Chapter 7 - The Observatory
Daniel did not call the police.
Lieutenant Denning now controlled the investigation, and Calvin Rusk had died within hours of being identified. Anyone Daniel contacted could become another target.
He carried the cardboard box to his truck, but left the original voice recorder hidden inside the train station ceiling above locker 317.
In the box, he placed an identical recorder containing a copied file.
He also photographed every notebook page with a disposable camera purchased from a station shop.
At 11:42 p.m., Daniel entered Westbridge University through the north service road.
Rain covered the campus.
Founders’ Hall rose above the central lawn, its windows dark except for a single light near the top floor. Statues of Hale, Cross, and Vale stood before the entrance.
Three pillars carved in stone.
The old observatory sat beyond the athletic fields, abandoned since the university constructed a modern research center.
Daniel parked behind a maintenance building and continued on foot.
The observatory door stood open.
Inside, a circular staircase wound around a dark central chamber. Rain struck the cracked glass dome above.
Mason waited beside an antique telescope.
Bryce and Connor stood near the wall.
Detective Reyes was tied to a chair.
Blood ran from a cut near her eyebrow, but she was conscious.
Daniel placed the box on the floor.
“Let her go.”
Mason smiled.
“The mechanic brought instructions.”
Bryce searched the box.
He found the recorder and notebooks.
Connor remained near Reyes, holding a pistol.
His hand trembled.
Daniel noticed.
Connor did not want to be there.
Mason inserted headphones into the recorder and played several seconds.
“That is the file.”
“Now release her.”
Mason looked at Bryce.
Bryce cut the restraints around Reyes’s wrists but kept her seated.
“The other copies,” Mason said.
“There are none.”
“Lily uploaded one.”
“It was erased.”
“Detective Reyes made one.”
“Deleted from the evidence server.”
Mason studied Daniel.
“You are not an intelligent man.”
“No.”
“You repair elevators.”
“Yes.”
“You raised a scholarship student in a one-bedroom apartment.”
“Yes.”
“And you believe you can challenge families that have controlled this city for generations.”
Daniel looked at Reyes.
“Release her.”
Mason removed a silver pendant from beneath his shirt.
The divided circle caught the light.
“You still think this is about three frightened college students.”
“You are frightened.”
Mason’s smile disappeared.
Daniel continued.
“Bryce keeps checking the entrance. Connor can barely hold the gun. You keep talking because silence makes you remember what you did.”
Bryce stepped forward.
“Shut your mouth.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Did you strike her first?”
Bryce stopped.
Connor whispered, “Don’t answer.”
Mason turned toward him.
“You do not speak unless I tell you.”
There it was.
The fracture between them.
Daniel had spent his life repairing machinery by identifying the point under greatest stress.
Connor was that point.
Daniel looked at him.
“Lily said you warned them she uploaded the file.”
Connor’s eyes shifted.
“You did not want them to hurt her.”
“Stop,” Mason said.
“You were there,” Daniel continued, “but you did not push her.”
Bryce grabbed Daniel’s coat.
“She pushed herself when she tried to run.”
The room went silent.
Mason slowly turned toward Bryce.
Daniel had what he needed.
An admission.
Reyes moved suddenly.
She drove the back of her head into Connor’s chest. The pistol fired into the ceiling.
Daniel struck Bryce and pulled him to the floor.
Mason grabbed the box and ran toward the staircase.
Connor dropped the gun.
He raised both hands.
“I’m done.”
Reyes kicked the weapon away.
Bryce struggled beneath Daniel.
“You have no idea who you are fighting!”
“Tell me.”
“He will kill all of us!”
“Who?”
Bryce looked toward the staircase.
Mason had disappeared.
A vehicle engine started outside.
Reyes freed herself and called for backup using Connor’s phone.
Daniel searched the box.
The notebooks remained.
The copied recorder was gone.
Mason had taken it.
Connor sank against the wall.
Rainwater dripped through the damaged dome.
Reyes approached him.
“Tell us what happened to Lily.”
Connor stared at the floor.
“We were supposed to frighten her.”
“Who gave the order?”
“My grandfather.”
“Nathaniel Vale?”
Connor nodded.
“He said Lily stole records from the Black Ledger. Mason was supposed to recover her phone. Bryce blocked the stairs.”
“Who struck her?”
“Mason.”
“With what?”
“A metal flashlight.”
“And the fall?”
Connor closed his eyes.
“She was drugged, but she kept fighting. Mason hit her. Lily stumbled backward. Bryce grabbed her arm.”
Connor’s voice broke.
“She pulled away and fell.”
Daniel wanted to hate him.
Part of him did.
But Connor looked less like a powerful heir and more like a boy who had finally understood that his family would sacrifice him without hesitation.
“Why did you sign the letter?” Reyes asked.
“Dean Voss brought it. Chief Rusk pressed Lily’s unconscious hand around a pen.”
Daniel’s stomach turned.
“Where is her phone?”
“Mason gave it to the dean.”
“Where is the Black Ledger?”
Connor shook his head.
“I have never seen it. I only know it contains every payment, every judge, every officer, every doctor, and every student they recruited.”
Police sirens sounded in the distance.
Connor looked toward the door in panic.
“They found us too quickly.”
Reyes raised the pistol.
“Who?”
The observatory lights went out.
A red laser appeared on Connor’s chest.
Daniel tackled him.
The window behind them shattered.
A suppressed gunshot struck the chair where Connor had been sitting.
Reyes fired toward the darkness outside.
Bryce crawled beneath the telescope platform.
Another shot entered through the window.
Then the sirens stopped.
Not faded.
Stopped.
As if every responding vehicle had received an order to turn around.
May you like
Connor stared at the red laser moving across the wall.
“My grandfather found us.”
