Chapter 10 - THE DEAL
Charles Voss wanted the ledger by midnight.
He chose an abandoned railway depot twenty miles outside town.
He demanded I come alone.
Of course, I didn’t.
Federal agents had joined the case after we uncovered the insurance network.
They wanted Voss alive.
So did I.
Not because he deserved mercy.
Because I wanted answers.
At 11:52 p.m., I entered the depot carrying the ledger.
A copy.
The real notebook was already in federal custody.
Voss stepped from behind an old freight car.
Seventy years old.
Silver hair.
Expensive coat.
Not a single sign of fear.
“You look like Daniel,” he said.
“Where is he?”
“Still impatient. Just like your brother.”
“Where?”
He smiled.
“Book first.”
I held it up.
He approached.
“Open your coat.”
He did.
No visible weapon.
But men like Charles Voss didn’t carry their own guns.
“Why Daniel?” I asked.
“He stole from me.”
“Evidence of your crimes?”
“He stole control.”
I laughed.
“You ruined lives for insurance money.”
“You think money was the point?”
“What was?”
“Influence.”
Voss spoke as if explaining business to a child.
“Doctors need favors. Judges need campaigns funded. Police need mortgages paid. Politicians need donors. Money buys access. Access buys silence.”
“And children get locked in basements.”
His jaw tightened.
“That was Ryan’s stupidity.”
“Your daughter married him.”
“My daughter made many mistakes.”
A noise echoed behind me.
Voss smiled.
“Speaking of mistakes.”
Rachel stepped from the darkness.
I stared at her.
“You followed me?”
“No.”
She looked at her father.
“I came to end this.”
Voss sighed.
“Rachel, go home.”
“No.”
“You’ve always been weak.”
Her face hardened.
“And you’ve always confused fear with respect.”
She pulled a handgun.
My heart kicked.
“Rachel, put it down.”
She aimed at her father.
“Where is Daniel?”
Voss smiled.
“You never stopped loving him.”
“Where is he?”
“Ask your husband.”
Rachel blinked.
“Ryan?”
Voss looked at me.
“You think I kidnapped Daniel?”
“Didn’t you?”
“No.”
Then he laughed.
“Daniel kidnapped himself.”
I frowned.
“What the hell does that mean?”
Voss pointed toward the notebook.
“Your brother has spent nine years hiding because he knows something you don’t.”
“Which is?”
“He wasn’t only a witness.”
My stomach tightened.
“He helped us.”
Rachel shook her head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Voss’s smile became cruel.
“Daniel built the first false-billing system.”
The accusation hit like a punch.
“He came to me broke. Desperate. Clever. I paid him.”
“You’re lying.”
“Ask him.”
A shot exploded.
Voss jerked backward.
Rachel screamed.
I hit the ground.
Another shot.
Federal agents swarmed the building.
Voss collapsed with blood spreading across his chest.
The shooter was caught behind a pillar.
Paul Grady.
He was alive.
Wounded, desperate, and somehow out of the hospital.
As officers dragged him away, Grady laughed at me.
“Ask Daniel who started all of this!”
Voss grabbed my wrist.
His breath rattled.
“Your brother…”
“What?”
“He’s at Lake Mercer.”
“Where?”
“Cabin seventeen.”
May you like
Then his grip loosened.
And Charles Voss stopped breathing.
