Chapter 4 - THE MAN WHO OWNED THE POLICE
By morning, the story had already begun spreading.
Not publicly.
Not yet.
But inside the courthouse, the police department, and Ridge Community Bank, phones were ringing.
Richard Vincent had been arrested.
Then released.
The charges were dismissed within three hours.
Laura stared at the paperwork.
“Unbelievable.”
Mike stood beside her.
“Not unbelievable.”
He looked exhausted.
“Expected.”
Richard’s attorney had argued that his client had been invited into the house.
The officers who had arrived at the scene suddenly claimed they had seen no evidence of threats.
The two men who had attacked the house were gone.
Victor Shaw had disappeared before being formally charged.
And the warrant request for Richard’s financial records had been denied.
Laura looked at Mike.
“Who denied it?”
Mike hesitated.
Then handed her the document.
The judge’s name was listed at the bottom.
Judge Harold Mercer.
Laura looked at the Project Harbor file.
The same name appeared there.
Next to a payment of $250,000.
She felt cold.
“Now you understand,” Mike said.
The corruption was not around Richard Vincent.
It was beneath him.
That afternoon, Rebecca was admitted to the hospital.
Doctors discovered she had been heavily sedated for days.
The medication had been prescribed under a false name.
Someone had been trying to keep her unconscious.
Caleb stayed beside her bed.
Laura brought him a small savings account packet.
“You can open this later,” she said.
He looked at the papers.
“Will my money be safe?”
Laura smiled gently.
“Yes.”
“Even from Richard?”
“Yes.”
He considered this.
“Can I put more money in it?”
“Of course.”
He reached into his pocket.
Then pulled out a single quarter.
“This is the first one.”
Laura took it.
“Then it belongs in the account.”
Caleb smiled for the first time.
But the smile disappeared when the hospital room door opened.
A man entered.
He wore an expensive suit.
Laura recognized him immediately.
Richard Vincent’s attorney.
“Mrs. Bennett,” he said to Rebecca, “my client is prepared to make a generous settlement.”
Rebecca stared at him.
“You mean hush money.”
“I mean compensation.”
“For my father?”
“For the distress your family has experienced.”
Mike stepped forward.
“Leave.”
The attorney smiled.
“You should consider your career, Detective.”
Mike did not move.
“Get out.”
The man left.
Minutes later, Laura received a call from the bank president.
“Laura, I need you to come to my office.”
She arrived to find three senior executives waiting.
The bank president looked uncomfortable.
“We have a problem.”
“What kind?”
“Your access to the Project Harbor files has been revoked.”
Laura stared.
“By whom?”
He did not answer.
She already knew.
“Richard Vincent.”
The bank president looked down.
“His company controls thirty percent of our commercial lending portfolio.”
Laura laughed bitterly.
“So he can threaten the bank too?”
“No one is threatening anyone.”
“Then why am I being removed from the case?”
Silence.
The answer was obvious.
Someone inside the bank was helping Richard.
Laura returned to her office.
The pickle jar was gone.
She froze.
The jar had been sitting on her desk.
The coins were gone.
The metal disk was gone.
Someone had entered her office.
But the door had been locked.
She checked the security footage.
The camera had been disabled for exactly nine minutes.
Nine minutes.
Long enough to steal the evidence.
Laura’s phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number appeared.
You should have stayed in the lobby.
Then another message arrived.
A photograph.
Caleb sleeping in the hospital room.
Taken from inside the building.
Laura’s blood turned cold.
Someone was watching them.
And whoever it was had access to the hospital.
She immediately called Mike.
Before he answered, another message appeared.
The boy is not the only thing Samuel Bennett left behind.
Laura looked through the hospital window.
Rebecca was asleep.
May you like
Caleb was sitting beside her.
And somewhere in the city, Richard Vincent was preparing to reveal the secret that Samuel Bennett had spent years trying to hide.
