Chapter 14 - THE DETECTIVE AT THE DOOR
The knock came three times.
Calm.
Measured.
Exactly how a police officer knocked when he expected cooperation.
Gavin stood behind the front wall.
Nora held Taylor in the kitchen.
Evelyn gripped the metal evidence case.
Marlene had remained at the bank with real police.
For the first time that night, Gavin wished he had never called Ortega.
Another knock.
“Gavin.”
Ortega’s voice.
“I know you’re inside.”
Gavin said nothing.
“Arthur escaped custody.”
That changed everything.
Gavin moved toward the door but did not open it.
“How?”
“Someone intercepted the transport.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You always seem not to know the important things.”
Silence outside.
Then Ortega said.
“You watched Daniel’s video.”
Gavin’s blood ran cold.
“How do you know?”
“Because I knew it existed.”
Nora closed her eyes.
Evelyn whispered.
“Don’t open the door.”
Ortega continued.
“Daniel thought I worked for Helena.”
“He was wrong.”
“Convenient.”
“I was working undercover.”
Gavin almost laughed.
“Prove it.”
“I can’t prove a classified federal operation through a wooden door.”
“Try.”
Ortega sighed.
“Open your father’s evidence case.”
“There’s a false bottom.”
Gavin looked at Evelyn.
She set the case down.
They examined it.
A thin seam.
Gavin pressed.
A panel lifted.
Inside was a federal business card.
Samuel Ortega.
Undercover Financial Crimes Task Force.
Dated three years earlier.
And a handwritten note from Daniel.
ORTEGA SAYS HE IS FEDERAL.
I DON’T KNOW IF I BELIEVE HIM.
Gavin stared.
Not proof.
But something.
Ortega spoke through the door.
“I approached Daniel because we were already investigating Pacific Meridian.”
“He panicked.”
“He thought I was part of the network.”
“He recorded that video.”
“Why didn’t you protect him?”
Silence.
Then Ortega answered quietly.
“I failed.”
Nora looked toward the door.
“He knew Daniel was in danger.”
Gavin asked.
“Did Helena order the car?”
“Yes.”
“Who drove it?”
“We never identified the driver.”
“Arthur?”
“No.”
“Marcus?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Ortega hesitated.
“That’s why Arthur escaping matters.”
Gavin’s hand tightened.
“Explain.”
“Arthur did not escape.”
“He was taken.”
“By whom?”
“I believe Helena.”
“Why?”
“Because she is cleaning up.”
“Everyone who can connect her to Daniel is disappearing.”
Gavin looked toward the medicine bottle.
“What about you?”
“I’m probably next.”
A gunshot cracked outside.
Nora screamed.
Ortega shouted.
Then silence.
Gavin opened the door.
Ortega lay behind the porch wall.
Blood across his shoulder.
Alive.
Gavin dragged him inside.
Another shot shattered a window.
Everyone dropped.
Evelyn pulled Taylor into the hallway.
Gavin locked the door.
Ortega pressed his hand against his wound.
“Back yard.”
“There’s another vehicle.”
Nora crawled toward the curtain.
She looked.
A dark SUV.
A woman behind the wheel.
Silver-blonde hair.
Helena.
Then the SUV moved.
Gone.
Ortega laughed painfully.
“See?”
“Cleaning up.”
Gavin called emergency services.
This time, real police responded.
Before they arrived, Ortega grabbed his sleeve.
“Listen.”
“What?”
“There is another file.”
“Daniel’s real final file.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“He never told me.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because Helena has spent three years looking for it.”
“What does it contain?”
“Her insurance policy.”
“Against who?”
Ortega’s eyes met Gavin’s.
“Charles Ashford.”
Gavin frowned.
“Helena is afraid of Charles?”
“No.”
“She’s afraid of who Charles works for.”
Again.
Another layer.
Gavin was beginning to hate every answer.
“Who?”
Ortega whispered.
“A private consortium.”
“Developers.”
“Political donors.”
“Media owners.”
“They’ve been using infrastructure projects across the West to move money.”
“Harbor Crown is one.”
“Roberson Development is one company.”
“Pacific Meridian is one conduit.”
Gavin stared.
“How many?”
“Dozens.”
Evelyn whispered.
“William found this?”
“Part of it.”
“And Daniel?”
“More.”
Ortega’s face tightened from pain.
“Daniel copied a ledger naming every member.”
“Helena tried to stop him.”
“Charles tried to recover it.”
“Marcus wanted to sell it.”
“Arthur wanted to destroy it.”
“And Daniel hid it.”
Nora stared.
“Where?”
“That’s what everyone has been trying to discover.”
Taylor suddenly spoke.
“Daddy gave Mommy music.”
Every adult turned.
Nora frowned.
“What?”
Taylor hummed.
A simple melody.
Five notes.
Nora’s face changed.
“That’s Daniel’s voicemail tune.”
Gavin looked confused.
Taylor repeated the melody.
Then said.
“Daddy said song keeps secret.”
Nora stood.
“My old phone.”
“What?”
“The phone I had when Daniel died.”
“I still have it.”
“Where?”
“My apartment.”
Ortega looked alarmed.
“Do not go there.”
“Why?”
“If Helena knows the ledger might be on that phone, she’ll already have people there.”
Gavin looked at Nora.
“We’ll send police.”
She shook her head.
“Police searched after Daniel died.”
“They took his computer.”
“His work bag.”
“His office files.”
“Nobody cared about my old phone.”
Gavin’s phone rang.
Marcus.
He answered.
“Where are you?”
Marcus sounded out of breath.
“Trying not to die.”
“Arthur was taken.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Helena.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you want?”
Marcus became quiet.
“Protection.”
Gavin laughed.
“You kidnapped Marlene.”
“I scared Marlene.”
“There is a legal distinction.”
“Not one that will save you.”
“Gavin.”
“I can give you Helena.”
“How?”
“I know where she keeps the master ledger.”
Ortega heard him.
His eyes widened.
Gavin put the call on speaker.
Marcus continued.
“She doesn’t know I copied the access code.”
“Where?”
Marcus answered.
“The Bell apartment.”
Nora froze.
“What?”
Marcus heard her.
“Nora.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What is in my apartment?”
“Not what.”
“Who.”
Nora gripped the phone.
“Who is in my apartment?”
Marcus became silent.
Then answered.
“Rebecca Ashford.”
Priscilla’s supposedly dead aunt.
The woman Arthur claimed had arranged Daniel’s fatal crash.
And according to Marcus, she had been living secretly in the apartment directly above Nora for eleven months.
Watching Nora.
May you like
Watching Taylor.
Waiting for someone to find Daniel’s ledger.
