Chapter 16 - One Last Chance
The chapel was empty.
Linda’s purse sat on the pew.
Her phone lay beside it.
Claire searched the hallway.
“Mom!”
No answer.
Security cameras showed Linda leaving through a side exit with a hospital volunteer.
The volunteer badge was fake.
The man beside her wore a cap low over his face.
Marisol froze the image.
Mark arrived and stared at the screen.
“I know him.”
“Who?”
“Walter’s driver.”
Claire’s anger sharpened into focus.
This was no longer hidden money and old fear.
Walter had taken her mother.
Marisol coordinated with local police.
Claire paced.
Ethan stood near the vending machines, fists clenched.
“I should’ve stayed with her.”
Claire stopped.
“No.”
“I left her alone.”
“You went to check on Dad.”
“Still.”
“Ethan.”
He looked at her.
“We are not doing this family thing where we blame ourselves for someone else’s crime.”
He looked away.
Mark sat against the wall.
Claire turned to him.
“What would Walter want?”
“The drive.”
“He thinks investigators already have it.”
“The death ledger, then.”
“We don’t have the original.”
Mark thought.
Then he stood.
“But Dad might know where Walter keeps his backup.”
Robert did.
Not exactly.
But he remembered a private storage facility Walter owned through another company near the river.
Marisol obtained a search warrant.
They found three empty units.
The fourth contained filing cabinets.
The fifth contained nothing but a metal desk and an old safe.
Inside the safe was a photograph of Samuel Bennett’s wrecked car.
And a key taped to the back.
Claire held it under the light.
Stamped into the metal: 317.
Mark said, “Bus station lockers.”
Marisol looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“Walter used them for cash drops.”
The downtown bus terminal had old storage lockers along the east wall.
Locker 317 opened with the key.
Inside was a black ledger.
The original.
Claire almost laughed with relief.
Then she saw the note resting on top.
BRING THIS TO THE OLD BENNETT FARM. ALONE.
Mark read over her shoulder.
“It’s a trap.”
“Yes.”
“You’re not going.”
Claire looked at him.
“I’m not stupid.”
“Good.”
She turned to Marisol.
“We use it.”
Two hours later, Claire drove alone toward the abandoned Bennett farm.
At least, she appeared alone.
Unmarked vehicles stayed far behind.
A transmitter sat beneath her jacket.
The real ledger was locked in evidence.
The one on the passenger seat was a replica.
She pulled into the barnyard.
Walter stood beside his sedan.
Linda sat in the passenger seat.
Alive.
Walter smiled at Claire.
“You look like your grandfather.”
Claire got out.
“So I’ve been told.”
Walter held up a phone.
“Give me the book.”
Claire lifted the replica.
“Let my mother walk first.”
Walter’s smile disappeared.
“You’re in no position to negotiate.”
Then Linda opened the car door herself.
May you like
Walter spun.
And Claire heard a gunshot.
