Chapter 10 - The Lawyer's GameSamuel hung up.

Nobody moved.

Grant looked at me.

“You need to leave.”

“Not without Lucy.”

“Exactly.”

Caroline stared at the phone.

“He knows where she is.”

I looked at my daughter.

Her face was pale.

“Daddy…”

I pulled her close.

“We're going home.”

Harris lowered his weapon.

“Not yet.”

Grant looked at him.

“You've done enough.”

Harris's jaw tightened.

Then he surprised me.

He put the gun away.

“I came here to destroy the ledger.”

“Why didn't you?”

He looked at Lucy.

“Because Anna asked me not to.”

“What?”

Harris took a small folded paper from his pocket.

Anna's handwriting.

He handed it to me.

Detective Harris, if you are reading this, Samuel has already contacted you. Do not trust him.

My pulse raced.

“Why did you help him for eleven years?”

“I didn't.”

“Then why?”

“I was threatened.”

“By Samuel?”

Harris nodded.

“He had evidence that I had taken money from a federal informant.”

Grant stared.

“He blackmailed you.”

“Yes.”

I looked at Caroline.

“Samuel has been controlling everyone.”

Caroline whispered:

“Not everyone.”

She took out her phone.

She opened an old photograph.

It showed Samuel standing with my father.

The date was thirteen years ago.

Before Anna died.

Before Caroline married me.

Before the trust thefts were discovered.

I zoomed in.

Behind them was a wall.

On it hung a sign.

Hale Foundation Private Archive.

My father had owned the foundation.

Samuel had been his lawyer.

Grant had been his financial adviser.

Caroline's father had been an investor.

It wasn't four people.

It was a system.

And Anna had discovered it.

The question was why she had been killed.

Then Grant said:

“She wasn't supposed to die.”

I looked at him.

“What?”

“It was supposed to scare her.”

“Who planned it?”

“Samuel.”

Caroline shook her head.

“My father approved it.”

My mother covered her mouth.

“God.”

I felt numb.

“What was the plan?”

“Tamper with her brakes.”

“That's attempted murder.”

“Yes.”

“But Anna died.”

Grant nodded.

“She wasn't supposed to.”

“Then who changed the plan?”

He looked at Caroline.

She whispered:

“My father.”

I stared.

“Why?”

“Because Anna fought back.”

Caroline closed her eyes.

“My father was driving the second car.”

“Second car?”

“Yes.”

“He chased her.”

The truth crashed over me.

Anna hadn't lost control.

She had been forced off the road.

And the photograph before the crash showed Caroline.

Not as the driver.

As a witness.

Then why had she lied?

Because someone had ordered her to.

I looked at Caroline.

“You could have told me.”

“I tried.”

“When?”

“Every time I looked at you.”

My expression hardened.

“You didn't try hard enough.”

She nodded.

“I know.”

Then Lucy spoke softly.

“Daddy.”

“What?”

“The scrapbook has another page.”

She held up the burned book.

“There was something behind Mom's photograph.”

I took it.

A tiny plastic key had been taped behind the page.

Engraved on it were two numbers.

17-04

“What is that?”

Grant's face changed.

“That's not a key.”

“What is it?”

“It's a locker code.”

“Where?”

“The old train station.”

Samuel's voice suddenly came through my phone again.

“You have twenty minutes.”

I put the phone on speaker.

“What do you want?”

“You.”

“No.”

A pause.

“Then Lucy.”

My blood ran cold.

“You touch my daughter and I swear…”

Samuel laughed quietly.

“Your father said the same thing.”

Then the call ended.

Caroline looked at me.

“Michael.”

“What?”

“There is something I need to tell you.”

I turned.

She took a breath.

“The night Anna died…”

She couldn't finish.

“What?”

“I wasn't the one who took the recorder.”

“Who did?”

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Caroline's eyes filled with tears.

“You did.”