Chapter 8 - KARA SAID MASON NEVER TOUCHED THE MONEY HIMSELFKara chose a public place.
A nearly empty diner outside Strongsville.
She arrived seventeen minutes late.
Baseball cap.
Dark glasses.
No fake pregnancy.
No Darnell.
Wade did not sit alone.
Lena and investigators were nearby.
Kara knew they would be.
“You brought half the department.”
“No.”
She sat.
“You recording?”
“Yes.”
She laughed weakly.
“At least you’re honest.”
Wade looked at her.
“Raymond.”
Kara stared at the table.
“That’s where we’re starting?”
“Yes.”
“I thought you’d ask why I did it.”
“I know why people say they commit crimes.”
Her eyes sharpened.
“You don’t know me.”
“No.”
“Then don’t pretend.”
“Fine.”
Wade leaned forward.
“Tell me about Raymond.”
Kara exhaled.
Seven months earlier, Mason contacted Darnell.
Not directly.
Through Travis Boone.
North Coast Recovery.
Mason rarely spoke in messages.
“Why?”
“So if anything went bad, Darnell looked like the boss.”
“But Mason was?”
Kara thought.
“Mason designed the jobs.”
“What does that mean?”
“He picked targets.”
“From the charity.”
“Mostly.”
“Why?”
“Cash.”
“Bikes.”
“Sometimes phones.”
“Raymond?”
Kara looked uncomfortable.
“He had a flash drive.”
Wade’s chest tightened.
“Mason wanted it.”
“Yes.”
“What was on it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where did Raymond keep it?”
“Jacket.”
“How did you stop him?”
Kara looked at Wade.
“Same way I stopped you.”
Pregnant.
Alone.
Helpless.
Raymond pulled over.
Darnell’s crew surrounded him.
But Raymond fought back.
Not dramatically.
Not like a movie.
He simply realized something was wrong before they controlled him and tried to leave.
“They knocked him down,” Kara said.
Wade’s jaw tightened.
“Was he conscious?”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“They took the drive.”
“Did they?”
Kara shook her head.
“It wasn’t the right one.”
Wade stared.
“How did Mason know?”
“When Darnell brought it to him.”
“Mason was physically there.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“North Coast.”
Wade stored that.
“What did Mason do?”
“He screamed.”
Kara looked shaken even remembering.
“He said Raymond had copied something.”
“He wanted the real drive.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to Raymond?”
Kara stared through the window.
“Darnell took him somewhere.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I left.”
“Why?”
“Because this wasn’t supposed to be kidnapping.”
Wade felt anger.
“But the fake pregnancy ambush was okay?”
“No.”
“Then why were you doing it?”
Kara snapped:
“I’m not asking you to think I’m good.”
Silence.
That was the first answer he respected.
She continued.
“At first, it was theft.”
“Cash.”
“Motorcycles.”
“People who had insurance.”
“People Mason said could afford it.”
Wade almost laughed.
“As if that matters.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled.
“Now I do.”
Wade did not rescue her from discomfort.
“What changed?”
“Raymond.”
Kara saw fear in an older man who kept asking them not to call his daughter.
He wasn’t begging for himself.
Only:
“Don’t involve Erin.”
Kara went home that night and told Darnell she was done.
He hit the wall beside her head and reminded her of every crime they had committed together.
“You leave, you testify against yourself.”
So she stayed.
More jobs.
More lies.
Then Wade.
“Why me?”
“Mason said you had account screenshots.”
“I did.”
“He said you were going to the board.”
“I hadn’t decided.”
“He believed you had.”
“What exactly did he order?”
“Get the phone. Get the wallet. Make you think it was random.”
“Why wallet?”
“So it looks real.”
“Bike?”
“Darnell wanted it.”
“Mason said?”
“Leave it if possible.”
Wade felt sick.
Mason wanted a believable street robbery with one specific piece of evidence removed.
“Did Mason know I was a cop?”
Kara looked at him.
“Yes.”
Wade had expected that.
Still hurt.
“What did he tell Darnell?”
“That you were off duty and didn’t carry a gun when you rode.”
Wade’s face hardened.
Mason had known something about Wade’s personal habits.
Not perfectly.
But enough.
“So he knowingly sent five people to ambush a cop.”
“Yes.”
“Why did Darnell look surprised?”
“He thought Mason meant retired.”
Wade stared.
Kara gave a bitter laugh.
“Mason likes telling half-truths.”
That fit.
“What are the real books?”
Kara leaned forward.
“North Coast Recovery.”
“We know about it.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Not company books.”
“A black ledger.”
“Where?”
“Travis keeps it in an old vending machine in the back office.”
Wade almost smiled.
“That sounds ridiculous.”
“That’s why it works.”
“What’s in it?”
“Every job.”
“Robberies?”
“Payments.”
“Parts.”
“Cash pickups.”
“Who ordered what.”
“Mason’s name?”
“Initials.”
“M.D.”
“Enough?”
“With phone records.”
Wade looked at Lena across the diner.
She had heard.
Then Wade asked:
“Why help us now?”
Kara’s face changed.
“Darnell thinks I’m the reason you know everything.”
“You are.”
“I know.”
“He said he’s going to my mother.”
Wade said nothing.
Kara whispered:
“I can go to prison.”
Her voice broke.
“I earned that.”
Then:
“But she didn’t.”
Wade believed her fear.
He did not mistake it for innocence.
“Kara.”
She looked at him.
“If Raymond is dead…”
“I don’t know.”
“But you know more.”
She closed her eyes.
“There was a second place.”
“Where?”
“An old machine shop near Lorain.”
Wade’s pulse accelerated.
“What happened there?”
“I saw Raymond’s bike outside two days after the robbery.”
“Raymond?”
“No.”
“Did you go inside?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Darnell told me never to ask again.”
Kara began crying.
“And three days later, Mason told everyone Raymond had probably run away with stolen charity money.”
Wade stopped breathing.
That story had circulated.
Quietly.
Just enough to stain Raymond.
May you like
Mason had not only made him disappear.
He may have prepared the explanation afterward.
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