Chapter 6 - A Lie Told in a Familiar Voice
“Hands where I can see them.”
Elias entered slowly.
He looked older than he had the night before.
No coat despite the cold.
No bodyguards.
No weapon I could see.
Gabriel searched him.
Clean.
Claire stood beside Daniel's desk with the letter in her hand.
Elias saw it.
His face changed.
“You found his message.”
“You mean the one telling me not to trust you?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“You don't seem surprised.”
“I knew he suspected me.”
“Was he right?”
“No.”
“Your car was near the place he died.”
“I know.”
Claire stepped forward.
“Why?”
Elias looked at her.
“Because I was supposed to meet him.”
“You told Adrian you never arranged the meeting.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“To keep you alive.”
Claire laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“There it is again.”
“What?”
“That sentence.”
Elias looked confused.
“Every man who lied to me says he did it to protect me.”
He lowered his gaze.
“I deserve that.”
“You deserve worse.”
“Yes.”
I stepped between them.
“Start talking.”
Elias leaned against the metal desk.
“Daniel contacted me six weeks before he died. At first I thought he wanted legal advice. Then he showed me payment records connected to Victor.”
“The accounts?”
“Some.”
“Why didn't you bring them to me?”
“He wouldn't let me.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel believed your organization had a leak.”
“He was right.”
“Yes.”
“You?”
“No.”
“Prove it.”
“I can't.”
“Then you're wasting my time.”
He looked directly at me.
“The night Daniel died, he called me at 9:14. He said he had identified the leak.”
“Name?”
“He wouldn't say over the phone.”
“Convenient.”
“I drove north to meet him.”
“At what location?”
“A roadside diner outside Kenosha.”
“Did he arrive?”
“No.”
“Because he crashed.”
“Yes.”
“Did you go to the crash?”
Elias’s face tightened.
“I saw emergency lights from the highway.”
“You stopped?”
“Yes.”
“Before police arrived?”
“There was already a vehicle there.”
“Whose?”
“I don't know.”
“Moretti?”
“No.”
“How can you be certain?”
“Because it was Victor’s.”
Claire gripped the letter.
“You saw Victor there?”
“No. One of his men.”
“Name.”
“Marcus Vale.”
Gabriel looked up sharply.
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
I knew Marcus Vale.
Former Chicago detective.
Current head of private operations for Kane Maritime.
If he had been at Daniel's crash before emergency services, the accident deserved another name.
Murder.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Elias looked ashamed.
“Because Vale saw me.”
“So?”
“He called twenty minutes later.”
“What did he say?”
“That if I mentioned Daniel Bennett to anyone, my daughter would disappear.”
I remembered Elias's daughter.
Sophie.
She lived in Boston with her husband and two children.
“You let Victor control you for four years?”
“I told myself silence was temporary.”
“And then?”
“Temporary becomes routine surprisingly quickly when your grandchildren are involved.”
Claire stared at him.
“Did you tell Victor about the storage unit?”
“No.”
“The key?”
“No.”
“My location at Adrian's estate?”
Elias hesitated.
That was enough.
I crossed the distance between us.
Gabriel caught my arm.
“Adrian.”
I stopped inches from Elias.
“You told him where she was.”
His face collapsed.
“I didn't know what he would do.”
“You knew exactly what he would do.”
“He asked whether Claire Bennett worked for you.”
“And you answered.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He already knew.”
“That's not an answer.”
“He sent me photographs of Sophie’s children walking to school.”
Claire turned away.
I wanted to hate Elias cleanly.
His explanation made that inconvenient.
“You should have come to me.”
“I know.”
“You should have trusted me.”
“I know.”
“You gave Victor access to a mother and child living under my roof.”
“I know.”
His voice broke on the last word.
I stepped back.
“Get him out.”
Elias looked alarmed.
“Adrian, wait.”
“Gabriel.”
“We can't leave yet,” Elias said.
“Why?”
“Victor knows you're here.”
“We already established that.”
“No. You don't understand.”
His eyes moved toward the laptop.
“He doesn't want those records simply destroyed.”
“What does he want?”
“He needs one file.”
“Which?”
“I don't know the number.”
“Then how useful.”
“Daniel found proof tied to a waterfront redevelopment project.”
I knew which one.
South River Terminal.
A two-billion-dollar redevelopment contract.
Victor had been trying to force my company out for eighteen months.
“If the file becomes public,” Elias said, “Victor doesn't just lose Kane Maritime.”
“What does he lose?”
“Everything.”
Claire looked at the memory cards.
“Then we release it.”
“No.”
All three of us looked at him.
“Why not?”
“Because Daniel created a dead-man sequence.”
“A what?”
“A chain of evidence.”
Elias pointed at the laptop.
“If you release only part of it, Victor can claim fabrication. Daniel told me there were three independent pieces required to verify the records.”
“There it is,” I said.
“What?”
“Last night you knew there were three.”
Elias froze.
“You said Daniel divided the evidence.”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“You know where the pieces are.”
“I know what they are.”
“Tell me.”
“Financial records.”
“First.”
“A witness.”
“Ava Reynolds.”
“Yes.”
“Third?”
Elias hesitated.
“An original transaction ledger kept by Victor himself.”
“Where?”
“Daniel never found it.”
Claire looked at him.
“Then how can we prove anything?”
“We find Ava.”
Gabriel held up his phone.
“Problem.”
“What?”
“Ava Reynolds died three years ago.”
Claire went still.
“How?”
“House fire in Indiana.”
Elias shook his head.
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Daniel wouldn't use a witness without an escape plan.”
“Dead people usually ruin escape plans.”
“Search the death certificate.”
Gabriel did.
His expression changed.
“What?”
“No dental comparison. Identification based on personal belongings.”
Elias nodded.
“She may have staged it.”
I looked at Claire.
Daniel's recording had said: If she is alive.
He had known Ava might disappear.
A loud crash came from the hallway.
Gabriel moved first.
The lights went out.
Again.
But this time we were not inside my house.
Someone had cut power to the storage building.
Emergency alarms began screaming.
Red lights flashed.
“Back exit,” Gabriel ordered.
Claire grabbed Daniel's letter.
I took the laptop case.
A metallic smell filled the hallway.
Smoke.
“Fire,” Claire said.
Not accidental.
Victor had decided the conversation lasted long enough.
We moved toward the stairwell.
Smoke thickened from below.
“Roof,” Gabriel said.
We climbed.
On the fourth-floor landing, glass shattered.
A man entered through the side stairwell.
Gabriel shoved Claire behind the wall.
I heard two suppressed cracks.
The man retreated.
We reached the roof.
Snow struck my face.
A neighboring building sat twenty feet away across a narrow alley.
No route down.
Claire coughed.
“Now what?”
Gabriel pointed toward a maintenance bridge used by workers.
Locked.
I shot the lock.
“Move.”
We crossed as smoke poured from the storage building.
Elias came last.
Halfway across, he stopped.
“What are you doing?” I shouted.
He stared behind us.
A figure had appeared on the roof.
Marcus Vale.
Even at a distance, I recognized him from corporate meetings.
He raised a weapon.
Elias pushed Claire forward.
The shot cracked.
Elias jerked.
He fell against the railing.
Claire screamed.
Gabriel fired back.
Vale disappeared.
I caught Elias before he collapsed.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
“Stay awake.”
He laughed weakly.
“I've disappointed you too many times to die dramatically.”
“Shut up.”
Claire pressed her scarf against the wound.
Elias looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
“Save it.”
“No.”
His eyes found mine.
“There’s something Daniel never knew.”
“What?”
Elias's breathing became shallow.
“The leak wasn't just me.”
“I know.”
“No.”
He gripped my sleeve.
“Victor had someone closer.”
“Who?”
“Someone who has been inside your house longer than Gabriel.”
“Name.”
His eyes began closing.
“Elias.”
He whispered one word before losing consciousness.
“Michael.”
May you like
And suddenly the man caring for Lily at the lake house became the next person I had to fear.
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