the handle, forced between the seams.”

Samuel’s fingers tightened around the tracker. “How did it get there? When?”

“No-one knows. As far as we know, Vivian’s school bag has never been out of her possession.”

“Wait…” Samuel leaned forward again. “Today someone grabbed her things and soaked them.”

“… what?” That was news to Sebastian. Who would dare do such a thing to his little sister? If he ever found the culprit….

Samuel explained what he knew of the situation from questioning Vivian and what Mr Morris had told him. It wasn’t much and now that it was all said and done Sebastian noted the look on his father’s face. Nothing would stop the man from finding the truth behind it all.

“What’s the plan?” Sebastian asked as he slipped his hands into his pockets. “Getting Vivian to talk won’t be easy, and the shooters are gone. The tracker … it can’t be traced or backtracked to find who’s following it.”

“Normally I’d sit her down and get the truth out of her, but…” Samuel trailed off, both of them knowing how damaging that would be to their relationship with the girl. “I’ll talk to Gabriel. He’s the closest to her and might be able to get something out of her if he’s careful about it.”

Sebastian wasn’t overly keen on that plan but there wasn’t much else they could do at the moment, even if time was of the essence. The sooner they got to the bottom of this the sooner his sister would be safe. “Did you get anything useful from the shooters?”

“Only a name,” his father replied, his lips flattening into a grim line. “The Curator.”

That caught Sebastian off guard. He’d heard about the boogeyman of the underworld but it’d been before his time. “I thought he was just an urban legend?”

“No, he’s very real,” his father assured him with a slight nod. “And seems to be back, if we can believe the word of those men.”

“You doubt the intel?”

Samuel shook his head. “No… I believe they were told their orders came from The Curator. Whether it was actually him or someone playing the part…? I’d rather go with the assumption he’s back and find out it’s a fake than the reverse.”

“Alright. I’ll get some men together to look into The Curator and whether or not he’s back, and who would go after Vivian to get to you.”

“Send Gabriel in when you head out,” Samuel told his eldest son. “I want to go over what’s expected of him in regards to Vivian.

Sebastian nodded. “Will do. Anything else?”

Taking a moment to think it over, Samuel shook his head. “No. I plan on talking to Mr Morris myself and have him assign someone to take his place while he recovers.”

“He’s not going to like that.”

“I won’t allow anyone who isn’t in top form to protect my daughter. If he doesn’t like it he can leave,” Samuel snapped.

Sebastian had to hold back his amusement at his father’s reaction. His sister probably hadn’t realized just how deep their father’s protective streak ran. To her it must seem like he was letting her do whatever but in truth he always had someone watching her when outside the house.

First it’d only been Mr Morris, who had to keep close to the school while she was in class to make sure nothing happened; when Vivian had asked how Samuel had known she was at the police station it hadn’t been because Mr Morris tracked her phone or noted students were let out early and wondered. It’d been because he’d watched it happen.

Why hadn’t he stepped in? He’d contacted their father when the situation arose, asking if he needed to intervene or let things play out. Reading the situation and knowing the possible outcomes, he needed to know which one his boss wanted to go with.

This lead to Vivian getting interrogated and coming out looking like she’d gone through hell. If she knew the truth, would she be able to forgive their father? He’d done it because it gave them leverage against the police, something to use against them the next time an investigation into the Devreauxs comes up.

Now that Mr Morris was out for the count, another would be chosen, as well as a few who would monitor her movements through security footage, GPS location and whatever else Samuel came up with to guarantee her safety.

Sebastian wanted to offer himself as a stand in bodyguard but knew he’d be turned down without hesitation; Vivian wasn’t telling anyone she was a Devreaux and his presence would ruin that. It was bad enough their mother’s family had learned of her existence and were demanding to meet her, something Samuel had somehow managed to fend off for over a month now, but it wouldn’t be long until they showed up at the front door, demanding to see the girl.

If Vivian wasn’t ready for the world to know she was a Devreaux then she also wasn’t ready to meet the maternal side of the family. Auntie Pat was the worst of the bunch, but the rest were bulldozers in their own right.

Letting out a sigh, Sebastian closed the office door and left in search of Gabriel.