Chapter 9 - The Father Who Saw Too Much
Ruby had never doubted Daniel Brennan's honesty.
He was the kind of man who returned extra change to cashiers.
Who stopped to help strangers change tires.
Who spent his Saturdays repairing bicycles for children in his neighborhood.
He had no interest in organized crime.
No secret dealings.
No reason to become the target of powerful men.
At least, that was what she believed.
Now Vincent Rojas's question followed her through every room.
Why was her husband at that playground?
Daniel had gone there because Ellie wanted to play.
The explanation was ordinary.
Complete.
True.
But Ruby couldn't forget his final message.
The man in the gray suit.
The police officer.
The concern in his voice.
She met Elena at the precinct later that evening.
They sat inside a conference room with a working security camera, where every interview was documented.
Elena placed several photographs on the table.
"Did Daniel know any of these people?"
Ruby studied them.
Teachers.
Contractors.
Community organizers.
Then she stopped.
A woman with dark hair and an anxious expression.
"I know her."
"Who is she?"
"Marissa Cole."
"How?"
"She worked with Daniel at the school."
Elena nodded.
"She was a social worker."
Ruby looked closer.
"She disappeared shortly before the shooting."
"Not disappeared," Elena said.
"She resigned."
Ruby shook her head.
"Daniel said she was frightened. He tried calling her after she left."
Elena opened another folder.
"Marissa was investigating suspicious transfers involving children in temporary foster placements."
Ruby stared at her.
"What?"
"She believed several children were being routed through facilities connected to Bellweather."
Ruby's breath caught.
"The same organization in Isabella's ledger."
"Yes."
Elena turned another page.
"She asked Daniel for help because he had access to school attendance records."
Ruby pressed her fingers against her lips.
Daniel had once mentioned a student who vanished without a proper transfer notice.
He had been troubled by it.
He said the school administration refused to explain.
Ruby remembered dismissing it as bureaucracy.
Now every forgotten conversation seemed to carry a new meaning.
"Was Daniel helping her?"
"We think so."
Elena slid a photocopy across the table.
It was a request for student records.
Daniel's signature appeared at the bottom.
Ruby stared.
"He never told me."
"He may have been trying to protect you."
Ruby shook her head.
"He would have told me if he believed Ellie was in danger."
Elena didn't answer.
That silence frightened Ruby more than any explanation.
"What aren't you telling me?"
Elena looked down.
"The shooting may not have been a random escalation."
Ruby felt cold.
"Meaning?"
"Daniel may have witnessed the wrong meeting at the wrong time."
Ruby stood.
"No."
"Ruby—"
"No."
She walked toward the window.
The lights of Chicago blurred through her tears.
For three years, she had told herself that her daughter died because violence spilled into an innocent place.
A terrible accident.
A senseless tragedy.
Now she faced a possibility almost too cruel to comprehend.
Her husband might have been deliberately targeted.
And Ellie had died beside him.
Ruby pressed one hand against the glass.
"Did they know my daughter would be there?"
Elena's voice was gentle.
"We don't know."
"Find out."
"I will."
Ruby turned.
"No, Elena. Don't tell me you'll try. Tell me you'll find out."
The detective met her eyes.
"I will follow the evidence wherever it goes."
Ruby nodded.
That was the only promise she could accept.
Later that night, she returned to her apartment and opened Daniel's old laptop.
She had kept it in a closet.
The battery no longer held a charge, but the computer still worked when plugged in.
Most files were ordinary.
Lesson plans.
Family photos.
Tax records.
A folder labeled Ellie's Dinosaurs.
Ruby opened that folder first.
There were photographs of Ellie wearing a plastic dinosaur costume.
A drawing of a purple dinosaur with six legs.
A recording of Ellie explaining, with great seriousness, why a tyrannosaurus could never learn ballet.
Ruby laughed through tears.
Then she noticed a file hidden among the pictures.
Its name was unusual.
Greenhouse_Project_Final.
She opened it.
A password prompt appeared.
Ruby tried Daniel's birthday.
Wrong.
Their wedding anniversary.
Wrong.
Ellie's birthday.
Wrong.
Then she remembered the phrase he used whenever Ellie became scared.
Brave little star.
She typed it.
The file opened.
Inside were scanned documents, financial records, and a short video.
Ruby clicked the video.
Daniel appeared on screen in his classroom.
He looked tired.
Nervous.
He glanced over his shoulder before speaking.
"Ruby, if you're watching this, something has happened."
Her heart stopped.
Daniel took a breath.
"I need you to understand that the Moretti family isn't the whole story."
Ruby leaned closer.
"The man running Bellweather isn't working for Santiago."
Daniel paused.
"He's using Santiago."
Then he held up a photograph.
Ruby recognized Julian Vale.
But there was another man beside him.
A much younger man.
Dark-haired.
Wearing a black jacket.
Daniel continued.
"And the person feeding him information is someone Santiago thinks would die for him."
Ruby stared at the screen.
May you like
She recognized the second man.
Tomas Alvarez.
