Chapter 12 - The Last Honest ManRhett refused to believe Marcus was dead.
He had seen men die. He knew the sound of a bullet finding its target, the silence that followed, and the dreadful certainty that no amount of money could reverse what had happened.
The call hadn't sounded right.
There had been a sharp report, then a scrape, then silence. No scream. No words from the men in the room. Nothing that suggested Marcus had been killed.
It could have been a warning.
It could have been a recording.
Or it could have been exactly what Conrad wanted Rhett to believe.
“Pull over,” Isa said.
Anton stopped beside an abandoned warehouse near the river. Rain tapped against the roof while Rhett listened to the call a third time.
Isa leaned forward.
“Play it again.”
He did.
She closed her eyes.
“There.”
“What?”
“The sound before the gunshot. Something metal. Like a chair being dragged across concrete.”
Rhett frowned.
“Where are you going with this?”
“When I was a child, my father used to repair machinery. A chair being dragged on a concrete floor makes a long, rough sound. That was short. It sounded like a metal door closing.”
Anton turned in his seat.
“A holding cell.”
“Or a service elevator,” Isa said. “Somewhere with metal doors.”
Rhett opened the security map on his phone. Conrad owned several properties around Chicago, but only one had underground holding rooms built during the days when the family transported valuable cargo through the docks.
The old Valon distribution warehouse.
The same warehouse where Rhett's father had died.
He stared at the address.
“Anton, call Elias.”
“I thought he was still with Conrad.”
“He won't be.”
Rhett's phone rang before Anton could make the call.
The screen displayed an unfamiliar number.
“Rhett Valon?” a man asked.
“Who is this?”
“Someone who would prefer not to be found. Your brother-in-law has escaped.”
Rhett glanced at Isa.
“Elias?”
“Very much alive. Very angry. And currently hiding in a garage with a stolen motorcycle.”
The caller gave them an address.
Twenty minutes later, they found Elias sitting on an overturned crate, a bandage wrapped around his forehead. He had changed out of his bloodied clothes and stolen a jacket from a delivery driver.
When he saw Isa, he stood immediately.
She crossed the room and struck his chest with both hands.
“Don't ever do that again!”
Elias caught her wrists gently.
“I know.”
“No, you don't! You don't know what it's like to spend eight years thinking your brother is dead!”
His expression crumpled.
“You're right.”
She stared at him, tears gathering in her eyes.
Then she embraced him.
Elias held her tightly.
Rhett waited near the doorway until the siblings separated.
“Where's Marcus?”
Elias's face changed.
“Alive, when I last saw him. Conrad moved him to the distribution warehouse after the estate attack.”
“Why did Marcus give him access to the clinic?”
“Because Conrad has his daughter.”
The room went quiet.
Elias pulled a folded photograph from his pocket. It showed a teenage girl standing outside a school, holding a red umbrella.
“Her name is Emily. Conrad threatened to kill her unless Marcus opened your security system and told him where you stored your father's records.”
Rhett's expression darkened.
“Why didn't Marcus come to me?”
“Because Conrad showed him a video of an execution. The victim was a man who had tried to report him to the police. Marcus believed Conrad would kill Emily the moment he betrayed him.”
Isa took the photograph.
“Where is she now?”
“Conrad moved her twice. The last location I know is an apartment building near the old freight terminal.”
Rhett turned to Anton.
“Find her.”
Anton nodded and left.
Elias watched Rhett for a moment.
“There's something you should know about Marcus. He was with your father the night of the fire.”
Rhett's face tightened.
“My father mentioned his name in the letter.”
“Marcus helped your father get people out of the warehouse. He tried to stop Conrad's men, but they threatened his family. After your father's death, Conrad gave him a choice: work for him or lose his daughter.”
Rhett looked away.
Nine years of loyalty. Nine years of unanswered questions. Nine years of trusting a man without ever asking what that trust cost him.
“I should have known.”
“No,” Isa said softly. “You should have asked.”
He looked at her.
She took his hand.
“You don't have to punish yourself for every lie someone told you.”
Rhett stared at their joined hands for a long moment.
Then Anton returned, holding his phone.
“We found Emily.”
“Where?”
“An apartment building on West Fulton. The room is empty, but someone left a message on the wall.”
Anton turned the screen toward them.
A photograph showed a wall covered in white paint. Written across it in black marker were four words.
THE GIRL FOR THE LEDGER.
Below them was a time.
Midnight.
And a location.
The old warehouse.
Elias swore under his breath.
Rhett felt the last pieces of the trap fall into place.
“Conrad wants us all in one place,” he said.
Isa looked at the photograph again.
“No,” she whispered. “He wants us to think we have a choice.”
She turned toward Rhett.
“He has my brother, your mother, and Marcus. He knows we'll come for them.”
“And he knows we'll bring the ledger.”
Isa shook her head.
“Then we don't bring him the ledger.”
She picked up the brass key and held it in her palm.
“We bring him the truth.”
For the first time that night, Rhett smiled.
It wasn't a pleasant smile.
May you like
It was the expression of a man who had finally stopped defending the past.
“Let's end this.”
