Chapter 6 - DANIEL'S FATHER
Daniel did not react.
At least not in any way a stranger would notice.
I noticed.
His right hand curled once.
Then opened.
That was all.
Agent Mercer continued.
“David Brooks is currently with counsel.”
Daniel’s voice came out flat.
“Did he kill Nicholas?”
Mercer hesitated.
“He says no.”
“That was not my question.”
“He says Elliot Crane arranged Nicholas’s death after David authorized a cover-up of the route theft.”
Jason swore softly.
Daniel looked toward him.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“You suspected?”
Jason’s silence answered.
Daniel’s face hardened.
Jason continued quickly.
“I knew David was connected to Crane. I did not know how high.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Jason laughed bitterly.
“You mean before or after I discovered Moretti had people following me?”
Daniel stepped closer.
Agent Mercer moved between them.
“Enough.”
I looked at Jason.
“You could have told me.”
His eyes came to mine.
“That was different.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
The room went quiet.
I continued.
“You do not get to use danger as a retroactive excuse for cheating.”
Jason flinched.
“I know.”
“Good.”
Daniel looked at me.
I could feel it.
I ignored him.
Jason’s voice softened.
“Vanessa was real.”
“I know.”
“I was a coward.”
“Yes.”
“I also stayed with you longer than I should have because being normal with you was the only part of my life Crane had not poisoned.”
That hurt.
“Do not make me responsible for your normal.”
“I’m not.”
He looked down.
“I’m telling you why I was selfish.”
There was a difference.
Not forgiveness.
Just truth.
Agent Mercer cleared his throat.
“We need statements from all of you.”
Daniel’s attorney immediately objected.
Mercer looked bored.
Lawyers began doing what lawyers do.
I went outside.
Dawn was beginning.
Not sunrise yet.
But close.
Olivia had said Jason would die before sunrise.
He was alive.
That felt like one victory.
Small.
Ugly.
Enough.
Daniel came out ten minutes later.
No coat.
Cold air moved his shirt against his shoulders.
He stood beside me without speaking.
I let him.
After a while, I asked:
“Do you want to go to your father?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you standing here?”
“Because if I go now, I will ask the wrong question.”
I looked at him.
“What is the wrong question?”
“Why.”
“That seems reasonable.”
“No.”
He stared at the river.
“I know why men like my father cover things up.”
“Then what would you ask?”
“Why Nicholas?”
There it was.
Not crime.
Brother.
I leaned against the SUV.
“What is the right question?”
Daniel thought for a long moment.
“What did he know, and what did my father choose after learning it?”
I nodded.
“That sounds harder.”
“Yes.”
He looked at me.
“You should go sleep.”
“So should you.”
“I am going to federal headquarters.”
“Good.”
“You are not.”
I raised an eyebrow.
He caught himself.
“Do you want to?”
“I do not know your father.”
“No.”
“This is family.”
“Yes.”
“And I have spent one night being used as bait in your family-adjacent crime war.”
His face softened.
“That is fair.”
“I want breakfast.”
He blinked.
“What?”
“Breakfast.”
“Now?”
“I skipped half my dinner because my friends disappeared.”
Daniel looked toward the pale sky.
“You process danger with food.”
“I told you.”
His mouth moved.
“Breakfast.”
We found a diner three blocks from the federal building.
Not one Daniel owned.
I asked.
He looked offended.
Apparently billionaires can be offended by restaurant ownership questions.
We sat in a booth.
No chandeliers.
No white tablecloth.
No friends hiding behind columns.
Just coffee.
I ordered pancakes.
Daniel ordered eggs.
For five minutes, we were two tired people.
Then his phone rang.
His mother.
I knew because the screen said MOM.
Daniel stared.
“Answer.”
He looked at me.
“I am not your life coach.”
“You sound like one.”
“Chargeable by the hour.”
He answered.
“Mom.”
I looked away.
His mother’s voice was faint.
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Pause.
“I know.”
Another.
“No.”
His face tightened.
“I’m going.”
Then:
“Mom, breathe.”
The softness surprised me.
He listened.
“I will call after.”
He ended.
I said nothing.
He looked at the coffee.
“She knew.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“She knew my father had met Crane.”
“How much?”
“Not about Nicholas.”
“Do you believe her?”
His eyes lifted.
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
“She knew David was protecting someone after Pier Nine.”
“Who?”
“She thought me.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because my father told her the scandal would destroy the family if it became public.”
“That sounds like a father protecting a son.”
“Yes.”
“Was he?”
Daniel looked toward the window.
“No.”
He understood before I did.
David let his wife believe he was covering for Daniel.
That made Daniel the invisible reason for silence.
Even if nobody said it aloud.
“That is cruel.”
“Yes.”
The waitress delivered pancakes.
Daniel waited until she left.
Then said, “My mother spent three years asking me to stop digging into Nicholas’s death.”
“Because she thought you might expose yourself.”
“Yes.”
“And you thought she just could not handle losing another son.”
“Yes.”
Families survive on false explanations because sometimes the real one is worse.
I cut my pancake.
“What will you do if your father asks you to protect him?”
Daniel looked at me.
“He won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he went to federal investigators.”
“Maybe confession is another strategy.”
He considered.
“Fair.”
That surprised me.
“What?”
“You keep doing that.”
“What?”
“Not defending your family automatically.”
His expression became distant.
“Nicholas died because he trusted the wrong version of ours.”
We finished breakfast.
At 6:41 a.m., Daniel entered federal headquarters.
I did not go.
I went to the Marlowe and slept for three hours.
When I woke, my phone contained thirty-seven messages.
News alerts.
FRIENDS.
Ruth.
Olivia.
Megan.
Claire.
And one from Daniel.
HE CONFESSED TO THE COVER-UP. NOT THE MURDER. CRANE ORDERED IT. MORETTI FINANCED IT.
Then a second.
MY FATHER SAYS JASON HAS THE ORIGINAL ACCOUNT BOOK.
I sat up.
Jason.
Original account book.
Not the flash drive.
I called Daniel.
He answered immediately.
“Emily.”
“What book?”
“Paper ledger Nicholas was trying to recover.”
“Jason says he doesn’t have it.”
“You spoke to him?”
“No. You just said he has it.”
“My father says Nicholas gave it to Jason before entering Pier Nine.”
I thought of Jason’s packages to the bookstore.
“The parcel.”
“What?”
“The package behind the tax binders.”
“The one missing?”
“Yes.”
Jason said he used the bookstore for deliveries.
Maybe the stolen package had held the ledger.
“Who took it?” Daniel asked.
“I don’t know.”
Then I remembered Jason buying the Robert Lowell book.
He created a distraction so another man could enter the back office.
Maybe they were retrieving the old parcel.
But the man found the package.
Why leave the flash drive inside the Lowell?
Jason.
He must have returned after.
Or arranged it.
I called Ruth.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
My stomach tightened.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“Ruth is not answering.”
“Stay at the hotel.”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“Ask, don’t order.”
Silence.
Then:
“Will you wait for security?”
“Yes.”
That was fair.
Thomas arrived six minutes later.
We drove to Maple Street Books.
The front door was unlocked.
My heart dropped.
Inside, nothing looked disturbed.
Then Ruth stepped out from the back carrying a baseball bat.
“Thomas?”
She looked at me.
“Emily.”
I almost cried.
“You did not answer.”
“My phone died.”
I hugged her.
She tolerated it for three seconds.
Then pushed me away.
“You brought the mafia again.”
“He has a name.”
Thomas raised one hand.
“Thomas.”
Ruth stared.
“I meant Brooks.”
“Oh.”
She looked disappointed.
I went to the office.
“Did anyone come in?”
“One person.”
“When?”
“About an hour ago.”
“Who?”
Ruth’s face tightened.
“Jason.”
I froze.
“He was here?”
“Yes.”
“What did he want?”
“The old package.”
My chest tightened.
“Did you give it to him?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because after your call, I opened it.”
I stared.
“Ruth.”
She shrugged.
“I respect property until property threatens my employee.”
I almost laughed.
“What was inside?”
She walked to the rare-book room.
Opened the safe.
Removed a thin red ledger.
No bigger than a paperback.
Daniel’s father had been right.
The original account book.
Ruth handed it to me.
“Jason asked where it was.”
“What did you say?”
“That I mailed it to you.”
My mouth fell open.
“Why?”
“Because I wanted him to leave.”
“Did he believe you?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“He said, ‘Good. Tell Emily not to trust the first confession.’”
My skin chilled.
Daniel’s father.
The first confession.
“What does that mean?”
Ruth looked at me.
“He also said Crane is not the top.”
Of course.
Nothing ended at the first guilty man.
“What else?”
Ruth’s expression changed.
“He said Daniel’s father is protecting someone.”
“Who?”
“He didn’t say.”
Then Thomas’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face went pale.
“Boss?”
He listened.
Looked at me.
“What?”
Thomas lowered the phone.
“David Brooks was attacked while being transferred from the interview floor.”
My heart stopped.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Who attacked him?”
Thomas stared at me.
“One of the federal contractors.”
“Name?”
May you like
He answered:
“Elliot Crane.”
