Chapter 8 - THE DEAD MAN’S LIE
Rachel stared at the tape player.
“No.”
Charles’s recorded voice continued.
“Thomas has been working with Adrian Cole.”
Rachel shook her head.
“No.”
Julian watched her.
“Rachel…”
“He wouldn’t.”
“Listen.”
“I knew my husband.”
The tape crackled again.
“Thomas told me he wanted out. I don’t know if I believe him.”
Rachel began crying.
Charles continued.
“If anything happens to me, assume Thomas gave them my route.”
Martha sat down heavily.
Julian felt sick.
The tape ended with coordinates.
Rachel whispered:
“Play it again.”
Nobody moved.
“Play it again!”
Julian did.
Rachel listened.
Her face changed from grief to rage.
When it ended, she stood.
“Thomas lied to me.”
Martha touched her arm.
“We don’t know everything.”
“He told Adrian where Charles would be.”
“We don’t know that.”
Rachel looked at Julian.
“Those coordinates.”
“What about them?”
“I know the place.”
An hour later they reached an abandoned quarry.
At the bottom stood a rusted storage building.
Julian forced the door.
Inside were wooden crates.
Empty.
Except one.
He opened it.
Documents.
Hundreds.
Bank records.
Shell companies.
Offshore accounts.
Julian stared.
“The ledger.”
Martha shook her head.
“Copies.”
Rachel picked up an envelope.
It had her name on it.
Her hands trembled.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
Rachel read silently.
Then collapsed against a crate.
“What?”
She handed it to Julian.
Thomas had written it.
Rachel,
If Charles is dead, I failed him.
Adrian threatened you and Daniel.
I gave him Charles’s route because he promised to spare you.
I believed him.
I will regret that until I die.
But I moved the money before Victor could find it.
Charles wanted it returned.
The access code is with Julian.
Do not tell him until he knows who he can trust.
I’m sorry.
Rachel sobbed.
“My son.”
Julian remembered Daniel Pierce.
Rachel’s only child.
He had died at age eleven from leukemia.
Thomas had been desperate to protect him.
“He betrayed Dad to save his family,” Julian said quietly.
Rachel nodded.
“And Adrian killed Thomas anyway.”
Martha closed her eyes.
Julian searched the papers.
“Where’s the money?”
No answer.
Then he found a bank statement dated fourteen years earlier.
Account value:
$87,418,302.
Julian stared.
“It grew.”
Rachel looked up.
“What?”
“The money.”
A newer document showed another transfer.
Then another.
Offshore trust.
Switzerland.
Cayman Islands.
Singapore.
The latest value was from six years earlier.
One hundred forty-two million dollars.
Martha whispered:
“God.”
Julian kept searching.
Then he found a signature page.
AUTHORIZED BENEFICIARY: JULIAN CHARLES HALE.
Biometric authorization required.
That explained Bianca.
She needed him alive.
At least until the money moved.
A gun clicked behind them.
“Everybody stay still.”
Adrian Cole stood in the doorway.
Two armed men beside him.
Julian turned slowly.
“How did you find us?”
Adrian smiled.
“Bianca.”
Julian frowned.
“She’s in custody.”
“Yes.”
“And still very useful.”
Rachel stepped forward.
“You killed Thomas.”
Adrian looked almost bored.
“Thomas killed himself when he chose Charles.”
“You threw him down an elevator shaft.”
“He should’ve stayed loyal.”
Rachel lunged.
Julian grabbed her before Adrian fired.
“Don’t.”
Adrian smiled.
“Good boy.”
He looked at the papers.
“Eighteen years.”
His eyes almost glowed.
“Eighteen years looking for this.”
Julian said:
“You still don’t have the money.”
“But I have you.”
Adrian pointed the gun at Julian’s chest.
“And according to these documents, you’re the only key I need.”
Then headlights appeared outside.
Adrian turned.
A black SUV stopped.
A woman stepped out.
Bianca.
No handcuffs.
No police.
Julian stared.
“You escaped?”
Bianca smiled.
“Not exactly.”
Behind her stepped Detective Warren.
The officer who had supposedly been investigating the case.
Julian’s stomach dropped.
Warren raised his gun.
And pointed it at Julian.
“Sorry, Mr. Hale.”
May you like
Adrian laughed.
“Now we have the whole family.”
