Chapter 11 - The Funeral TapeArthur Baron smiled.
He was older than Elias.
Silver hair.
Perfect suit.
Calm eyes.
He looked like a man who belonged at an opera, not in a blood-soaked apartment.
“Uncle.”
Elias's voice was almost empty.
Arthur shrugged.
“You finally found the ledger.”
“You kidnapped my brother?”
“I corrected a problem.”
“Put the gun down.”
“You've been chasing shadows for three years.”
Arthur looked at me.
“Your brother was very inconvenient.”
I stepped forward.
“Where is Daniel?”
Arthur laughed softly.
“You still believe this is about one dead soldier.”
“He isn't dead.”
Arthur's expression changed.
Just enough.
I saw it.
Elias saw it too.
“Where is he?”
Arthur's smile returned.
“You don't know what Daniel discovered.”
“Tell us.”
“He discovered that Black Harbor was never a criminal network.”
Elias stared.
“It was an insurance policy.”
“For what?”
“Power.”
Arthur looked toward the window.
“Every major institution in Boston has someone who owes us.”
“Police.”
“Some.”
“Judges.”
“Some.”
“Politicians.”
“Enough.”
My stomach turned.
“And Daniel?”
“He wanted to expose it.”
“So you killed him.”
“No.”
Arthur smiled.
“Daniel survived.”
I felt relief for half a second.
Then Arthur continued.
“But he should not have.”
“Where is he?”
Arthur looked at the clock.
“Still negotiating.”
“With whom?”
Arthur nodded toward Elias.
“You.”
Elias frowned.
“I don't understand.”
Arthur raised the gun.
“Your father discovered Black Harbor after my brother died.”
He looked toward me.
“Daniel discovered it again.”
“And now?”
Arthur smiled.
“Now Evan remembers what Daniel showed him.”
My brother shook.
“What did I see?”
Arthur stepped closer.
“Three years ago, Daniel brought you to Pier 17.”
Evan nodded slowly.
“There was a meeting.”
“Yes.”
“A man gave Daniel a key.”
“Yes.”
“I remember a car.”
Arthur smiled.
“And a woman.”
Evan looked at me.
“Clara.”
Arthur's smile disappeared.
“She was supposed to die that night.”
I looked at him.
“But she lived.”
“Until yesterday.”
I felt sick.
Arthur pointed at the ledger.
“Daniel hid the evidence inside your family.”
“Why?”
“Because nobody searches children.”
I looked at Evan.
“What did he memorize?”
Arthur stepped closer.
“A face.”
Evan's eyes widened.
“Whose?”
Arthur turned toward the door.
Elias moved.
Arthur fired.
The bullet hit the wall.
Elias tackled him.
The gun slid away.
Men burst into the apartment.
Chaos swallowed the room.
I pulled Evan behind me.
Arthur escaped through the kitchen.
Elias followed.
I grabbed the ledger.
Then something fell from it.
A cassette tape.
Old.
Handwritten label:
DANIEL'S FUNERAL.
I stared.
My hands shook.
We didn't own a cassette player.
But Elias did.
At the mansion.
I looked toward him.
He understood.
Hours later, we played the tape.
Static.
A church organ.
Voices.
Then Daniel.
Not recorded.
Live.
At my funeral.
“Adeline, if this reaches you, I'm already gone.”
I covered my mouth.
Daniel continued:
“The man standing beside you today is not the man you think he is.”
Elias stared at the machine.
Daniel's voice became quieter.
“Do not trust my brother.”
Elias turned.
“What brother?”
The tape continued.
“Do not trust Elias's brother.”
Silence.
Arthur.
But then Daniel said:
“And do not trust mine.”
I looked at Evan.
“What?”
Daniel whispered the final sentence.
“Because one of them is not a brother at all.”
May you like
The tape clicked.
Then stopped.
