Chapter 5 - Sloane Walked Into the Wrong CarSloane knew something was wrong the moment she saw Daniel Crane.
She had never met him.
But the attorney who escorted her through the release process said:
“Mr. Crane arranged everything.”
Daniel stood beside a black Mercedes.
Gray suit.
No tie.
Calm smile.
“You must be exhausted.”
Sloane stopped several feet away.
“Who are you?”
“Daniel Crane.”
“You're my lawyer?”
“No.”
“Then why did you get me out?”
“Because we have mutual interests.”
That phrase usually meant danger.
Sloane looked toward the courthouse entrance.
A deputy was already walking back inside.
She could turn around.
Ask to be taken back.
She almost did.
Daniel opened the passenger door.
“I know where your sister is.”
Sloane stopped breathing.
Everything else disappeared.
“What?”
“Tessa.”
“You're lying.”
“I know she didn't die.”
Sloane stared.
Daniel held up a small photograph.
Tessa.
Older.
Maybe by ten years.
Standing outside a grocery store.
Alive.
Sloane’s knees weakened.
“When?”
“2019.”
“Where?”
“Get in.”
“No.”
Daniel smiled.
“Good.”
“What?”
“Never get into a car because someone offers you the one thing you've wanted your entire life.”
Sloane hated him immediately.
Then he said:
“Carter Briggs is about to make that mistake with his family.”
“What do you want?”
“The key.”
“What key?”
“The one Carter received.”
Sloane stared.
She had never told him.
Daniel knew about the brass key.
That meant he was close to whoever had hired her.
“Were you the client?”
“No.”
“Marshall?”
Daniel's expression barely moved.
Enough.
Sloane stepped backward.
Daniel sighed.
“You're wasting time.”
“You arranged the robbery.”
“No.”
“But you knew.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Marshall is panicking.”
Sloane stared.
“He hired me?”
“Indirectly.”
“Who sent the messages?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Wrong question.”
“What’s the right one?”
“Why would a seventy-year-old former police commissioner care about a motorcycle from fourteen years ago?”
Sloane said nothing.
Daniel opened the rear door this time.
“No tricks. You sit in back. Door stays unlocked. We talk while parked.”
That made the offer slightly less stupid.
Sloane got inside but kept one foot near the pavement.
Daniel sat behind the wheel.
“The bike contains a key.”
“I know.”
“The key opens a locker.”
“Carter already found it.”
Daniel's face changed.
Sloane smiled for the first time.
“You're late.”
“What did he find?”
“I don't know.”
“You were in interrogation.”
“They didn't show me.”
Daniel studied her.
“He found Tessa’s letters.”
Sloane's confidence disappeared.
“How do you know?”
“Because Elias kept copies.”
“Elias Briggs?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Daniel looked toward the courthouse.
“My father had some.”
Richard Crane.
Sloane remembered the name from news years ago.
Daniel continued.
“My father helped Marshall move money.”
“So you're part of it.”
“No.”
“Your dad was.”
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
“Not until after he got sick.”
“Did you tell police?”
Daniel laughed softly.
“My father spent his career laundering favors for police.”
“That's not an answer.”
“No.”
“So you protected him.”
“For a while.”
Sloane understood more than she wanted.
“Why marry Paige Briggs?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Because I love her.”
“Convenient.”
“Yes.”
“Did Marshall tell you to?”
“No.”
“Did your father?”
“No.”
“Then why did Elias hate you?”
“Because Elias knew my surname.”
Fair.
Daniel continued.
“Before my father died, he gave me a ledger.”
“The same one Tessa found?”
“A later version.”
“What’s in it?”
“Payments. Properties. officials.”
“Marshall?”
“Yes.”
“Elias?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Yes.”
Sloane stared.
“Carter’s father took money?”
Daniel looked toward her.
“That's what the ledger says.”
Sloane felt the story tilt.
“Was Elias corrupt?”
“I don't know.”
“How can you not know?”
“Because some payments are coded.”
“What does that mean?”
“My father kept records designed to implicate everyone.”
Insurance.
Blackmail.
Sloane understood criminal paranoia.
“Where’s the ledger?”
“Safe.”
“Why tell me?”
“Because Tessa is alive.”
Sloane’s throat tightened.
“And she has the original.”
“Where is she?”
“Federal protection.”
Sloane laughed bitterly.
“You expect me to believe my sister has been protected by the government for fourteen years without contacting me?”
“She tried.”
Sloane stopped.
“What?”
Daniel reached into the center console and removed an envelope.
Old.
Addressed to Sloane Mercer.
Return sender blank.
Postal cancellation from 2011.
The envelope had been opened.
“Where did you get this?”
“My father.”
Sloane’s eyes burned.
She pulled out the letter.
Sloane,
I am alive.
Those three words destroyed her.
She kept reading.
I cannot tell you where.
I cannot call because they watch Mom.
Elias says Carter does not know yet. Maybe that is safer.
If I survive long enough, I will come back.
Sloane looked at Daniel through tears.
“My mother never got this.”
“No.”
“Your father intercepted it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Marshall asked him to monitor your family.”
Sloane slapped Daniel across the face.
Hard.
He didn't retaliate.
“You don't get to be angry,” she whispered.
“I’m not.”
“Fourteen years.”
“I know.”
“No, you don't.”
Daniel looked at the steering wheel.
“My father died begging me to burn everything.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I have a daughter.”
That surprised her.
“Paige and I have Claire. She's eight.”
Sloane stared.
“My father said protecting family meant hiding truth.”
Daniel looked toward her.
“I started wondering what Claire would think if she discovered I inherited a crime and chose silence.”
Sloane wiped her face.
“Then why get me out?”
“Because Marshall thinks you have the key.”
“I don't.”
“I know now.”
“And?”
“He will come for Carter.”
“Why not just let police arrest him?”
“Because Marshall still has friends inside Richmond law enforcement.”
“Carter’s partner?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Mina Cole was the one person Marshall didn't know would follow Carter tonight.”
Sloane remembered the text.
HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ALONE.
“Someone was watching.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Marshall’s current head of security.”
“Name?”
“Evan Rourke.”
Sloane recognized it.
One of the men she hired for the robbery had been recommended by the anonymous client.
Deacon Price.
But maybe not his real name.
She looked up.
“The man who ran first.”
“What?”
“Deacon.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“Describe him.”
She did.
Daniel swore.
“That’s Evan.”
The handler had planted his own man inside her crew.
Sloane finally understood why the other men looked to her for orders while one of them kept watching his phone.
She had been the visible leader.
But someone else had been measuring whether she followed instructions.
Then Carter's motorcycle pulled into the courthouse lot.
Carter and Mina got out.
Carter saw the Mercedes.
Saw Sloane.
Saw Daniel.
His expression hardened instantly.
Daniel sighed.
“This conversation is about to become unpleasant.”
Carter approached.
Sloane opened the door and stepped out.
“Before you arrest me again…”
Carter pointed at Daniel.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Sloane held up Tessa’s letter.
“Your brother-in-law just proved my sister was alive after Lucas died.”
Carter stopped.
Daniel looked at him.
“And I can prove your father paid Marshall Dane.”
Silence.
Carter’s anger changed.
“What?”
Daniel held his gaze.
“But before you decide Elias was corrupt, you need to understand something.”
“What?”
“My father wasn't recording bribes.”
Daniel looked at the old letter.
“He was recording ransom.”
Carter stared.
“Ransom for what?”
May you like
Daniel answered:
“For Tessa’s life.”
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