Chapter 13 - THE DETECTIVE WITH THE SILVER TIE
Only six people had accessed the evidence room.
Rebecca Sloan reviewed each name.
The final entry belonged to Detective Owen Price.
Harold Price’s younger brother.
Owen had been one of the first officers inside the Vale mansion.
He had stood beside the television while Adrian played the footage.
He had watched Celeste being detained.
He had also carried the Rolex to the evidence locker.
Rebecca immediately issued a warrant.
Owen’s apartment was empty.
His phone was disconnected.
His bank account showed a recent transfer of two million dollars from a company linked to the Cross Foundation.
The detective had replaced the watch before the warehouse operation.
Damien now possessed the original.
Adrian studied Arthur’s old repair records.
The Rolex had been serviced by the same watchmaker for twenty-seven years.
The man’s name was Samuel Roth.
He owned a tiny shop in Pasadena.
Adrian, Elena, and Rebecca arrived shortly before closing.
Samuel was eighty-two.
His hands trembled until Adrian placed a photograph of Arthur on the counter.
“You have his eyes,” Samuel said.
“I have his watch problem.”
Samuel smiled faintly.
“Your father never had a watch problem.”
“He had a trust problem.”
The old man closed the blinds.
Arthur had visited him one month before his death.
He asked Samuel to engrave a sequence beneath the caseback.
He also placed something beneath the dial.
“What was it?” Adrian asked.
Samuel looked toward Elena and Rebecca.
“A strip of photographic film.”
“Film?”
“Your father said digital records could be altered.”
“He wanted something light could reveal.”
The film contained a miniature recovery code.
The engraved numbers on the caseback were only instructions for aligning the watch hands.
When the hands were positioned correctly and light passed through the dial, the film revealed the final password.
Damien had the watch.
However, he did not know the proper alignment.
Samuel did.
Before he could explain it, the front window shattered.
Rebecca pulled Adrian and Elena behind the counter.
A shot struck the wall above them.
Samuel collapsed.
Elena crawled toward him.
There was no blood on his chest.
A small dart protruded from his shoulder.
“Sedative,” Rebecca said.
Smoke filled the shop.
A masked man entered through the rear door.
He moved directly toward Samuel.
Adrian intercepted him.
The two crashed against a display case.
Elena grabbed a metal watch stand and struck the attacker’s wrist.
His knife fell.
Rebecca forced him to the floor.
The smoke alarm screamed.
The attacker refused to speak.
Inside his jacket, agents found a Cross Foundation identification badge.
The name was false.
The photograph was not.
Marcus recognized him as one of Celeste’s personal drivers.
Samuel regained consciousness in the ambulance.
Before paramedics closed the doors, he pulled Adrian close.
“Your father chose twelve seventeen.”
“Why?”
“The time you were born.”
Adrian’s throat tightened.
Samuel continued.
“Set the watch to twelve seventeen.”
“Hold it beneath blue light.”
“The password will appear.”
Damien also learned the alignment.
A listening device had been hidden beneath the counter for months.
As Adrian returned to his car, his phone displayed a live video.
Damien sat inside a dark room.
The Rolex lay beneath a blue lamp.
Behind him stood Celeste.
She smiled as letters appeared across the watch face.
May you like
“Thank you, darling,” she said.
“You just gave us everything.”
