Chapter 5 - BEFORE SUNRISE
“Where is he?”
My voice did not sound like mine.
Olivia sat on the warehouse office floor with Megan’s coat around her shoulders.
She shook her head.
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Exactly?”
“They sent me an address once. Then deleted it.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“What address?”
Olivia looked at him.
Fear returned to her face.
“Old fish-processing place near Chelsea Creek.”
Thomas already had his phone out.
“There are three.”
Olivia continued.
“Blue building. Water tower behind it.”
Thomas nodded.
“One.”
Daniel looked toward him.
“People?”
“Checking.”
I turned toward Olivia.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She cried harder.
“I thought I could do what they asked and keep everybody safe.”
“You put me at a table with someone you believed was dangerous.”
“I know.”
“You laughed.”
Her face collapsed.
“That was for the cameras.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“They told me we had to look like it was a joke.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“Who was watching?”
“I don’t know.”
“The photographer across the street?”
“Maybe.”
I remembered the message.
SHE CAME. JUST LIKE YOU SAID.
Olivia nodded.
“They told me if I looked scared, you would notice.”
“I did notice.”
“After.”
The word hurt.
Daniel asked, “What was supposed to happen after Emily sat down?”
Olivia looked at him.
“You were supposed to receive a file.”
“What file?”
“I don’t know.”
“When?”
“During dinner.”
Daniel looked at Thomas.
“Nothing arrived.”
Thomas shook his head.
Olivia said, “Then something went wrong.”
The hollowed-out Lowell book.
Jason’s drive.
Maybe he had disrupted the plan.
I crouched in front of Olivia.
“Why take you three?”
“They didn’t.”
Megan spoke from behind me.
“We went voluntarily.”
I turned.
Claire nodded.
“Olivia said her brother was in danger.”
Megan’s face hardened.
“She still did not tell us you were part of it.”
Olivia whispered, “I panicked.”
I wanted to be furious.
I was furious.
But fear can make fools of people who still love you.
That did not erase what she did.
It changed what I did next.
“Is Kyle safe?”
Olivia looked at me.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel asked Thomas.
“Find him.”
Thomas nodded.
I stood.
“Take me to Jason.”
Daniel’s face closed.
Then he caught himself.
Instead of no, he asked:
“Why?”
I almost laughed.
“Because if Jason is tied to Pier Nine, he may know what happened to Nicholas.”
“That is my reason.”
“And mine is that someone is threatening to kill a man I spent four years loving before I learned he was cheating on me.”
Daniel’s jaw shifted.
“I know that sentence is ugly.”
“It is honest.”
“I am not trying to save the relationship.”
“I did not think you were.”
“Good.”
He looked toward the warehouse entrance.
“The location may be a trap.”
“Obviously.”
“You stay in the vehicle until we know.”
“No.”
His eyes came back.
I raised one hand.
“Compromise.”
He sighed.
“We have known each other seven hours.”
“Long enough to establish a theme.”
Thomas looked away to hide a smile.
Daniel rubbed his jaw.
“You stay behind the first security line.”
“I can live with that.”
“If shots are fired, you leave.”
“With who?”
“Thomas.”
Thomas looked surprised.
“Boss—”
“Emily decides whether she is coming. I decide how security reacts.”
I looked at Daniel.
That was actually a fair division.
“Agreed.”
We left at 3:17.
Boston before dawn looked almost gentle.
Empty roads.
Wet brick.
Traffic lights changing for nobody.
The irony was offensive.
Daniel sat beside me in the SUV.
He had removed his tie.
His phone kept buzzing.
He ignored three calls.
On the fourth, he answered.
“What?”
A man’s voice came faintly through.
Daniel’s expression changed.
“No.”
He listened.
“I said no press.”
Another pause.
Then:
“My father?”
My attention sharpened.
Daniel looked toward the window.
“Where?”
Silence.
“I will call you back.”
He ended.
I waited.
He said nothing.
“The silence thing.”
He exhaled.
“David Brooks left Florida tonight.”
“Your father.”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
“Boston.”
“That seems important.”
“Yes.”
“Why did nobody tell you?”
“He flew privately.”
“Convenient.”
“Very.”
I looked at him.
“Do you think he is Crane’s D.B.?”
Daniel’s face remained unreadable.
“I think I spent my childhood believing my father was the only man in the room who knew what danger looked like.”
“That did not answer me.”
“No.”
He turned.
“I do not know.”
There it was.
Better.
I asked, “What was Nicholas like?”
The question surprised him.
“Why?”
“Because everyone keeps turning dead people into evidence.”
He looked away.
“He was annoying.”
I smiled.
“Good.”
“He borrowed things and returned them damaged.”
“Better.”
“He could not cook.”
“Excellent.”
Daniel’s mouth moved.
“He once bought a motorcycle without telling our mother.”
“How old?”
“Sixteen.”
“What happened?”
“She sold it the next morning.”
I laughed.
Daniel did too.
Quiet.
Then the smile left.
“He believed people before I did.”
“Meaning?”
“He thought loyalty should be assumed until broken.”
“And you?”
“I assumed it was a debt.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
“It was efficient.”
“Was?”
His eyes moved to me.
“Tonight has made efficiency less impressive.”
The SUV slowed.
Thomas spoke from the front.
“Two minutes.”
The fish-processing building sat near the water behind a row of shipping yards.
Blue corrugated metal.
Rusting water tower.
Exactly Olivia’s description.
Daniel’s men had already cut exterior power.
No Moretti guards visible.
That worried everyone.
“Too quiet,” Thomas said.
Daniel nodded.
He looked at me.
“Stay here until Thomas clears the office level.”
I opened my mouth.
He added:
“Please.”
I stopped.
“You weaponized manners.”
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
He left.
I watched through the windshield.
Men moved along the building’s edge.
No gunfire.
Thirty seconds.
One minute.
Then Thomas’s radio crackled.
“Lower room clear.”
Another voice:
“One male located.”
Daniel disappeared inside.
I was already out of the SUV.
Thomas saw me.
“Ms. Carter.”
“You said office level.”
“I did not say now.”
“Technicality.”
He muttered something.
We entered.
The smell of salt and old machinery hit me.
A narrow stairwell led down.
At the bottom, Daniel stood beside a chair.
Jason was tied to it.
My entire body stopped.
He looked thinner.
Bruised cheek.
Split lip.
Shirt stained at the shoulder.
Alive.
His eyes found me.
“Emily.”
The sound of my name in his voice reopened four years and closed them again.
I moved closer.
“You idiot.”
He laughed painfully.
“Fair.”
Daniel cut one restraint.
“Where are Moretti’s people?”
Jason looked at him.
“Gone.”
“When?”
“Twenty minutes.”
“Why?”
“They knew you were coming.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Then this is a setup.”
“Yes.”
Thomas swore.
I looked around.
“Bomb?”
Everyone froze.
Jason shook his head quickly.
“No. Not like that.”
“What kind?”
He looked at Daniel.
“Reputation.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
Jason continued.
“They wanted you found here with me.”
“Why?”
“Because Crane leaked an anonymous tip to federal investigators.”
My stomach dropped.
“What tip?”
“That Daniel Brooks kidnapped a former Atlantic Harbor employee connected to Pier Nine.”
Daniel’s face became stone.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Jason closed his eyes.
“Too late.”
Thomas moved.
“Boss, we need to go.”
Daniel did not.
He looked at Jason.
“What evidence makes the allegation credible?”
Jason laughed weakly.
“Your men.”
Daniel understood.
The private security around the building.
The black SUVs.
The tied former employee.
Perfect picture.
“Go,” Jason said.
Daniel looked at him.
“If I leave, they find you tied here.”
“Better than finding you.”
“No.”
Daniel turned to Thomas.
“Call counsel.”
Thomas stared.
“Boss.”
“Now.”
I looked at Daniel.
“You are staying?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because leaving makes the lie stronger.”
Sirens grew louder.
Jason stared.
“You always were stubborn.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You met me once.”
“Nicholas talked about you.”
That landed.
Daniel stepped closer.
“What did he say?”
Jason’s face changed.
“He said if anything happened to him, you would mistake revenge for loyalty.”
Silence.
Daniel looked away.
I felt the sentence hit the exact place Nicholas had probably intended.
Then red and blue lights flashed through the broken windows.
Federal vehicles.
Not local police.
Agents entered with weapons raised.
“Hands visible!”
Daniel raised both hands immediately.
So did I.
Thomas did.
Jason was still tied.
The lead agent recognized Daniel.
“Mr. Brooks.”
Daniel’s voice was calm.
“Agent Mercer.”
They knew each other.
That was good.
Maybe.
Mercer looked at Jason.
Then the ropes.
“This is not ideal.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“No.”
I said, “He was already tied when we arrived.”
Mercer looked at me.
“And you are?”
“Emily Carter.”
Recognition.
That scared me.
He knew my name.
“Ms. Carter,” he said, “we need you to step away from Mr. Brooks.”
I did.
Not because Daniel told me.
Because federal agents with guns seemed like a strong argument.
Mercer’s team freed Jason.
Another agent photographed everything.
Daniel’s attorney arrived twelve minutes later looking furious enough to bend metal.
Then Agent Mercer said:
“We received evidence tonight tying Pier Nine, Nicholas Brooks’s death, and Atlantic Harbor fraud to an internal Brooks authorization chain.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“David.”
Mercer looked at him.
“You know?”
“His name appeared on a copied file.”
Mercer nodded.
“Then you should know something else.”
“What?”
“David Brooks came into our office forty minutes ago.”
Daniel went still.
“Voluntarily?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Mercer looked at me.
Then Jason.
Then Daniel.
“To confess.”
No one spoke.
Daniel’s father had returned to Boston on the same night someone engineered a trap around his son.
And he had gone straight to federal investigators.
Daniel asked the only question that mattered.
“Confess to what?”
May you like
Mercer answered:
“Ordering the cover-up after Nicholas died.”
