"Then why was it accepted?"
"Because three witnesses testified that she had."
"Who?"
Richard gave her three names.
Naomi recognized one.
Daniel Mercer.
She looked at Evan.
"Your partner?"
Evan stared at the document.
"Daniel's father."
Richard nodded.
"His father was one of the witnesses."
Naomi felt a chill.
"Did Daniel know?"
"I don't know."
Evan looked furious.
"Then we find out."
Richard suddenly reached for another file.
"There's something else."
He pulled out a handwritten ledger.
"This belonged to Eleanor."
Naomi opened it.
Most of the pages contained numbers and technical notes.
But near the end, she found several entries written in red ink.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
She turned the page.
One sentence had been underlined.
If anything happens to me, look beneath the old clock.
Naomi looked up.
"What old clock?"
Richard's face changed.
"The clock."
"What clock?"
"The clock in Carrington Plaza."
Evan immediately understood.
"The one on the fifty-second floor?"
Richard nodded.
Naomi stared at him.
She had cleaned that hallway hundreds of times.
There was an enormous antique clock near the executive elevator.
She had never thought twice about it.
"What's underneath it?"
Richard shook his head.
"We never found out."
Evan looked at Naomi.
"When did you last clean it?"
"Yesterday."
"Did you notice anything?"
Naomi thought.
Then she remembered.
A small scratch near the base.
She had assumed it was damage.
"Wait."
She reached into her bag.
From the side pocket, she pulled out her phone.
She had taken a photograph of the hallway that morning because a beautiful beam of sunlight had fallen across the floor.
The clock was visible in the background.
Naomi zoomed in.
There.
Near the wooden base.
A tiny metal panel.
She had never noticed it before.
Evan stared.
"That's it."
Richard stepped closer.
"How do we open it?"
Naomi shook her head.
"I don't know."
Evan smiled.
"For once, I know someone who does."
"Who?"
"My grandfather's old locksmith."
They left the gala through a private entrance.
Outside, rain had begun falling.
Naomi stood beneath the awning.
Evan held an umbrella over her.
She looked at him.
"I can hold it."
"I know."
"Then why aren't you giving it to me?"
"Because you look like you're about to walk into a storm."
Naomi looked at the rain.
"Maybe I am."
Evan smiled.
"Then I'll walk with you."
She didn't answer.
They entered the car.
As they drove toward Carrington Plaza, Naomi looked out the window.
The city lights blurred against the rain.
She thought about her grandmother.
About the letter.
About the clock.
And about the man sitting beside her.
Evan was no longer the billionaire who had invited her as a joke.
Not entirely.
He was still responsible for what he had done.
But now he was also the only person inside the Carrington empire willing to help her uncover the truth.
Neither of them knew what waited beneath that old clock.
Neither knew that someone else had already arrived at the building.
Someone who knew exactly what Naomi was searching for.
The car stopped outside Carrington Plaza.
Naomi looked up.
The building was dark.
Almost every light on the upper floors had been turned off.
Evan frowned.
"That's strange."
"What?"
"The security system never turns off this early."
He reached for his phone.
No signal.
Naomi looked at the entrance.
The doors were unlocked.
They stepped inside.
The lobby was empty.
Too empty.
Then Naomi heard a sound.
A faint metallic click.
She turned.
The elevator doors opened by themselves.
Inside stood Daniel Mercer.
He was holding a small black briefcase.
He looked at Naomi.
Then at Evan.
And smiled.
"I was wondering how long it would take you to find the clock."
The elevator doors remained open.
Daniel stepped backward.
"Come up."
Naomi felt Evan move closer to her.
Daniel's smile disappeared.
"You want the truth about Eleanor Brooks?"
He lifted the briefcase.
"Then you need to see what happened the night she disappeared."
The elevator doors began closing.
Naomi rushed forward.
But before they shut completely, Daniel said one final sentence.
"Your grandmother wasn't the only one who knew the truth."
The doors closed.
Naomi and Evan stood frozen in the empty lobby.
Then the elevator began moving upward.
Toward the fifty-second floor.
Toward the old clock.
Toward the secret that had remained hidden for twenty-seven years.
Chapter 7
The elevator climbed toward the fifty-second floor.
Naomi watched the numbers above the doors change one by one.
Forty-six.
Forty-seven.
Forty-eight.
Beside her, Evan was already trying to call security again.
Nothing.
No signal.
No response.
The building felt strangely different at night.
During the day, Carrington Plaza was always alive. Assistants hurried through the lobby, employees carried coffee into meetings, phones rang constantly, and elevators opened every few seconds.
Now there was only silence.
When the elevator reached the fifty-second floor, the doors opened.
The hallway was dark.
Naomi stepped out first.
The old clock stood exactly where it had always been.
Tall.
Wooden.
Ornate.
Its golden hands pointed to eleven forty-seven.
She looked at Evan.
"It stopped."
"That clock hasn't worked in years."
Naomi walked toward it.
The metal panel she had seen in the photograph was still there.
She knelt.
There was a tiny keyhole.
Evan pulled out his phone and used its flashlight.
"Do you have a key?"
"No."
Naomi touched the pendant around her neck.
Then she remembered something.
Her grandmother had always told her never to remove the small silver chain from around her neck.
Naomi had never understood why.
She turned the pendant over.
There was a tiny indentation on its back.
Evan noticed it.
"That's a key."
Naomi stared at him.
"You think?"
"Try it."
She placed the pendant into the keyhole.
It fit perfectly.
She turned it.
Click.
A hidden compartment opened beneath the clock.
Inside was a small metal box.
Naomi pulled it out.
Evan looked around.
"Where's Daniel?"
"I don't know."
They opened the box.
Inside were three things.
A flash drive.
An old photograph.
And a handwritten note.
Naomi unfolded the note.
The handwriting was her grandmother's.
If you have found this, then the Carrington family knows the truth is coming.
Do not trust anyone who tells you the past should remain buried.
Naomi looked at Evan.
"She knew."
"She expected this."
There was another sentence beneath it.
The evidence is not here.
The evidence is with the person who betrayed me.
Naomi's stomach tightened.
"Who?"
Evan stared at the photograph.
It showed four people standing outside Brooks Systems.
Eleanor.
Jonathan Carrington.
A younger Richard Hale.
And another man.
Evan's eyes widened.
"That's Daniel's father."
Naomi turned the photograph over.
There was a name written on the back.
Thomas Mercer.
Below it was a date.
October 3, 1999.