Chapter 9 - My Father’s Coat
I recognized the coat immediately.
Dark wool.
Brown leather buttons.
A tear near the left pocket where Daniel’s childhood puppy had caught a claw.
Dad had worn it every winter for fifteen years.
Seeing it on Elias felt worse than seeing him carry a weapon.
“You kept his clothes?” I asked.
Elias touched the lapel.
“Your mother couldn’t throw anything away.”
Mom stared at him.
“You said you burned that.”
“I said many things.”
Their partnership was breaking apart.
That made them more dangerous.
Samuel Reed lifted his head.
“Don’t give them the device.”
Elias struck the back of his chair.
Samuel fell silent.
I held the canvas bag tighter.
“Why keep Samuel alive?”
Mom answered.
“Insurance.”
“Against Elias?”
“Against everyone.”
Elias laughed.
“She recorded our conversations.”
“Your mother believes evidence is protection.”
“She never understood that evidence also makes her disposable.”
Mom raised the gun toward him.
“You promised Daniel would never be hurt.”
“You planned to send him away.”
“I planned to keep him safe.”
“By stealing his trust?”
“I gave up my life for that boy.”
Her words echoed across the warehouse.
Through the duplicate tablet, Detective Torres and the police team heard everything.
Mom stepped toward me.
“Your father made Daniel the center of our lives.”
“Every decision.”
“Every vacation.”
“Every dollar.”
“When I asked for help, Richard called me selfish.”
“You wanted four million dollars.”
“I wanted freedom.”
Samuel’s voice came weakly from the chair.
“You wanted Richard dead before he changed the executor.”
Mom struck him across the face.
That was enough for Elias.
He grabbed her gun hand.
The weapon fired into the ceiling.
I dropped behind a metal crate.
Police flooded the warehouse.
“Drop the weapon.”
Elias dragged Mom in front of him.
He pressed the gun against her ribs.
Mom screamed my name.
“Claire, help me.”
For most of my life, that voice would have controlled me.
It was the voice of the mother who packed my lunches and stayed awake when I was sick.
It was also the voice that had told Daniel I hated him.
I remained behind the crate.
“Let her go,” Torres ordered.
Elias backed toward a refrigeration corridor.
“You don’t know what she did.”
“We know enough.”
“No.”
His smile was desperate.
“You know the part Richard discovered.”
“You don’t know why he hired Samuel.”
Samuel tried to stand with the chair still tied to him.
“Don’t listen.”
Elias pulled Mom deeper into the corridor.
Then he shouted the sentence that made everyone hesitate.
“Richard Hale wasn’t Daniel’s biological father.”
Daniel heard it through the live feed.
His voice came through my earpiece.
“Claire?”
I closed my eyes.
“I’m here.”
“What does he mean?”
Before I could answer, the refrigeration door slammed shut.
Elias and Mom disappeared inside.
A timer began counting down on the wall.
Ten minutes.
May you like
Nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds.
The emergency lock had been activated.
