Chapter 11 - Marcus’s Second Confession
Marcus asked to see Julian.
Julian almost refused.
Then Clara said, “Go.”
Marcus sat behind glass at the detention facility.
He looked twenty years older.
“I’m sorry.”
Julian said nothing.
“I know that doesn’t matter.”
“It matters when followed by truth.”
Marcus looked down.
“Whitmore recruited me.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“Before Clara’s cancer.”
“Yes.”
“What did you sell?”
“Mostly schedules.”
“What else?”
“Sealed docket numbers.”
“Medical records?”
“Later.”
Julian struggled to contain his disgust.
“Why?”
“Debt.”
“That explains desperation, not betrayal.”
Marcus nodded.
“I know.”
Then he revealed something prosecutors had not heard.
Whitmore maintained physical records.
Not digital.
A ledger.
Every attorney.
Every clerk.
Every payment.
Every family.
“Where?”
Marcus hesitated.
“He called it the Shepherd Book.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why tell me?”
“Because Derek knows.”
Julian leaned closer.
“How?”
“I heard them arguing.”
“About what?”
“Derek wanted insurance.”
“Against Whitmore?”
“Yes.”
“So Derek knows where the ledger is.”
Marcus nodded.
“He said if Shepherd ever turned on him, he’d burn the whole network.”
Julian left immediately.
But Derek was missing.
His apartment was empty.
Car abandoned.
Phone switched off.
Torres ordered a citywide search.
Then Evelyn called.
“Julian.”
Her voice shook.
“Alba’s school called.”
His blood froze.
“What?”
“Someone tried to pick her up.”
“Who?”
“A man claiming to be Daniel.”
Julian stopped walking.
“Where is Alba?”
“Safe. The school refused.”
He closed his eyes.
Whitmore was escalating.
Then his phone received a photograph.
A leather-bound book.
Message:
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT THE NAMES.
Address.
An abandoned legal storage facility.
Torres immediately recognized the trap.
Julian recognized something else.
The sender was Derek.
“He wants protection.”
“Or leverage.”
They went with a tactical team.
Inside the warehouse, Derek waited holding the ledger.
He looked terrified.
“He’s going to kill me.”
“Whitmore?”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
Derek held up the book.
“This destroys judges. Attorneys. Doctors. Everybody.”
“Give it to Torres.”
“I want immunity.”
“You’re not getting immunity from me.”
“I want protection!”
“Then cooperate.”
Derek laughed wildly.
“You think you’re different from him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m willing to lose my career if that’s what truth costs.”
Derek stared at him.
For the first time, he seemed to understand Julian could not be bought.
He slowly extended the ledger.
Then a window shattered.
Everyone dropped.
A bullet struck the wall.
No one was hit.
Tactical officers moved.
The shooter escaped.
But Derek surrendered the book.
Inside were hundreds of names.
Julian flipped through them.
Then stopped.
One name appeared repeatedly.
JULIAN VANCE.
Beside it were payments.
Large payments.
Julian stared.
“I never received this money.”
Torres examined the account numbers.
“They’re not yours.”
Someone had created accounts using his identity.
Whitmore had been preparing evidence against Julian for years.
May you like
If the network collapsed, Julian was meant to take the blame.
The Shepherd had always planned to sacrifice his favorite student.
