Richard went to the hospital under police guard.
Brenda went into custody.
Sloane escaped through a roof access point before officers sealed the warehouse.
Two of his men were arrested.
Neither carried identification.
By midnight, Alvarez and I were sitting in a hospital waiting room while Daniel paced near the windows.
He had driven down after I forwarded Peter's message.
"He asked for Chloe specifically?" Alvarez said.
Daniel nodded.
"Exact wording?"
Daniel handed her his phone.
Peter's message was short.
You have something I want. I have something she wants. Bring Chloe and we can end what Michael started.
Alvarez read it twice.
"That's not an offer. That's bait."
"I know."
"Then nobody goes."
Daniel looked at me.
I already knew what he expected.
"No."
Alvarez frowned.
"No what?"
"I'm not sitting here while Peter chooses the board."
"You're also not delivering yourself to him."
"I didn't say I would."
"You were thinking it loudly."
Daniel almost smiled.
I ignored him.
"Why does Peter want me?"
Alvarez said, "Evidence."
"He could demand the notebook."
"He may assume you have copies."
"Then taking me doesn't solve that."
Richard's hospital-room door opened.
A nurse stepped out.
"He's asking for his sister."
I entered alone.
Richard looked terrible.
Bruised ribs.
Concussion.
Dehydration.
But awake.
"You look awful," I said.
"You always were supportive."
I sat.
"Peter has Dad's tape."
His humor vanished.
"How?"
"I don't know."
"What does he want?"
"Me."
Richard closed his eyes.
"No."
"Useful insight."
"Chloe."
"Why?"
He opened his eyes.
"Because you're the only person who can authenticate Dad's notebook."
"Anyone can authenticate handwriting."
"Not what I mean."
I waited.
Richard shifted carefully.
"Some entries are coded."
"I noticed."
"Peter can't decode them."
"Can you?"
"Some."
"Why me?"
"Dad used family references."
I thought of the bank phrase.
Do the work.
Childhood addresses.
Birthdays.
Private jokes.
The notebook wasn't only evidence.
It was encrypted through memory.
"Peter needs the full ledger interpretation."
"Yes."
"Why now?"
"Because Titan failed."
Richard's voice weakened.
"Once Sterling suspended the deal, Peter lost his clean path."
"So he needs to know what evidence survived."
"And who has it."
I leaned back.
"Then he won't kill me immediately."
Richard stared.
"Please don't say things like that."
"Am I wrong?"
"No."
"Then useful."
"You're enjoying this too much."
"I'm really not."
The door opened.
Daniel entered.
Richard's expression hardened.
"I didn't invite him."
"I did," I said.
"You trust him now?"
"No."
Daniel closed the door.
"Comforting."
I looked at him.
"Tell Richard about Peter's message."
Daniel did.
Richard listened.
Then asked, "What aren't you telling her?"
Daniel went still.
Interesting.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"You always hold something back."
Daniel looked at me.
I folded my arms.
"Apparently it's noticeable."
He sighed.
"There is something."
"Of course."
"Peter called after the message."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I wanted to verify something first."
"Stop managing information around me."
"I know."
"Do you?"
Daniel sat.
"Peter mentioned Emily Carter."
Richard frowned.
"The girl from the crash."
"Yes."
"What did he say?"
Daniel's face changed.
"He said she wasn't the only person who died because of that night."
I stared.
"Who else?"
"I don't know."
"Did you ask?"
"Yes."
"What did he say?"
"Ask James."
My stomach tightened.
"Your father."
Daniel nodded.
Richard looked between us.
"Then ask him."
"I did."
"And?"
Daniel rubbed his jaw.
"He refused to answer over the phone."
I laughed without humor.
"Family trait."
Daniel ignored it.
"He said he'd come here."
"When?"
"Twenty minutes."
I looked at Richard.
"Anything you know?"
"No."
"Did Dad mention Emily?"
"Only that Daniel wasn't driving."
Daniel looked at him.
"You knew?"
"Eleven years."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"Everyone knew except me."
"Welcome to the family."
That silenced the room.
Richard immediately looked ashamed.
"Sorry."
Daniel shook his head.
"Don't be."
James Sterling arrived twenty-six minutes later.
He looked exhausted.
He entered Richard's room, saw him, and stopped.
"Richard Bennett."
"You remember me."
"Yes."
"You let my father die."
The sentence hit immediately.
James's face tightened.
"I failed him."
"That's the polite version."
"Richard," I said.
"No."
He looked at James.
"I delivered Michael's evidence to you. You promised you'd act."
James nodded.
"I remember."
"You gave the tape back."
"Yes."
"You let Victor destroy my family."
"Yes."
No defense.
Again.
Perhaps guilt eventually exhausted excuses.
Daniel stepped forward.
"Peter said Emily wasn't the only death connected to the crash."
James looked at him.
"Sit down."
"No."
"Daniel."
"Tell me."
James's eyes moved toward me.
Then Richard.
Then back to his son.
"There was another passenger."
Daniel frowned.
"No."
"Yes."
"I remember everyone in that car."
"You remember everyone when you left the party."
Daniel's face changed.
"What does that mean?"
James took a breath.
"The car stopped afterward."
"Where?"
"A service station."
Daniel stared.
"Peter picked someone up."
"Who?"
James swallowed.
"Samuel Price."
My pulse jumped.
Dad's security contractor.
Richard sat straighter despite pain.
"Price was in the crash?"
"No," James said. "He got out before it."
Daniel looked confused.
"Then what does he have to do with Emily?"
James's answer came slowly.
"Price supplied the alcohol."
Daniel almost laughed.
"That's it?"
"No."
James closed his eyes.
"He also supplied pills."
Silence.
Daniel's face emptied.
"What pills?"
"Sedatives."
"Why?"
"Peter had been using them recreationally."
Daniel shook his head.
"I didn't take anything."
"I know."
"Emily?"
James hesitated.
"Her toxicology showed traces."
Daniel stepped backward.
"No."
"Daniel—"
"No."
"You didn't know."
"Did Peter?"
James didn't answer.
That was enough.
Daniel looked sick.
"Emily wasn't just killed in a drunk-driving accident."
James spoke quietly.
"Peter had drugged her earlier that evening."
My stomach turned.
"Why?"
"She was threatening to report him."
"For what?"
James looked toward Richard.
"Financial fraud."
There it was.
Even then.
Peter had already been inside his father's network.
Emily Carter had discovered something.
"She worked for Halcyon?" I asked.
"Interned with one of their portfolio companies."
"And found transactions."
"Yes."
Daniel sat down.
His hands shook.
"Peter told me she wanted a ride home."
James nodded.
"She did."
"Then he drove."
"Yes."
"And crashed."
"Yes."
"Then made it look like me."
James's voice broke slightly.
"Yes."
Daniel stared at the floor.
Eleven years of hidden guilt had been built around a crime he hadn't committed.
But he had been there.
He had been drinking.
He had trusted Peter.
Those truths would still hurt.
James continued.
"Price helped move evidence afterward."
"How?"
"Peter called him."
"So Price wasn't merely Dad's surveillance contractor."
"No."
"He cleaned problems."
James nodded.
Richard whispered, "That's why Dad was afraid of him."
Everything connected through the same man.
Emily.
Dad.
Coleman.
Victor.
Peter.
"Is Price alive?" I asked.
James looked at me.
"I believe so."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"Who does?"
James hesitated.
"Brenda."
I stood.
Of course.
"How?"
"She handled Price's contractor records after Michael died."
Brenda, sitting in custody less than a mile away.
Daniel looked at me.
"We need to talk to her."
Alvarez appeared in the doorway.
"I heard enough."
She had apparently been listening from outside.
"Nobody talks to Lawson without counsel and recording."
"Fine."
Her phone buzzed.
She checked it.
Then frowned.
"What?"
Alvarez looked at me.
"Brenda isn't in custody anymore."
I stared.
"What do you mean?"
"She was being transferred."
"Transferred where?"
"County interview facility."
"And?"
"The transport never arrived."
My stomach dropped.
"Where is the vehicle?"
"Found abandoned."
"Officers?"
"Alive. Sedated."
Richard swore.
"Price."
Alvarez nodded grimly.
"Possibly."
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone looked at it.
I answered.
"Hello?"
A man's voice.
Older.
Calm.
"Chloe Bennett."
I knew immediately.
Not because I had heard him before.
Because everyone else had been speaking around him for days.
"Samuel Price."
A quiet chuckle.
"Your father said you were quick."
My skin went cold.
"Where is Brenda?"
"Safe enough."
"What do you want?"
"To correct a misunderstanding."
"Which one?"
"Peter Vale doesn't have Michael's recording."
I looked at Daniel.
"Then who does?"
Price answered.
"I do."
Click here to continue reading: PART 15: Samuel Price Claimed He Never Killed My Father, but the Evidence He Offered Forced Richard to Admit Another Lie
Six Hours Before the Biggest Presentation of My Career, Human Resources Called and Told Me Not to Come In
Part 14 of 43
One Comment on “PART 14 – Peter Vale Offered My Father’s Missing Evidence in Exchange for Me, and Daniel Finally Told Me What He Had Hidden”