Chapter 4 - The Family Member Elias FearedCarter wanted the name immediately.
Ray refused.
Not because he enjoyed mystery.
Because he genuinely didn't know.
“Elias never told me who.”
“Then why say family?”
“Because those were his words.”
Ray remembered the conversation clearly.
Four days after Lucas died, Elias arrived at the shop shortly before closing.
He looked like a man who hadn't slept.
He brought Lucas’s damaged motorcycle on a police trailer.
“He told me to repair only enough that it wouldn't look destroyed.”
“Why?”
“He wanted it preserved.”
“For evidence?”
“Maybe.”
“Then why hide it?”
“Because he said evidence inside the department wasn't safe.”
Mina crossed her arms.
“That’s a serious accusation.”
Ray laughed.
“Fourteen years too late to sound shocked.”
Carter ignored them.
“What exactly did my father say?”
Ray thought.
“He said, ‘Marshall has someone close to me.’”
“Police?”
“He said family.”
“Mother?”
“I don't know.”
“Callum?”
Carter stopped himself.
Wrong story? No. Carter didn't have a Callum. Need names. Let's choose younger sister? Carter's family: mother Helen Briggs; younger sister Dana Briggs? Let's set. Carter had only Lucas and younger sister Natalie? Need family member candidate. We'll use younger sister Paige Briggs. She was 19 fourteen years ago, not likely. Could be uncle Victor Briggs, Elias's brother and family business? Let's introduce Uncle Grant Briggs, Elias's younger brother, campaign manager. He'd be plausible. Or mother Helen. We need family drama. Let's use Helen as key secret but not villain. She helped cover under coercion. And cousin? Maybe true insider is Elias's brother Conrad Briggs, a city attorney. Let's introduce "Uncle Warren Briggs," city finance director then. He could be corrupt. Great.
Carter had an uncle, Warren Briggs, Elias’s younger brother, who served as deputy city treasurer and later state transportation commissioner. He died 7 years ago. Maybe too convenient dead. Better alive retired in Charlottesville. The initials R.C. not fit. Could be "W.B." on ledger? We had names M.D., E.B., R.C., M.V. We can map E.B. Elias, M.D. Marshall, R.C. Robert Crane, M.V. Malcolm Vale. Hmm. Family member might mother Helen but no initial. We can say initials aren't all perpetrators; some are witnesses. Need later.
Ray says Elias said family. Carter’s mother Helen could know. Carter goes to her.
Helen Briggs lived in the same brick house where Carter grew up.
She opened the door and immediately saw Lucas’s photograph in his hand.
Her face told him everything.
“Where did you get that?”
Carter’s anger rose.
“You knew Tessa.”
Helen sat.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“She came here once.”
“When?”
“Two nights before Lucas died.”
“Why?”
“She was scared.”
“Of Marshall?”
Helen looked away.
Carter's voice sharpened.
“Mom.”
“Yes.”
Mina remained near door, gave space.
Helen explained Lucas brought Tessa home through back entrance. Elias put them in study. Voices raised. Lucas wanted to go federal. Elias said not yet. Tessa wanted to take Sloane and leave. Elias insisted doing so would alert Marshall.
“What happened next?”
“Your father made calls.”
“To who?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you know Lucas died because Marshall’s SUV hit him?”
Helen closed her eyes.
Carter stopped breathing.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Since that night.”
“You let me bury him believing he made a riding mistake.”
“I wanted to tell you.”
“Fourteen years.”
“I was afraid.”
Carter stood.
“Of Marshall?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he came here after the funeral.”
“What did he say?”
“He said Lucas had been involved with stolen city property.”
“Lie.”
“I know.”
“He threatened you?”
Helen looked at Carter.
“He threatened you.”
Carter froze.
“What?”
At the time Carter was twenty-eight and had recently joined Richmond Police.
Marshall told Helen that if the Briggs family challenged Lucas’s accident ruling, evidence would appear showing Carter had helped Lucas access sealed records.
“Did I?”
“No.”
“Then why believe him?”
“Because Marshall controlled people who could make lies look official.”
Carter remembered his godfather helping his career.
Every promotion.
Every recommendation.
Maybe mentorship had also been surveillance.
Helen continued.
“He said if Elias pursued the case, one son was already dead and the other could lose everything.”
Carter's anger shifted.
Elias had protected him.
Wrongly.
But sincerely.
“What family member did Dad fear?”
Helen began crying.
“I don't know if he meant blood.”
“What does that mean?”
“He said ‘family’ differently.”
“How?”
“He said, ‘Marshall is inside the family already.’”
Mina looked at Carter.
Godfather.
Marshall was treated as family.
Maybe Ray misunderstood.
But Helen shook her head.
“No. It was someone else too.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Elias said Marshall wasn't smart enough to create the money system.”
“What money system?”
“The auction money.”
Tessa’s documents showed city assets sold privately.
Someone in finance had to hide proceeds.
Helen remembered a name.
“Richard Crane.”
Carter looked at the numbers page.
R.C.
“Who?”
“City comptroller.”
Fourteen years earlier Richard Crane controlled municipal auction reconciliations.
He also happened to be—
Marshall Dane’s brother-in-law.
Not Carter’s family.
But close.
Mina started searching.
Richard Crane died five years earlier.
Cancer.
Yet his son, Daniel Crane, now managed a private investment firm in Richmond.
And Carter knew him.
Everyone did.
Daniel Crane was married to Carter’s younger sister, Paige.
Carter went still.
Marshall's corruption network had married into the Briggs family.
Paige's husband.
Family.
“Daniel was twenty-four when Lucas died,” Carter said.
“Could he have been involved?”
Mina looked at the financial list.
“Maybe later.”
Helen whispered:
“Elias never trusted him.”
Carter remembered.
His father and Daniel had clashed at every holiday.
Carter assumed Elias thought nobody was good enough for Paige.
Maybe not.
“When did Paige meet Daniel?”
“About a year after Lucas died.”
Carter stared.
That timing suddenly felt less romantic.
Daniel Crane entered the Briggs family after his father’s financial network was threatened.
Was that coincidence?
Or strategy?
Then Mina’s phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She looked at Carter.
“Sloane's lawyer says someone posted bail.”
Carter frowned.
“She had no bail hearing yet.”
“Apparently charges were reduced pending cooperation.”
“Who arranged it?”
Mina looked at the screen.
“A private attorney appeared with paperwork and a judge approved emergency release.”
Carter’s stomach dropped.
“Name?”
“Daniel Crane.”
Silence.
Paige’s husband had just reached into a robbery case involving Lucas and Tessa—
and pulled Sloane out of custody.
Carter grabbed his jacket.
“Where is she?”
Mina called.
Too late.
Sloane had walked out of the county facility nine minutes earlier.
May you like
Daniel was waiting outside.
And neither had answered a phone since.
Related Stories
