The Arrest at Table Twelve
Chapter 17 - The Arrest at Table Twelve
Before police transported Owen, Rosa brought him back into the ballroom.
She wanted him to see the map.
Owen sat at table twelve with his cuffed hands resting beside Uncle Leo’s abandoned cake plate. Daniel stood across from him.
“The aircraft is heading to Blackwater station,” Daniel said.
Owen’s eyes did not move, but his breathing did.
“That station has been closed for years.”
“Not the underground hangar.”
A pause.
Daniel had guessed. Owen’s pause confirmed it.
Rosa leaned forward. “Who is piloting?”
Owen said nothing.
“Your conspiracy charges are already extensive,” she continued. “Kidnapping a medically vulnerable woman across state lines will add federal counts.”
“She is not kidnapped.”
Daniel’s hands curled into fists.
Rosa noticed. “Stay where you are.”
Owen smiled. “Emma signed medical authority to a guardian.”
“Who?”
“Evelyn Whitmore.”
Across the room, Evelyn dropped her champagne glass.
It shattered beneath a table.
Rosa turned. “Mrs. Whitmore?”
Evelyn’s composure finally cracked. “I signed what Owen gave me. He said the woman was unstable and dangerous.”
“You financed the airfield,” Claire said from the doorway, escorted by an officer.
Evelyn looked at her daughter. “I saved you from poverty.”
“You taught me to call fear a family value.”
Rosa ordered Evelyn detained.
Owen watched mother and daughter with something like amusement. “Everyone wants a villain because it makes their own choices feel accidental.”
Daniel said, “You sabotaged Emma’s beacon.”
“I gave an order to disable a tracking unit on the ground. I did not cause the storm.”
“You left her injured and stole five years of her life.”
“I protected Beacon.”
Mia stepped beside Daniel. Natalie tried to stop her, but Mia shook her head.
“Owen,” she said, “Mommy made Beacon to find people.”
He looked at her.
“You used it to make her disappear.”
The sentence landed harder than any accusation from an adult.
Owen looked away.
Rosa received a message. The Coast Guard had launched a helicopter toward Blackwater station. Weather conditions were deteriorating. The medical aircraft had been spotted descending near the island.
Daniel asked to join the rescue flight.
Rosa refused.
Natalie asked.
Rosa refused again.
Then Mia raised her hand.
Rosa stared at her. “No.”
“I was going to ask if Dad could call the Coast Guard pilot. He trained half their rescue team.”
Daniel looked at Mia.
She smiled faintly. “Respect expertise.”
Rosa gave Daniel the phone.
He called Commander Isaac Bell, a former Beacon pilot. Isaac answered on the first ring.
“Cross,” he said over the roar of rotors, “tell me where to look.”
May you like
Daniel studied the island map.
“Not the runway,” he said. “The cliff hangar. And listen for three-three-one.”
