Chapter 18 - The False Victory
Daniel refused Jonathan’s meeting at first.
He assumed manipulation.
Natalie convinced him otherwise.
“Listen.”
“Why?”
“Because a liar can still tell the truth when it benefits him.”
Jonathan sat behind thick glass in the federal detention center.
He looked tired.
But not defeated.
“You think this ends with me.”
Daniel remained silent.
Jonathan smiled.
“Richard’s mechanic didn’t work alone.”
“Margaret admitted paying him.”
“Yes.”
“Then what are you selling?”
“The crash route.”
Daniel frowned.
Jonathan explained that Richard’s car had been remotely tracked.
Someone changed the navigation system to route him toward the mountain road.
That person was not Jonathan.
Not Margaret.
Not the mechanic.
“Who?”
Jonathan leaned back.
“Detective Brooks.”
Daniel stared.
Impossible.
Brooks had helped them.
Saved Daniel at the cemetery.
Arrested Jonathan.
Jonathan smiled.
“Before she was a detective, Lena Brooks worked private security.”
Daniel knew.
Many detectives did.
“For whom?”
Jonathan answered:
“Mercer Protective Services.”
Daniel felt cold.
Brooks denied it.
Then records confirmed she had worked there briefly eighteen years earlier.
But employment was not proof.
Jonathan provided a bank account.
A payment of $75,000 to Brooks six days after Richard died.
Brooks claimed the payment was fabricated.
Forensic investigators said the transfer appeared real.
She was arrested pending investigation.
Daniel felt betrayed again.
Natalie was less certain.
“Too clean.”
“What?”
“The evidence.”
“It’s a bank transfer.”
“Exactly.”
She looked at Daniel.
“Jonathan framed me with bank transfers.”
That stopped him.
They investigated.
The payment had been routed through an account opened using Brooks’s stolen identity.
Jonathan had created the account years earlier.
Why keep that weapon unused for four years?
Insurance.
Anyone investigating Richard’s murder could be discredited.
Brooks was released.
Jonathan lost his last attempt at leverage.
Or so they thought.
That night, Mercer House caught fire.
The alarm triggered at 2:14 a.m.
Daniel and Natalie were asleep in separate wings.
Smoke filled the hallway.
Daniel ran toward Natalie’s room.
The door was locked from the outside.
“Natalie!”
He kicked it once.
Twice.
The frame broke.
Natalie crawled through smoke toward him.
They escaped through the rear terrace.
Firefighters arrived.
The blaze had started in Richard’s study.
Exactly where the remaining archive evidence was temporarily stored.
Someone had entered using a staff access code.
The code belonged to Rosa.
But Rosa was still under protection two hundred miles away.
Someone had cloned it.
Security footage showed a hooded figure leaving the house.
At 3:07 a.m., Daniel received a message.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LET THE DEAD STAY DEAD.
Jonathan was in federal custody.
Margaret was in jail.
Marcus was monitored.
Whoever started the fire was someone else.
May you like
The victory had been false.
The conspiracy had one more survivor.
