Chapter 16 - The River Terminal
Police refused to let Claire walk into the terminal with a real ledger.
Claire agreed.
Then she gave them a better plan.
By 3:00 p.m., an unmarked van sat two blocks away. Tactical officers covered the perimeter. Nolan wore a wire. Claire carried a leather portfolio containing a fake ledger prepared by investigators.
"If I say the word greenhouse, you come in," Claire said.
Nolan shook her head.
"If I decide you're in danger, we come in. You don't control that part."
"Fair."
The terminal smelled of river water, oil, and cold metal.
Richard Vale stood beneath a broken skylight in a navy overcoat.
He was seventy, silver-haired, immaculate, and disappointingly ordinary.
Lillian stood ten feet away, wrists bound with plastic ties.
Vale smiled.
"Samuel's daughter."
"Richard Vale."
"You look like him when you're angry."
"You look like a man who has been overpraised for a long time."
His smile thinned.
"The ledger."
Claire lifted the portfolio.
"Lillian first."
"No."
"Then we have nothing to discuss."
Vale paced slowly.
"Do you know what your father never understood? Companies are stories people agree to believe. Ownership, loyalty, marriage - all paperwork with better costumes."
"You built an empire and still talk like a man trying to impress a freshman economics class."
Lillian almost laughed.
Vale did not.
"Give me the ledger."
"Tell me what happened to my father."
His eyes cooled.
"He had a weak heart."
"Wrong answer."
"Careful."
"Why? Vivian already tried to beat me into compliance. Ethan tried to have me labeled unstable. You're running out of ideas."
Vale stepped closer.
"Your husband was weak. His mother was vain. I gave them options. They chose badly."
"And my father?"
Vale looked toward the river.
"Samuel chose pride."
Claire's pulse hammered.
"Did you change his medication?"
Vale smiled.
Not an admission.
Worse.
A man who believed he would never need to admit anything.
Behind Claire's ear, the tiny receiver crackled once. Police were hearing every word.
Lillian suddenly shouted, "Claire, don't give it to him! The ledger isn't about land deals. It's about judges, doctors, trustees - everyone he paid!"
Vale spun toward her.
Claire said one word.
"Greenhouse."
Floodlights snapped on.
Police poured through both entrances.
Vale did not run.
He reached inside his coat.
Every officer raised a weapon.
Claire froze.
Vale slowly pulled out a phone.
On the screen was a live video feed.
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Evelyn March was sitting in Claire's hotel room.
And behind her stood Vivian Cole.
