Chapter 13 - THE VOICE FROM SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO
The tape began with breathing.
Then Anthony Costello spoke.
Arthur sat completely still.
Clara sat beside him.
Michael and Gregory remained across the table.
“If Arthur is hearing this, Dominic failed.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
His father’s voice.
Seventeen years dead.
Still reaching him.
Anthony explained everything.
Dominic had been building a criminal network inside Costello Logistics.
Samuel discovered it.
Anthony intended to testify.
But another man had been involved.
A federal agent.
Daniel Hayes.
Clara’s expression changed.
“Hayes?”
Arthur looked at her.
Her first false identity after leaving him had been Caroline Hayes.
Coincidence.
Probably.
But Clara had learned never to trust coincidence.
The recording continued.
Daniel Hayes had agreed to protect Anthony and Samuel in exchange for evidence.
Then he disappeared.
Anthony believed Dominic had discovered him.
The tape ended abruptly.
Michael leaned back.
“So what are we looking for?”
Clara answered.
“Evidence.”
Gregory nodded.
“Seventeen-year-old evidence.”
“No.”
Arthur stared at the tape recorder.
“Someone wants us to find Samuel.”
Michael frowned.
“Why?”
Arthur looked at Clara.
“Because Samuel knows where everything is.”
That evening, another envelope arrived.
This one was delivered to Clara’s office.
Inside was a single motel key.
ROOM 17.
Stamped beneath it:
LAKEVIEW MOTOR LODGE.
Clara recognized the place immediately.
Bellweather.
The town where she had once disappeared.
Arthur did too.
“No.”
Clara raised an eyebrow.
Arthur corrected himself.
“I strongly object.”
“Excellent growth.”
“This isn't funny.”
“No.”
She touched his arm.
“It isn't.”
They drove together.
Room 17 appeared abandoned.
Arthur entered first.
Clara followed.
A lamp burned beside the bed.
A suitcase sat open.
On the table was another photograph.
Clara picked it up.
It showed her.
Five years earlier.
Walking along Lake Erie.
During the nine days she had been hiding from Arthur.
Someone had photographed her.
Arthur saw the date.
His face went cold.
“Whoever took this knew where you were before we did.”
Clara turned the photograph over.
Three words.
I KEPT WATCH.
A floorboard creaked behind them.
Arthur spun.
An elderly man stood in the bathroom doorway.
Thin.
Gray-haired.
Holding a pistol.
Arthur moved in front of Clara.
The man laughed softly.
“Still doing that, I see.”
Arthur stared.
“Samuel Rourke?”
The gun lowered.
“Yes.”
Clara studied him.
“You sent the letters?”
“Some.”
Arthur caught the word.
“Some?”
Samuel's expression changed.
“I sent the photograph of your father.”
“And the tape?”
“Yes.”
“The picture of Clara?”
“No.”
Silence.
Arthur felt the room shrink.
“Then who did?”
Samuel looked toward the window.
“I was hoping you could tell me.”
Clara approached the table.
“Why now?”
Samuel lowered himself into a chair.
“Because someone opened Dominic's old accounts six weeks ago.”
Arthur frowned.
“Dominic is in federal prison.”
“I know.”
“Victor?”
“Also incarcerated.”
Samuel nodded.
“That is what makes this interesting.”
He reached into his suitcase.
Arthur tensed.
Samuel removed a ledger.
Old leather.
Cracked spine.
He placed it on the table.
“This is what your father died protecting.”
Arthur opened it.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Judges.
Police.
Businesses.
Federal agents.
Then Clara saw one name repeated dozens of times.
DANIEL HAYES.
Arthur looked at Samuel.
“I thought Hayes was helping my father.”
Samuel's eyes darkened.
“So did Anthony.”
Clara understood first.
“He betrayed him.”
Samuel nodded.
“And Daniel Hayes isn't dead.”
Arthur looked down at the ledger.
“Where is he?”
Samuel's answer came quietly.
“I don't know.”
Then the motel window shattered.
Samuel collapsed.
Clara screamed.
Arthur dragged her down.
A second shot punched into the wall.
Arthur reached Samuel.
Blood spread across the old man's chest.
Samuel grabbed Arthur's sleeve.
“Chicago.”
“Where?”
Samuel coughed.
“Your company.”
Arthur froze.
Samuel forced out three final words.
“He never left.”
Then his hand went limp.
Arthur stared at him.
Seventeen years of hiding had ended in seventeen seconds.
Outside, tires screamed away.
Clara looked at Arthur.
Daniel Hayes was alive.
May you like
And according to Samuel—
He was already inside Costello Logistics.
