Chapter 13 - THE DEAL
Daniel wanted the flash drives.
All three.
In exchange, he claimed he would disappear.
Nobody believed him.
Least of all Marcus.
“He never disappears,” Marcus told Grant.
Marcus had finally decided to cooperate.
Not because he discovered a conscience.
Because Daniel had tried to kill him in the farmhouse explosion.
Fear accomplished what morality had not.
Marcus gave police access to Daniel’s communication network.
Burner phones.
Dead drops.
Encrypted email accounts.
Storage units.
Then he gave us the worst information yet.
“Howard isn’t Daniel’s partner anymore.”
“What is he?” Grant asked.
“A liability.”
Howard had vanished after escaping the hospital.
Daniel believed Howard knew too much.
That made Howard dangerous.
To Daniel.
And potentially useful to us.
Police found him first.
Howard was hiding in a motel near the airport.
He surrendered without a fight.
During questioning, Howard broke.
Years of crime poured out in four hours.
He admitted helping Daniel steal from my mother.
He admitted falsifying documents.
He admitted helping target me.
Then Grant asked the question I could barely hear.
“What happened to Diane Carter?”
Howard began crying.
I watched through the glass.
“Daniel damaged her car.”
The room tilted.
Grant remained still.
“How?”
“Brake line.”
I gripped the edge of the table.
Howard continued.
“He said she would lose braking power gradually. He said she’d pull over.”
My vision blurred.
“She died,” Grant said.
“I know.”
“You knew he had done it?”
“Not until afterward.”
“And you kept working with him for six years?”
Howard lowered his head.
“Yes.”
I walked out before I punched through the glass.
My mother hadn’t died because of rain.
She hadn’t lost control.
She had been murdered.
I stood in the hallway shaking.
Claire found me there.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke.
Then she said, “Ryan.”
“I should’ve answered her call.”
“Don’t.”
“She called me the night before.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I told her I was busy.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I could’ve—”
“No.”
Claire grabbed my shoulders.
“You could not have predicted that.”
I looked away.
Grant came out ten minutes later.
“We have enough to arrest Daniel for conspiracy and several financial crimes. Howard’s statement gives us probable cause regarding your mother’s death.”
“Then find him.”
“We’re trying.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number again.
Grant signaled to trace it.
I answered.
Daniel.
“You found Howard.”
I said nothing.
“He always was weak.”
“What do you want?”
“You know.”
“You’re not getting the drives.”
A pause.
Then Daniel said:
“I think you’ll change your mind.”
My blood chilled.
“Why?”
A woman cried softly in the background.
Amanda.
Daniel spoke again.
May you like
“Because your almost-wife just became useful one last time.”
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