Chapter 6 - The Boathouse
The old Virelli boathouse had not been used in years.
It stood a mile from the mansion at the edge of a private inlet.
Storm water slapped against black pilings beneath the floor.
At 11:43 p.m., Peter Sloan walked toward it alone.
The forged document rested inside his coat.
Dominic watched from a dark SUV two hundred yards away.
Rocco sat beside him.
Three tactical teams waited beyond the tree line.
No police.
Not yet.
Dominic wanted evidence.
Names.
Locations.
He also wanted Claire Sloan alive.
Sloan entered the boathouse.
A light switched on inside.
Rocco listened through the transmitter hidden beneath Sloan’s collar.
Footsteps.
Then Charles Morrow’s voice.
“You took too long.”
Sloan answered.
“Security changed.”
“Where is it?”
“Where’s my daughter?”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
Charles’s reply came easily.
“Safe.”
“I want to see her.”
“You’ll see her when this is finished.”
Paper rustled.
Charles had taken the document.
A long pause.
Then:
“This is it.”
Sloan said nothing.
Charles continued.
“You’ve made this much harder than necessary.”
“My daughter.”
“You’ll have her tomorrow.”
“No.”
Sloan’s voice became stronger.
“Tonight.”
Dominic looked toward Rocco.
Good.
Push.
Charles laughed softly.
“You seem confused about your position.”
“No.”
Sloan said.
“I finally understand it.”
Silence.
Then another voice entered.
Male.
“You want me to handle him?”
Dominic leaned forward.
Charles replied.
“Not here.”
Sloan said, “You said nobody would get hurt.”
Charles laughed.
“People always say that when they accept dirty money.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
Charles continued.
“You knew what this was.”
“No.”
“You disabled cameras.”
“For business meetings.”
“You accessed medical files.”
Sloan breathed harder.
“I didn’t know why.”
“You didn’t ask.”
Charles sounded almost amused.
“That’s why you were useful.”
Dominic glanced toward Rocco.
They had enough to bury Sloan.
Maybe Charles too.
Not enough for Vivien.
Then Sloan asked the question Dominic had given him.
“What happens after tomorrow?”
Charles paused.
“The partnership closes.”
“And Mrs. Virelli?”
“What about her?”
“What if she tells Dominic?”
Charles laughed again.
“She can’t tell anyone anything.”
Dominic’s hands closed.
Sloan continued.
“She writes.”
“Not once we establish cognitive incompetence.”
Dominic went still.
Rocco looked at him.
Charles said it casually.
“Dr. Mercer’s initial notes already document communication difficulty.”
Dominic’s eyes darkened.
Mercer.
Had the doctor been part of it?
Sloan asked.
“Mercer is helping you?”
Charles hesitated.
Then his tone changed.
“That’s none of your concern.”
Dominic recognized the dodge.
Maybe Mercer was not knowingly involved.
Charles continued.
“Tomorrow, Isabella supports the engagement.”
“How?”
“The nurse speaks for her.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
A pause.
“Her son gives her incentive.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Sloan’s voice came lower.
“Vivien arranged that?”
Charles said nothing.
That silence answered enough.
Then a phone buzzed inside the boathouse.
Charles answered.
“Yes?”
Dominic could not hear the other side.
Charles listened.
His posture appeared through the boathouse window.
Suddenly rigid.
“What?”
He looked toward Sloan.
Dominic knew immediately something had gone wrong.
Charles stepped back.
“Search him.”
The other man moved.
Sloan panicked.
Dominic pressed his radio.
“Go.”
The boathouse doors exploded inward.
Rocco’s team entered.
Shouts.
A crash.
Charles dropped the document.
The second man reached for a weapon.
He was on the floor before he cleared his jacket.
Dominic entered last.
Charles stared at him.
For once, the polished developer looked old.
“Dominic.”
Dominic picked up the forged document.
“Charles.”
“This isn’t what you think.”
Dominic looked around the boathouse.
“A kidnapped girl.”
Charles’s face changed.
“A forged legal instrument.”
No answer.
“A bribed security employee.”
Charles swallowed.
“A threatened nine-year-old.”
Now Charles looked frightened.
Dominic walked closer.
“Help me.”
Charles tried to recover.
“You don’t understand what Vivien—”
Dominic stopped.
“What Vivien what?”
Charles realized his mistake.
Dominic waited.
Charles straightened.
“I want an attorney.”
Dominic smiled faintly.
“That may be the smartest thing you’ve said tonight.”
Sloan stepped forward.
“My daughter.”
Charles looked at him.
“Where is she?”
Charles said nothing.
Sloan lunged.
Rocco caught him.
“My daughter!”
Dominic stared at Charles.
“This is the part where you decide whether you want your daughter to spend tomorrow planning a wedding or visiting you in federal custody.”
Charles’s jaw tightened.
Dominic moved closer.
“Where is Claire?”
Charles looked away.
Dominic said one word.
“Rocco.”
Rocco opened his phone.
“We send the boathouse recording to the attorney general.”
Charles snapped his head back.
“You recorded me?”
Dominic did not answer.
Rocco continued.
“Kidnapping conspiracy.”
Charles breathed faster.
“Extortion.”
“Stop.”
“Forgery.”
“I said stop.”
“Potential poisoning—”
“I don’t know anything about poisoning.”
Charles shouted it.
Dominic froze.
That reaction was different.
Genuine.
“What?”
Charles realized it.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Who drugged my mother?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.”
“I swear.”
Charles’s composure cracked.
“I knew about the competency strategy.”
“The what?”
“We needed Isabella’s vote neutralized.”
“Neutralized.”
Dominic repeated the word quietly.
Charles heard how ugly it sounded.
“We never planned to hurt her.”
“You forged her signature.”
“To prevent her blocking the partnership.”
“You threatened a child.”
“That was Vivien.”
Charles said it immediately.
Sloan stopped struggling.
Dominic stared.
Charles looked sick.
“I told her to pressure Marin.”
“With her son?”
“No.”
Charles shook his head.
“God, no.”
Dominic studied him.
“You expect me to believe you suddenly developed morals?”
“I told her to threaten the job.”
Charles looked toward the floor.
“She handled the rest.”
Dominic’s mind raced.
“And Claire?”
Charles closed his eyes.
“That was me.”
Sloan cursed.
Dominic held up a hand.
“Where?”
Charles gave them an address.
A rented cottage forty minutes north.
Rocco sent the location instantly.
Dominic looked at Charles.
“Who drugged my mother?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who supplied anything to Vivien?”
Charles hesitated.
Dominic saw the answer before he spoke.
“She had a doctor.”
“Name.”
“I never met him.”
“Name.”
“Dr. Nathan Cole.”
Dominic knew it.
Cole was not Isabella’s physician.
He was a private neurologist from Boston.
Vivien had recommended him months earlier as a second-opinion specialist.
Dominic had declined.
Charles rubbed his face.
“She said he could document decline.”
Dominic understood.
The sedation.
The false symptoms.
The manufactured incompetence.
Charles looked at him.
“Dominic, listen to me.”
Dominic’s eyes turned cold.
“You’re done talking.”
His phone rang.
Carlo.
Dominic answered.
“We found Claire.”
Sloan grabbed Rocco’s arm.
Carlo continued.
“She’s alive.”
Sloan collapsed against a table.
“Thank God.”
“Two guards surrendered.”
Dominic looked at Charles.
“Bring her to Eli’s location.”
“Understood.”
Dominic ended the call.
Charles swallowed.
“You have everything now.”
“No.”
Dominic looked at the forged document.
“I have you.”
He slipped it into his coat.
“I still need your daughter.”
Charles’s face changed.
Dominic turned away.
Then Rocco’s phone buzzed.
He checked the mansion feed.
“Boss.”
Dominic stopped.
Rocco looked at the screen.
“Vivien just entered Isabella’s room.”
Dominic immediately headed for the door.
Rocco followed.
Then stopped.
“Wait.”
“What?”
Rocco enlarged the image from the hallway camera.
Vivien had entered carrying a small leather medical case.
Dominic stared.
His voice became almost inaudible.
“Get Marin out of there.”
Rocco called.
No answer.
Again.
May you like
No answer.
Dominic was already running.
