Chapter 15 - The Trap
Gavin disappeared before police reached his apartment.
Nora disappeared with him.
Their bank accounts had been drained in small transfers over months. Two vehicles were missing. A private airfield reported that Gavin had asked about charter flights, but none had departed under his name.
Mara believed they were still nearby.
“They need something,” she said.
“The memory card?” Daniel asked.
“That, and the original trust files Victor gave us. Maybe Lily’s notebook. Anything a defense attorney could call fabricated becomes easier to attack if the originals vanish.”
Daniel’s face hardened. “So we make them think they can get it.”
Mara did not like civilians suggesting traps.
She liked even less that the idea might work.
Through Victor, Daniel sent a message to an email account Gavin still monitored.
I want this over. Nora gets the house and ten million. You get my silence on the company fraud. I keep Lily. Meet me and we trade originals.
For six hours, nothing happened.
Then a reply arrived.
CONSERVATORY. 8 PM. COME ALONE.
The Mercer family conservatory was an abandoned glass event hall on company property, closed for renovation. Police wired Daniel and placed teams outside the perimeter.
At eight exactly, Nora walked through the side door.
Alone.
She looked exhausted. Her expensive coat was wrinkled. Her eyes were ringed with red.
“Where’s Gavin?” Daniel asked.
“Not here.”
“You tried to kill me.”
Nora’s mouth trembled, but she smiled. “And you hit me. We’ve both had bad weeks.”
Daniel wanted to lunge at her. He remembered the wire.
“Why the tea?”
She looked away.
“Nora.”
“You were going to remove me from the trust.”
He had mentioned that possibility to Gavin two weeks earlier.
“So you decided I had to die?”
“I decided I had no way out.”
“Did you kill my mother?”
Her eyes filled.
“She would not stop.”
Daniel’s stomach twisted. “That is not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting.”
“Claire?”
Nora flinched.
“Gavin handled Claire.”
The words hung between them.
Daniel heard Mara’s voice in his earpiece: Keep her talking.
“What does that mean?”
Nora suddenly looked toward the dark balcony above them.
Her face changed.
Fear.
“Daniel,” she whispered. “Get down.”
A metal door slammed overhead.
The lights went out.
Glass shattered somewhere behind him.
May you like
Then Gavin’s voice echoed through the darkness.
“You always were terrible at following instructions, Dan.”
