Chapter 20 - THE EIGHT MINUTESVictor sat behind reinforced glass.
Daniel sat opposite him.
Marcus remained nearby.
“You wanted me here,” Daniel said.
Victor nodded.
“My lawyer says cooperation matters.”
“You mean you want a deal.”
“I want to avoid dying in prison.”
Daniel felt no sympathy.
“What happened after Laura crashed?”
Victor took a breath.
“I followed her.”
“We know.”
“Charles tried blocking me.”
“We know.”
“I clipped his car.”
“We know.”
Victor looked irritated.
“Then Laura lost control.”
“Keep going.”
“I stopped. Charles stopped.”
“Laura was alive.”
“Yes.”
“Could she speak?”
“Yes.”
Daniel gripped the edge of the table.
“What did she say?”
“Your name.”
Daniel looked down.
Victor continued.
“She kept asking us to call you.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Patrick arrived.”
“How?”
“I called him.”
“Why?”
“Because I was scared.”
“You chased a woman through a storm and then became scared?”
“I wasn’t trying to kill her.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“But you helped.”
Victor didn’t argue.
Patrick inspected the wreck.
Laura was injured but conscious.
Charles wanted to call an ambulance.
Patrick refused.
“He said if Laura survived, everything was over.”
Daniel’s stomach turned.
“What did he do?”
Victor hesitated.
Marcus said, “You asked for cooperation. Cooperate.”
Victor swallowed.
“Patrick took Laura’s phone.”
“What else?”
“He moved evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“Her recorder.”
Daniel frowned.
“We have her recorder.”
“She had two.”
That surprised them.
Patrick removed a second device from Laura’s coat.
“What happened to it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then?”
Victor looked through the glass.
“Patrick told Charles and me to leave.”
“Did you?”
“Charles left first.”
“You stayed.”
“For another minute.”
“What did Patrick do?”
Victor’s voice lowered.
“He leaned into the car.”
Daniel felt sick.
“Did he hurt her?”
“I couldn’t see.”
“Then how do you know he killed her?”
“Because she was talking before.”
Victor paused.
“When Patrick stepped away…”
Daniel’s hands shook.
“…she wasn’t.”
Silence.
Marcus asked, “Did you see Patrick physically harm Laura?”
“No.”
“Then you cannot state what happened.”
“I know what I saw.”
Daniel stood.
He had heard enough.
Victor called after him.
“There’s more.”
Daniel turned.
“Patrick took something from her.”
“What?”
“A necklace.”
Daniel remembered Laura’s horse charm.
“No. Her charm was in the box.”
“Different necklace.”
“What did it look like?”
“Small silver locket.”
Daniel frowned.
He had never seen one.
Victor said Patrick gave it to Claire later.
Daniel went directly to Claire.
“A locket?”
Claire’s expression changed immediately.
She reached unconsciously toward her chest.
Daniel noticed.
“You have it.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
She began crying.
“My father gave me a necklace after Laura died.”
“Where is it?”
“In evidence with my personal property.”
Marcus retrieved it.
Small silver locket.
Inside was a photograph.
Not Daniel.
Not Ethan.
Evelyn.
On the opposite side was a tiny folded strip of paper.
Almost invisible.
Daniel opened it.
A sequence of numbers.
Coordinates.
Marcus entered them into a mapping system.
The location was inside Blackwood Ranch.
Near the old family cemetery.
They drove there before sunrise.
The coordinates led to Laura’s grave.
Daniel stood staring at the headstone.
Evelyn whispered:
“She planned this.”
Laura had apparently hidden information inside the locket, knowing Patrick might take personal objects without understanding their significance.
They searched carefully around the grave.
Behind the headstone, buried beneath a flat stone, they found a waterproof container.
Daniel almost laughed through tears.
Laura had hidden evidence everywhere.
Inside was the second recorder.
And a note.
DANIEL — IF THIS ONE SURVIVES, LISTEN TO FILE 4 FIRST.
They played it.
Patrick Beaumont’s voice.
Laura had secretly recorded him during a confrontation days before her death.
Patrick: You have no idea what you’re threatening.
Laura: I know exactly what you’ve done.
Patrick: You think Daniel will thank you for destroying his family?
Laura: Daniel deserves the truth.
Patrick: Thomas thought that too.
Laura: Is that why Victor killed him?
Silence.
Then Patrick:
Thomas should have stayed quiet.
That statement tied Patrick directly to knowledge of Thomas’s death.
The recording continued.
Laura: And Evelyn?
Patrick laughed.
Patrick: Evelyn was smarter. She ran.
Daniel looked at his mother.
Tears filled her eyes.
Then Laura asked:
Who is in charge now? Charles?
Patrick answered:
Charles thinks he is.
Laura: Then who?
A pause.
Patrick: The next generation.
The recording ended.
Daniel frowned.
“The next generation.”
Andrew Whitmore.
Possibly others.
The remaining files included names.
Executives.
Political donors.
Investment managers.
One file contained a conversation between Patrick and Andrew from years earlier.
Andrew was far more involved than they knew.
He planned to seize Blackwood North after Thomas died.
Laura’s investigation delayed it.
Her death delayed things again because Daniel refused to sell.
Then Claire’s marriage to Daniel created a new opportunity.
Claire listened to the recording later.
Her face collapsed.
“Andrew wanted me to marry you.”
Daniel stared.
“Charles said he didn’t.”
“Charles may not have.”
Claire remembered Andrew encouraging their relationship at charity events.
Sending invitations.
Creating chance meetings.
She thought he was being friendly.
He was positioning her near Blackwood.
“So even my marriage was part of it,” Daniel said.
“At the beginning, maybe.”
“And later?”
Claire looked at him.
“My feelings were real.”
Daniel said nothing.
“They don’t matter now,” she added.
That was true.
The federal investigation widened internationally.
Andrew remained missing.
Interpol notices were prepared.
Blackwood North entered conservation proceedings.
For the first time, the network seemed close to collapse.
Then Daniel received a video call from an unknown number.
Andrew Whitmore appeared.
A city skyline glowed behind him.
“Hello, Daniel.”
Daniel immediately signaled Marcus to trace it.
Andrew smiled.
“You found Laura’s recorder.”
“Yes.”
“My father always underestimated her.”
“You’re going to prison.”
“Maybe.”
Andrew leaned closer.
“But before you celebrate, ask Evelyn why Laura was really driving north that night.”
Daniel looked toward his mother.
Andrew continued.
“She wasn’t only meeting a federal agent.”
“What do you mean?”
“She was planning to leave you.”
Daniel froze.
Andrew smiled.
“Laura had already bought a plane ticket.”
The call ended.
Daniel knew Andrew wanted to destabilize him.
Still, later investigation found the ticket.
Laura had booked a flight for the morning after her planned meeting.
One passenger.
Destination: Seattle.
Daniel stared at the reservation.
After everything he thought he knew about Laura, another secret had surfaced.
May you like
Why had his wife planned to leave immediately after exposing the conspiracy?
And why had she never told him?
