Chapter 8 - PIER 19
Daniela wanted to send Mia back to the safe house.
Mia refused.
“You spent thirteen years protecting me,” she said. “You can be mad later.”
“I’m mad now.”
“Good. You’re less scared when you’re mad.”
Adrian almost smiled.
Daniela pointed at him.
“Do not encourage her.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You thought something.”
Mia looked between them.
“Interesting.”
“Not now.”
Mia held up the hospital badge.
“The room where Claire was filmed belonged to St. Catherine’s nursing residence. But that residence closed eighteen months ago.”
“We know,” Marcus said.
“No. You know the building closed. You don’t know who rents the basement.”
Everyone looked at her.
“I did clinical rotation paperwork there last month. Private medical transport company.”
“What company?” Adrian asked.
“Voss Medical Logistics.”
Samuel swore.
Judge Malcolm Voss.
Mia continued.
“They have underground ambulance access. Claire could have been moved without ever appearing outside.”
Victoria stood immediately.
“We go there.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Arthur expects us at Pier 19.”
“Exactly,” Mia said. “Which means he expects all your attention there.”
Daniela looked at Adrian.
He understood.
“Split teams.”
Adrian and Daniela would go to Pier 19 as demanded.
Marcus and Victoria would go to St. Catherine’s.
Samuel would remain off-site coordinating.
Evelyn stayed with Mia.
No one liked it.
That meant it was probably the correct plan.
At 4:24 a.m., Adrian’s SUV stopped near Pier 19.
He and Daniela walked the final block alone.
The Delaware River was black beneath the early morning sky.
Shipping containers rose like walls.
Daniela wore her maid uniform under a borrowed coat.
After everything that had happened, she almost laughed at that.
Adrian noticed.
“What?”
“I’m meeting the man who destroyed both our families while dressed for housekeeping.”
“It suits you.”
She looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“You entered a ballroom full of powerful people and took a microphone from my hand.”
“That was stupid.”
“It was effective.”
They reached the warehouse.
Arthur waited inside.
Elena stood ten feet from him.
Daniela stopped.
Seeing her mother on a phone had been unreal.
Seeing her in person was something else.
Older.
Thinner.
Brown hair streaked with gray.
But unmistakably her.
“Mom.”
Elena’s face collapsed.
“Dani.”
Daniela wanted to run to her.
Arthur raised a handgun.
“Not yet.”
Adrian stepped slightly forward.
“Point that at me.”
Arthur smiled.
“Still playing protector.”
“No. I’m giving you the more valuable target.”
“Adrian,” Daniela whispered.
Arthur laughed.
“Your father said things like that too.”
Adrian’s eyes hardened.
“Where is Claire?”
Arthur gestured toward an empty chair.
“Moved.”
Daniela noticed Elena holding the blue ledger.
“Is that real?”
“Yes,” Elena said.
Arthur snapped, “Quiet.”
Daniela looked at him.
“You spent thirteen years looking for that?”
“Twenty-eight.”
“What’s so important?”
“Names.”
“Yours?”
“My name is the least interesting.”
Adrian asked, “Voss?”
Arthur’s eyes narrowed.
That confirmed enough.
Elena suddenly said, “He doesn’t work for Voss anymore.”
Arthur turned toward her.
“I said quiet.”
Daniela watched his reaction.
“Anymore?”
Elena looked at her daughter.
“Voss is coming.”
Arthur’s confidence slipped.
Adrian saw it.
“You’re afraid of him.”
Arthur raised the weapon toward Adrian.
“You should be too.”
Outside, a vehicle approached.
Arthur checked his watch.
“Right on time.”
A black sedan entered the warehouse.
Judge Malcolm Voss stepped out.
Seventy.
Elegant.
Calm.
The same man who had demanded to leave Adrian’s ballroom hours earlier.
He looked at Daniela first.
“So that is Elena’s daughter.”
Daniela hated how casually he said it.
Voss looked at Adrian.
“Your father would be disappointed.”
“In what?”
“That you allowed sentiment to interfere with business.”
“My father tried to expose you.”
“Your father became confused in his final years.”
Elena laughed.
Voss looked at her.
“You’ve been difficult to kill.”
Daniela’s stomach twisted.
Adrian’s voice went cold.
“You just confessed to trying.”
Voss smiled.
“To what? In front of criminals?”
Arthur looked uncomfortable.
Voss noticed.
“Give me the ledger.”
Arthur held out his hand toward Elena.
She did not move.
Voss’s smile disappeared.
“Arthur.”
Arthur’s hand trembled.
Daniela realized then that Arthur had never been the top of anything.
He was terrified.
Arthur said, “Claire first.”
Voss stared at him.
“What?”
“My granddaughter.”
Arthur’s voice strengthened.
“You promised she would be released.”
Victoria’s father had betrayed everyone.
But somewhere beneath decades of corruption, there was one line he still wanted to believe existed.
Voss laughed.
“Arthur, there was never a scenario where that child walked away.”
Arthur went white.
Daniela saw the betrayal land.
So did Elena.
Voss extended his hand.
“The ledger.”
Arthur turned his weapon.
Not toward Daniela.
Toward Voss.
“Where is Claire?”
Voss looked almost bored.
“You always were emotional.”
A shot cracked.
Daniela ducked.
The bullet struck a metal beam.
Adrian pulled her behind a crate.
Chaos exploded.
But Arthur had not fired.
One of Voss’s men had.
Arthur dropped his weapon and stumbled behind a container, clutching his shoulder.
Elena ran.
Daniela crawled toward her.
“Mom!”
They reached each other behind a forklift.
For one second the warehouse vanished.
Daniela buried her face against her mother’s shoulder.
Thirteen years.
“I’m sorry,” Elena sobbed.
Daniela held her tighter.
“You don’t get forgiven in a warehouse.”
Elena laughed through tears.
“Fair.”
Adrian reached them.
“We need to move.”
Elena held up the ledger.
“It isn’t enough.”
“What?”
“The names are coded.”
“Can you decode them?”
“Yes.”
Voss shouted from across the warehouse.
“Elena!”
She flinched.
Then her phone buzzed.
A message from Marcus.
WE FOUND CLAIRE. ALIVE.
Daniela showed Elena.
Relief flooded her face.
Arthur, wounded but conscious nearby, heard.
“My granddaughter?”
“Alive,” Daniela called.
Arthur closed his eyes.
Then did something none of them expected.
He stood.
Voss shouted, “Arthur, don’t be stupid.”
Arthur looked at him.
“I gave you thirty years.”
“You gave me useful paperwork.”
“You said Claire would be protected.”
“I lied.”
Arthur laughed softly.
Then turned toward Adrian.
“There’s a recorder in my jacket.”
Adrian stared.
Arthur continued.
“Three years of conversations.”
Voss’s face changed.
Arthur smiled.
“Not everyone you underestimate stays afraid forever.”
Voss ordered his men forward.
Sirens sounded outside.
Dozens.
Not city police.
Federal agents.
Samuel had used Arthur’s recordings.
Voss realized it.
He moved toward another exit.
Adrian stepped out.
“You leave, and every agent outside sees you running.”
Voss stopped.
“You think federal agents are clean?”
“No,” Adrian said. “That’s why Samuel sent the evidence to six offices, three newspapers and two senators at the same time.”
For the first time, Judge Malcolm Voss looked uncertain.
Daniela almost believed it was over.
Then Elena grabbed her arm.
“The ledger.”
“What?”
Elena opened the back cover.
A section had been cut out.
Her face went white.
“No.”
Adrian looked.
“What’s missing?”
“The final pages.”
“Who has them?”
Elena stared toward Arthur.
He shook his head.
“I never touched it.”
Voss smiled again.
That was when Daniela understood.
Voss had never come only for the ledger.
He already had part of it.
Elena whispered, “The missing pages contain the account that funded Carlo’s murder.”
Adrian went still.
“And the name?”
“Yes.”
Voss began laughing.
“You’ve all spent thirteen years hunting the wrong killer.”
Adrian stared at him.
“Who killed my father?”
May you like
Voss looked directly at Evelyn’s son.
“Ask your mother.”
