Chapter 11 - THE BOATHOUSE
FBI agents flooded the room.
“FEDERAL AGENTS!”
“DROP YOUR WEAPONS!”
Glass shattered.
People screamed.
Claire pulled me down.
Vanessa dove behind a table.
William didn’t move.
His guards did.
One dropped his gun immediately.
The other fired toward the broken wall.
Agents returned fire.
The sound inside the wooden structure was deafening.
I covered Claire with my body.
“Stay down.”
She laughed through tears.
“You’re still doing that.”
“What?”
“Trying to protect everybody.”
Then William grabbed Vanessa.
He pressed a gun against her neck.
Everything stopped.
“Back away!”
Rachel entered through the side opening.
Her weapon remained trained on him.
“William.”
“Agent Kim.”
“Let her go.”
“No.”
Vanessa was shaking.
“Please.”
William smiled near her ear.
“You always were weak.”
She shut her eyes.
“I know.”
“No,” Claire whispered beside me.
I looked at her.
“What?”
“She’s doing something.”
Vanessa’s hand moved slowly toward her pocket.
William didn’t notice.
Rachel kept talking.
“You have nowhere to go.”
“I have money.”
“Frozen.”
“Connections.”
“Running.”
“Leverage.”
Rachel shook her head.
“Not anymore.”
William laughed.
“You don’t know half of what I know.”
Vanessa pulled something from her pocket.
Her phone.
She tapped once.
William felt the movement.
“What are you doing?”
“Finishing it.”
She lifted the phone.
A red light blinked.
“Everything you said today has already been uploaded.”
William’s face changed.
“Give me that.”
“No.”
He reached for it.
Vanessa threw the phone across the room.
His grip loosened.
Rachel moved.
Two agents hit William at once.
The gun slid across the floor.
Within seconds, he was facedown, handcuffed.
For the first time since I was a child, my uncle looked small.
Rachel stood over him.
“William Mercer, you are under arrest.”
He laughed into the floorboards.
“For what?”
Rachel began listing charges.
Kidnapping.
Conspiracy.
Obstruction.
Financial crimes.
Witness intimidation.
Attempted murder investigations pending.
William turned his head toward me.
“You think this ends with me?”
I walked closer.
“No.”
He smiled.
“It starts with your father.”
“My father is dead.”
“Then you’ll never be able to ask him why.”
“Why what?”
His grin widened.
“Why he chose Claire.”
I looked at her.
She had gone pale.
“What does that mean?”
William started laughing.
Agents dragged him away.
I turned to Claire.
“What did he mean?”
“Not here.”
“Claire.”
“Adrian.”
Her voice shook.
“I have something you need to see.”
Vanessa sat against the wall.
Blood ran from a small cut on her forehead.
She looked at me.
“Go.”
I stared at her.
“For once in your life,” she whispered, “go with her.”
Outside, paramedics checked Claire.
She refused transport until she spoke to me.
We sat on the back of an ambulance.
I couldn’t stop looking at her.
“You’re alive.”
She smiled weakly.
“So are you.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
“I buried an empty casket.”
Her eyes filled.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize.”
“I should have found a way.”
“So should I.”
We sat in silence.
Finally, I asked, “What did William mean?”
Claire looked toward the lake.
“Your father didn’t choose me randomly.”
“For what?”
She reached into the lining of her coat and removed a tiny flash drive.
“I found this inside Briarwood.”
“What’s on it?”
“Your father’s private recordings.”
My stomach tightened.
“Recordings of what?”
“Confessions.”
I stared at the drive.
May you like
Claire’s next words changed everything again.
“One of them is about the night your mother died.”
