Chapter 9
The federal agents wanted us out of Colorado by morning.
I agreed.
No argument.
No pride.
No belief that I could handle it myself.
That version of me was gone.
Sophie and Rachel were moved under protection to a location I wasn’t told.
At first, that terrified me.
Then I understood the point.
If I didn’t know exactly where they were, nobody could force it out of me.
I stayed with Elena and two agents at a secure hotel.
My phone was monitored.
At 11:06 p.m., Gregory Lane called.
Unknown number.
The lead agent, Marcus Bell, nodded.
I answered.
“Hello?”
A man laughed quietly.
“Daniel Hayes.”
“Gregory.”
“Your mother always said you were slow.”
My jaw tightened.
“But eventually you catch up.”
“What do you want?”
“You know.”
“The ledger?”
“The original.”
“I have it.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I opened Claire’s drive.”
Silence.
Then his voice became colder.
“Where is Sophie?”
I looked at Agent Bell.
He signaled me to stay calm.
“You’re not getting near my daughter.”
“That depends on you.”
“You sent the photograph.”
“I paid someone to take photographs.”
“Where is he?”
“Not important.”
“You threatened a child.”
“I threatened motivation.”
My hand tightened.
Bell silently mouthed, Keep him talking.
I said, “What happens if I give you the drive?”
“You walk away.”
“And Sophie?”
“She grows up.”
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
Gregory laughed.
“I expect you to understand that governments lose evidence. Witnesses change stories. Prosecutors make deals.”
“Why do you need my copy?”
“Because Claire kept things even your mother never saw.”
“What things?”
“Insurance.”
“Against you?”
“Against everyone.”
He paused.
“Claire was smarter than Margaret gave her credit for.”
My chest tightened.
“Claire trusted the wrong people.”
“Yes.”
“You killed her too?”
Gregory was silent.
Then he said, “Your mother touched the brakes.”
Not an answer.
“What did you do?”
“I solved the problem afterward.”
The wrecked car.
The forged release.
The missing mechanical inspection.
“You destroyed the car.”
“I handled disposal.”
“And Whitmore?”
“Paperwork.”
“Vanessa?”
“A pretty distraction.”
I wanted to smash the phone.
Instead, I stayed quiet.
Gregory said, “Tomorrow. Noon. The old quarry off Route 74.”
“I’m not coming.”
“Then Sophie never stops being a target.”
“You don’t know where she is.”
“I don’t need to.”
The call ended.
Bell immediately started issuing orders.
They knew the quarry.
They would control the area.
I said, “You’re not using me as bait.”
Bell looked at me.
“We’re not using you for anything.”
“He wants me there.”
“And we want him arrested without anyone dying.”
“So what happens?”
“We make him believe you’re coming.”
The operation began before sunrise.
Agents prepared an identical flash drive.
A vehicle matching mine was brought in.
An undercover officer with my general build would drive.
I was supposed to remain miles away.
That was the plan.
Then at 9:30 a.m., everything changed.
Rachel called Agent Bell.
Sophie was missing.
For exactly four minutes.
Four minutes.
She had asked to use the bathroom at the protected location.
An agent waited outside.
The window was secured.
The door had no second exit.
But Sophie wasn’t in the bathroom.
They found her hiding inside a laundry cabinet.
She wasn’t running away.
She was terrified.
“She thinks this is her fault,” Rachel told me.
I closed my eyes.
“Put her on.”
“Daniel—”
“Please.”
A second later, Sophie’s voice came through.
“Daddy?”
“Hey, bug.”
“Are you mad?”
“No.”
“I hid.”
“I know.”
“I heard the police man say somebody wants the thing Mommy hid.”
My heart sank.
Adults always think children aren’t listening.
They always are.
“Sophie, none of this is your fault.”
“If I didn’t take the little card—”
“No.”
“But Vanessa got mad because—”
“No. Listen to me.”
I pressed the phone tightly to my ear.
“Vanessa made choices. Grandma made choices. Gregory made choices. You did not cause any of them.”
She sniffed.
“Are you going to fight him?”
“No.”
“Promise?”
I looked at Agent Bell.
“I promise I will listen to the police.”
A pause.
“Really?”
“Really.”
That promise probably saved my life.
Because an hour later, Gregory changed the meeting location.
He texted coordinates directly to my phone.
Not the quarry.
A different place.
An abandoned roadside motel twenty miles south.
If I had been determined to play hero, I might have gone.
Bell stopped me.
“It’s a trap.”
“He’ll leave if I don’t.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“If he moves, he makes mistakes.”
The motel was surrounded quietly.
Agents found no Gregory.
Only a phone taped beneath a chair.
It rang when the tactical team entered.
A recording played.
“You brought friends.”
Bell cursed.
Then another message appeared on my phone.
NOW WE DO IT MY WAY.
Attached was a photo.
My mother.
Sitting inside a transport van.
The image had been taken that morning.
I stared.
“How did he get this?”
Bell took the phone.
Margaret was scheduled to be transferred to federal custody.
Someone knew the route.
Seconds later, Bell’s radio exploded with voices.
The transport van had been attacked.
Not with guns.
A staged traffic accident.
A stolen utility truck blocked the road.
Another vehicle hit the rear of the van.
By the time backup arrived, one guard was injured.
The second was unconscious.
Margaret was gone.
My mother had escaped.
With Gregory’s help.
I felt no relief that she was alive.
Only dread.
Because Gregory wasn’t rescuing her out of loyalty.
He needed something.
And Margaret knew where it was.
Six hours later, police found the utility truck abandoned.
Inside was blood.
Not enough to determine whose.
A torn piece of Margaret’s jail uniform.
And a note.
SHE SHOULD HAVE KEPT HER MOUTH SHUT.
For the first time, I wondered whether Gregory intended to kill my mother.
Then my phone rang.
Not Gregory.
Margaret.
“Daniel.”
Her voice was shaking.
I had never heard my mother sound afraid.
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happened?”
“He turned on me.”
“Gregory?”
“He thinks I gave you the full ledger.”
“You told me where to look.”
“I was trying to save Sophie.”
I almost laughed.
“You don’t get to say that.”
“Daniel, listen to me. He has another copy.”
“Of what?”
“Claire’s files.”
“Then why does he need mine?”
“Because Claire recorded him admitting what happened to your father.”
My chest tightened.
“Where are you?”
“I told you, I don’t know. Some kind of warehouse.”
I looked at Bell.
He was already tracing.
Margaret whispered, “He left a few minutes ago.”
“Can you get out?”
“My hands are tied.”
“Why are you calling?”
“There’s a phone on the floor.”
I heard her breathing.
Then she said something I never expected.
“I’m sorry.”
I closed my eyes.
“No.”
“Daniel—”
“No. You don’t get to make yourself feel better before you die.”
She began crying.
Real crying.
Maybe the first I had ever heard from her.
“I loved you.”
“You controlled me.”
“I loved you.”
“You killed my wife.”
Silence.
“You killed Dad.”
More silence.
“You tried to destroy Sophie.”
“I never wanted Vanessa to hurt her like that.”
“But you wanted her declared insane.”
“I wanted control.”
“Exactly.”
She sobbed.
“I thought I could fix everything.”
“You thought everyone belonged to you.”
Bell held up three fingers.
They had a trace.
Margaret whispered, “Gregory said he’s going after Robert.”
I stiffened.
“Claire’s uncle?”
“He thinks Robert kept another copy.”
Bell immediately signaled another team.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“I heard trains.”
Bell wrote something.
“What else?”
“A bell. Every few minutes.”
I listened.
Faintly, through the phone, I heard it.
A train horn.
Then church bells.
Bell’s agents began searching maps.
Margaret whispered, “Daniel.”
“What?”
“If they find me—”
“They’re coming.”
“If they don’t—”
“They’re coming.”
She cried harder.
“Tell Sophie—”
“No.”
I clenched my jaw.
“You don’t get to send a message through me. If you survive, someday you can face what you did. If she ever chooses to hear you, that will be her decision.”
Margaret went quiet.
For once, I wasn’t giving her control.
Bell pointed to a location.
An abandoned packaging warehouse near an old Catholic church and freight line.
Tactical teams moved.
I stayed behind.
I kept my promise to Sophie.
Twenty-seven minutes later, Bell’s radio crackled.
They found Margaret alive.
Bound to a chair.
Gregory was gone.
But on the wall behind her, written in black paint, was an address.
Robert Gaines’s address.
Arizona.
Gregory wasn’t hiding anymore.
May you like
He was moving toward the last person Claire trusted.
And Robert had no idea he was coming.
