Chapter 8 - The Recording That Should Not Exist
Gideon almost laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the accusation was so perfectly constructed that he immediately understood its purpose.
Daniel Hurst had supposedly taken his own life in county jail.
If Gideon was suddenly being accused of murder, someone had prepared evidence.
Someone powerful enough to control police response.
Thomas Vane.
Silas stared toward the windows.
“You idiot.”
Gideon looked at him.
“You think I arranged this?”
“They came after you.”
“They came after the evidence.”
Evelyn spoke.
“He’s right.”
Silas looked at her.
“You told Vane?”
“No.”
“Then how?”
Evelyn laughed bitterly.
“You spent a year planting people inside Gideon’s house. Did you think Vane wouldn’t plant people inside yours?”
That silenced everyone.
The loudspeaker repeated the command.
Gideon Crosswell, exit immediately.
Marcus moved toward the rear hall.
“River access is blocked.”
Peter checked another window.
“North side too.”
Silas cursed.
“We have three minutes.”
“To do what?” Gideon asked.
“Disappear.”
Gideon looked at him.
“You have a route.”
Silas smiled faintly.
“You really think I’d choose a meeting place without one?”
“Show me.”
“Why?”
“Because if Vane gets us separately, we both disappear.”
“That almost sounds like trust.”
“It isn’t.”
Silas glanced toward Sophie and Hannah.
“Bring them.”
Gideon stepped closer.
“No.”
Silas’s men raised weapons.
Gideon’s expression hardened.
“We can waste ninety seconds deciding whether you’re stupid enough to threaten that child again.”
Silas stared at him.
Then he gestured.
“Fine.”
Evelyn, Hannah, and Sophie moved beside Gideon.
Marcus remained behind them.
Silas opened a hidden steel panel in the floor.
A narrow maintenance ladder descended toward the pier foundation.
They climbed.
Moments later police entered the building above.
Boots thundered.
Commands echoed.
Below, the group moved through a drainage tunnel barely wide enough for two people.
Sophie clung to Hannah.
Evelyn walked beside Gideon.
“You look terrible,” she whispered.
He glanced at her.
“You flew across the country into a kidnapping.”
“Still less stressful than our marriage.”
Despite himself, Gideon almost smiled.
Then Evelyn’s expression softened.
“You heard Ren’s recording.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I was terrified of what you would do.”
“You thought I’d kill Silas.”
“Yes.”
“I probably would have.”
“I know.”
Gideon looked ahead.
“Maybe you were right.”
Evelyn touched his arm.
“No. I was afraid. That’s different.”
They reached an underground chamber.
Silas opened another door.
Cold air rushed in.
A service road lay beyond the pier.
No police.
Three vehicles waited.
Silas had prepared everything.
Gideon turned toward him.
“Where does this go?”
“You’re not coming with me.”
Gideon laughed.
Silas raised the pendant.
“I have what I need.”
“No. You have an empty piece of jewelry.”
Silas’s smile vanished.
“What?”
“The evidence isn’t inside.”
Peter looked surprised too.
Gideon continued.
“You threatened two children for a key that already did its job.”
Silas opened the pendant.
Nothing.
His face changed.
“Where is it?”
“Safe.”
Silas moved toward Gideon.
Marcus raised his weapon.
So did Silas’s men.
Again, a standoff.
Evelyn stepped between them.
“Enough!”
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed toward Sophie.
“She is five years old!”
Sophie hid behind Hannah.
Evelyn’s voice shook with anger.
“My daughter died because grown men decided their secrets mattered more than a child’s life. And here you are, one year later, doing the same thing!”
Silas stared at her.
Gideon lowered his weapon first.
Marcus followed.
After several seconds, Silas gestured for his men to lower theirs.
Evelyn looked at Gideon.
“You want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“Then stop chasing pieces of it.”
“What does that mean?”
“The complete file isn’t at Pier 17.”
Hannah stared at her.
“What?”
Evelyn looked guilty.
“I moved it.”
“When?”
“Ten months ago.”
“Where?”
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want anyone to know.”
Gideon stepped closer.
“Where is it?”
Evelyn looked toward Sophie.
“Ren’s school.”
He stared.
“What?”
“Her preschool.”
Silas cursed softly.
Evelyn continued.
“Ren’s teacher gave every child a memory box at the end of the school year. Drawings, photographs, small objects.”
Gideon remembered.
He had never collected Ren’s.
He could not bring himself to go.
“Ren’s box is still there?”
“I asked them to store it.”
“What did you put inside?”
“A drive.”
Silas immediately turned toward one of his men.
Gideon grabbed his arm.
“No calls.”
Silas pulled away.
“You don’t command me.”
“Tonight I do.”
“Why?”
“Because Vane has police hunting both of us, and if one of your men calls anyone, we assume he’s calling Vane.”
Peter raised a hand slightly.
“Crosswell’s right.”
Silas glared.
Peter shrugged.
“Survival has made me flexible.”
Hannah looked at Evelyn.
“What is on the drive?”
“Daniel’s confession. Hospital footage. Financial transfers. Silas’s shipping records.”
Gideon turned toward Silas.
“And?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“Video from Ren’s toy camera.”
Silas went pale.
“You said she took a photograph.”
“She did.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“But before she pressed the shutter, the camera recorded eleven seconds of video.”
Gideon’s heart beat harder.
“What’s in the video?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“You need to see it.”
“Tell me.”
“No.”
“Evelyn.”
“If I tell you now, you’ll stop thinking.”
He hated when she knew him that well.
Silas suddenly laughed.
“You still don’t understand, Gideon.”
Gideon turned.
Silas’s face had become strangely calm.
“The video doesn’t only destroy me.”
“What does it show?”
Silas looked directly at him.
“It shows you.”
Gideon frowned.
“I wasn’t there.”
“Not physically.”
“What does that mean?”
Silas did not answer.
Then Peter’s phone vibrated.
He checked the screen.
His face changed.
“What?”
Peter turned the phone toward Gideon.
A breaking-news alert filled the display.
CHICAGO CRIME BOSS GIDEON CROSSWELL WANTED IN CONNECTION WITH JAILHOUSE DEATH.
Below the headline was security footage.
Grainy.
Black and white.
A man entering the detention facility on the night Daniel Hurst died.
The man wore Gideon’s coat.
Gideon’s build.
Gideon’s distinctive gait.
Then the figure turned toward the camera.
His face was clearly visible.
Gideon stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Evelyn whispered, “It looks exactly like you.”
Silas shook his head.
“Vane has been planning this longer than any of us realized.”
Gideon watched the footage again.
The man on-screen looked like him.
But Gideon knew where he had been that night.
At Ren’s grave.
Alone.
No witnesses.
No alibi.
Then Sophie tugged Hannah’s sleeve.
“Mommy?”
“Yes, baby?”
“The man in the video isn’t Mr. Gideon.”
Every adult looked at her.
Hannah crouched.
“How do you know?”
Sophie pointed at the screen.
“His hand.”
Gideon looked.
The footage was blurry.
“What about it?”
Sophie frowned as though the answer were obvious.
“Mr. Gideon has flowers on his hand.”
Gideon looked down at his tattooed fingers.
The man in the video did not.
Marcus zoomed in.
No tattoos.
A disguised man.
A planted recording.
Proof Gideon had been framed.
But if a five-year-old could notice it, so could investigators.
Unless the investigators were never meant to look carefully.
Silas stepped toward his vehicle.
“We need to move.”
“Where?” Marcus asked.
Gideon answered.
“Ren’s school.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“They’ll expect that.”
“Yes.”
“Then why go?”
Gideon turned toward Silas.
“Because for the first time, I want the person hunting us to know exactly where I’m going.”
Silas frowned.
Gideon took out his phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Making sure Thomas Vane follows.”
“To a school?”
“No.”
Gideon smiled coldly.
“To the place where he thinks the evidence is.”
Evelyn understood first.
“You’re setting a trap.”
“No.”
Gideon looked at the memory card already far beyond their reach.
“I’m giving him a choice.”
“And if he chooses violence?”
May you like
Gideon’s gaze moved to Sophie.
“Then Chicago finally sees who the real monster is.”
