Chapter 12 - THE RIVER TERMINAL
Detective Brooks ordered us to stay at the warehouse while officers followed the truck. We stayed. Noah watched the vehicle’s company tracker on Ruth’s monitor.
It moved east, then stopped two miles short of the terminal.
“Why stop there?” Ruth asked.
“There’s a weigh station,” Luca said. “And an access road behind it.”
A minute later, the tracker vanished.
Brooks called in the last location. Marcus drove to the access road with officers. Luca paced Ruth’s office, his phone in his hand.
I had spent the last day trying to make sense of Vanessa. I had seen how easily she smiled at guests and how cold her voice became when we were alone. Yet Paul’s account didn’t tell me whether she was running with Daniel or away from him.
My phone rang.
Vanessa.
I put it on speaker while Brooks listened.
“Daniel thinks I’m driving to the river,” she said. Wind rushed behind her voice. “I got out at the weigh station.”
“Why call Claire?” Luca asked.
“Because she’s the only one who’s listened to what I actually say.”
I nearly laughed. “You locked me in a closet.”
“Yes,” Vanessa said. “And I hurt your hand. I’m sorry.”
The apology did nothing to ease the pain in my wrist.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“Daniel has another document. If he gets it to the terminal office today, he can still force the lenders to freeze Luca’s accounts.”
“Then tell Brooks where he is,” Luca said.
“He’ll know it came from me.”
“He already knows Paul talked.”
Vanessa’s breath caught. “You found Paul?”
“He’s with the police,” Brooks answered.
There was a long pause. Then Vanessa named a storage building near the river. She said Daniel had kept copies of the records there, along with the original paper invoices.
“Why should we believe you?” Brooks asked.
“Because my name’s on the payments,” Vanessa said. “I want to tell you what I did before Daniel tells you I did all of it.”
Brooks arranged to meet her at a police station. Vanessa agreed.
Twenty minutes later, officers found her waiting outside. She surrendered her phone and gave a recorded statement. Meanwhile, another team went to the storage building.
They found Daniel’s car. They found the original invoices.
Daniel was gone.
Then Brooks’s phone rang. Her expression changed as she listened.
“Daniel just walked into the courthouse,” she said. “He’s asking to meet with the clerk.”
May you like
Luca looked at the clock. 8:54 a.m.
The appointment was in six minutes.
