Chapter 7 - BREAKING INTO HALE TOWER
We did not break into Hale Tower.
Dana refused.
My father refused.
I wanted to.
Instead, we used the one thing Marcus respected more than power.
Procedure.
Dana filed an emergency motion.
Police obtained a preservation order.
Marcus’s attorneys fought it instantly.
For eleven hours.
By the time investigators entered Hale Tower, Marcus’s private office had been wiped clean.
Computers gone.
Safe empty.
Files shredded.
Marcus claimed routine IT maintenance.
Nobody believed him.
But belief wasn’t evidence.
Then Claire reappeared.
She walked into Dana’s office wearing a baseball cap and carrying a flash drive.
“I copied some files six months ago.”
Dana stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because I knew one day I’d need leverage.”
“Against Marcus?”
“Against anyone.”
Claire looked at me.
“I’m not brave.”
“Neither am I.”
“You came to court.”
“I was terrified.”
“Same thing.”
We opened the drive.
Hundreds of folders.
Names.
Dates.
Videos.
Audio files.
Marcus had recorded people in his office.
Politicians.
Inspectors.
Contractors.
Bankers.
Even Gregory Sloan.
His own attorney.
One audio file was labeled BENNETT.
I clicked.
Marcus’s voice.
Then another man.
Robert Crane.
“We can place Elias Bennett on the case.”
“And when he recuses?”
“We lose half a day.”
“That’s enough.”
“For what?”
“To get Nora evaluated.”
My stomach twisted.
Crane asked,
“What if Bennett talks to her?”
“He won’t compromise himself.”
Marcus sounded amused.
“He’s too righteous.”
My father closed his eyes.
Marcus knew him well enough to weaponize his integrity.
The audio continued.
Crane said,
“And if Nora refuses the evaluation?”
Marcus answered,
“Then Vanessa will create an event.”
My blood froze.
Dana paused the recording.
“Create an event.”
We all understood.
The courthouse attack.
Vanessa had not acted impulsively.
It was planned.
She was supposed to provoke me.
Maybe get me arrested.
Maybe make me look unstable.
Instead, she attacked me first.
And the camera captured it.
Claire clicked another file.
This one was older.
Twenty years older.
RICHARD HALE — BENNETT.
A male voice filled the room.
Richard Hale.
Marcus’s father.
“Her car is the easier solution.”
Another voice said,
“You’re talking about a prosecutor’s wife.”
Richard laughed.
“I’m talking about an accountant who doesn’t know when to stop.”
My father went white.
I could barely breathe.
Then a younger voice entered the recording.
Marcus.
“Dad, this is insane.”
For one tiny second, hope rose inside me.
Maybe he had objected.
Maybe he had been young.
Maybe—
Then Marcus continued.
“If you do it on the bridge, there’ll be cameras.”
Silence.
My father stood so quickly his chair fell backward.
The recording continued.
Marcus said,
“Use the county road after the storm.”
I stopped the audio.
No one moved.
My husband had helped plan my mother’s death.
And years later, he had married me.
The room felt airless.
Claire whispered,
“There’s more.”
I didn’t want more.
But she clicked another file.
Marcus again.
Recent.
Three months earlier.
Speaking to Vanessa.
“If Nora finds out why I married her, everything collapses.”
Vanessa laughed.
“She still thinks you loved her?”
Marcus answered.
“That’s why she stayed.”
I thought that was the worst thing I could hear.
Then Vanessa asked,
“And the baby?”
Marcus replied,
“If it’s mine, I keep it.”
May you like
I stopped breathing.
If.
