Chapter 7
Detective Cole shouted.
Two officers chased Richard into the darkness.
Daniel handed Sophie to me without thinking.
I caught her.
She wrapped both arms around my neck and buried her face against my shoulder.
Richard reached his car.
An officer grabbed the door before he could close it.
Richard shoved him.
Another officer tackled him against the hood.
“Get off me!”
Daniel walked toward him.
Richard stopped struggling.
For nearly twenty years, Richard Hale had been treated like a member of the Whitmore family.
He had handled Charles’s business.
Ethan’s estate.
Daniel’s contracts.
The family trust.
Daniel looked at him like he was a stranger.
“Tell me Ethan was wrong.”
Richard laughed weakly.
“Ethan was wrong about many things.”
“Tell me.”
“You’re emotional.”
Daniel moved closer.
“You tried to kill me?”
Richard looked at Cole.
“I want counsel.”
“You are counsel.”
“I want my own.”
Cole cuffed him.
Margaret stared in disbelief.
“Richard?”
He looked at her.
Something passed between them.
Daniel saw it.
“So Mom knew?”
“No!” Margaret cried.
Richard smiled.
“Margaret never knows as much as she thinks she does.”
Daniel grabbed Richard’s jacket.
Cole pulled him back.
“Daniel.”
Richard’s smile widened.
“Your father would be embarrassed by you.”
Daniel stopped.
The insult worked differently than Richard intended.
Instead of attacking him, Daniel became calm.
“My father was a criminal.”
Richard’s smile vanished.
“So if you’re trying to make me defend his memory, save your breath.”
Police put Richard into a car.
Cole ordered his phone, computer and office seized.
Sophie stayed wrapped around my neck.
After a few minutes she whispered, “I want Daddy.”
I carried her to Daniel.
He took her carefully.
“Hey, princess.”
“Are we going home?”
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
She stood several feet away, wrists cuffed in front of her.
Her face collapsed.
Daniel answered Sophie softly.
“We’re going somewhere safe.”
“Mom too?”
Daniel couldn’t answer.
Vanessa turned away.
Oliver was old enough to understand more.
He looked at his mother.
“Did you hurt Uncle Ethan?”
Vanessa knelt.
“No.”
“You lied to Dad.”
“Yes.”
“You took us.”
Tears ran down her face.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Oliver stepped backward.
“You scared Sophie.”
“I know.”
“She cried.”
“I know.”
“You said Grandpa Marcus would help.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Oliver’s face became hard in a way no nine-year-old’s face should.
“I don’t want to talk to you.”
He walked to Daniel.
Vanessa folded in half.
I almost felt sorry for her.
Almost.
Then I remembered the bottle at the gala.
She had still tried to poison Daniel.
Even if Richard had done it before, Vanessa had made her own choices.
Cole brought the laptop from the shelter outside.
“It’s encrypted.”
Daniel looked at Margaret.
“Do you know the password?”
“No.”
Vanessa did.
“Try Elise.”
Cole looked at her.
“My mother.”
An investigator entered the name.
Nothing.
Vanessa thought.
“Try Elise1997.”
The computer unlocked.
Cole gave her a hard look.
“My father uses the same password for everything.”
Inside were hundreds of files.
Legal documents.
Bank records.
Videos.
Audio.
Photographs.
Marcus had gathered evidence for years.
One folder was titled HALE.
Cole opened it.
Payments.
Richard had received secret transfers from Charles Whitmore.
Then later from family trust accounts.
Millions.
Daniel stared.
“Richard handled the trust himself.”
Cole nodded.
“He could move money without you noticing?”
“He generated the reports I reviewed.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“All of us thought the Whitmores were the monster.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Your father still kidnapped my daughter.”
“Yes.”
“And you kidnapped both of them first.”
Vanessa shut her eyes.
“Yes.”
No excuses.
That surprised me.
Then Cole opened another file.
Security footage from the lake house.
The night Ethan died.
Daniel moved closer.
“I was told the cameras weren’t working.”
“Richard told you?” Cole asked.
Daniel nodded.
The footage showed Ethan entering the upstairs study at 10:42 p.m.
Marcus entered at 10:51.
They talked.
No audio.
Marcus left at 11:03.
Ethan remained alive.
He paced.
He made a phone call.
At 11:11, somebody else entered.
Margaret.
Daniel stared at his mother.
She whispered, “I talked to him.”
The footage showed Margaret leaving seven minutes later.
Ethan was still alive.
At 11:24, Vanessa entered.
She stayed four minutes.
When she left, Ethan was standing.
Vanessa looked at Daniel.
“I told you.”
At 11:36, Richard entered.
He carried two glasses.
Daniel stopped breathing.
Richard stayed inside for eleven minutes.
When he came out, he carried only one glass.
Nobody entered again.
At 12:09, Daniel himself appeared in the hallway.
He knocked.
Entered.
Then ran out shouting for help.
Daniel sat down.
“I found him.”
Cole paused the video.
“That places Richard as the last known person with Ethan before his death.”
Margaret whispered, “Oh God.”
Daniel turned on her.
“You trusted him.”
“So did you!”
“Because you raised me to!”
Margaret flinched.
Daniel pointed toward Richard’s police vehicle.
“He covered Dad’s crimes. He helped falsify Dad’s death. He managed Ethan’s estate. He controlled the trust.”
Vanessa stared at the footage.
“My father knew.”
Cole looked at her.
“What?”
“He knew Richard was there.”
“Why didn’t he tell police?”
“Because Richard had proof Dad violated parole years ago.”
Cole shook his head.
“Your father was protecting himself.”
Vanessa’s expression hardened.
“Yes.”
It hurt her to admit.
A police officer approached.
“Detective?”
Cole walked aside.
Then returned.
His expression was grim.
“Richard’s phone has a remote wipe running.”
“Can you stop it?” Daniel asked.
“Cybercrime is trying.”
Another officer came from Richard’s car.
“We found this in his jacket.”
A key.
Not a house key.
A bank deposit key.
Daniel recognized the number stamped on it.
“Whitmore Private Trust.”
Cole looked at him.
“What’s stored there?”
“Safe deposit vaults for clients.”
“Richard has access?”
“He helped establish them.”
Margaret suddenly gasped.
“Ethan’s original ledger.”
Everyone turned.
“The one in the safe is a copy,” she said.
Daniel stared.
“How do you know?”
“Because Ethan told me he put the original somewhere Richard could never destroy it.”
“The bank?”
Margaret nodded.
“Your father built the private vault.”
Cole looked at the key.
“Then Richard may have been trying to reach it.”
Daniel checked the time.
2:14 a.m.
The bank vault required two executive authorizations to open after hours.
Richard was one.
Daniel was the other.
That meant Richard couldn’t access it alone.
Daniel realized the same thing.
“He needed me.”
Cole frowned.
“For what?”
Then my phone rang.
Not a message.
A call.
Unknown number.
Cole told me to answer on speaker.
“Hello?”
A man breathed.
Then said,
“Claire Bennett?”
I recognized the voice from the kidnapping messages.
Marcus.
“Yes.”
“You saved Daniel’s life tonight.”
I looked at Daniel.
Marcus continued.
“You may have just signed your own death warrant.”
Cole motioned for me to keep him talking.
“From Richard?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Marcus went quiet.
“Richard is greedy. He’s dangerous. But he didn’t build this alone.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Marcus, where are you?”
Marcus laughed.
“So now you want to speak to me.”
“My daughter is safe.”
“I know.”
“You left her.”
“I never intended to hurt Sophie.”
“You terrified her.”
“Yes.”
There was shame in his voice.
“That is something I will answer for.”
Daniel took the phone.
“Who is Richard working with?”
Marcus hesitated.
Then said,
“Ask your mother why Richard was at your house the night Oliver was conceived.”
Daniel froze.
Vanessa stared at Margaret.
Margaret went white.
“What is he talking about?”
Marcus continued.
“Ask her why your father made Richard executor instead of either son.”
“Marcus.”
“Ask her who Richard Hale really is.”
Margaret whispered, “Hang up.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
She moved toward him.
“Hang up the phone.”
Marcus heard her.
“Hello, Margaret.”
She stopped.
His voice became ice.
“You should have told them years ago.”
Daniel stared at his mother.
“Told us what?”
Marcus answered for her.
“Richard Hale isn’t just your father’s lawyer.”
May you like
A pause.
“He’s your brother.”
