Chapter 7 - the traitor in the house)
The suspicion poisoned everything.
Daniel looked at Mrs. Bell differently.
At the security staff.
At the chef.
At Detective Quinn.
Even at Vanessa.
Rachel noticed.
"Don't."
"What?"
"Start suspecting everyone until you lose your mind."
"Vanessa just told us someone close to me may be working for Victor."
"Vanessa also lied to us for years."
"That doesn't mean she's wrong."
Rachel lowered her voice.
"We need evidence."
They returned to the mansion under police supervision.
Every member of staff was interviewed.
Background checks began.
Phone records were reviewed where legally possible.
Security logs were reconstructed.
One anomaly appeared almost immediately.
Someone had accessed the mansion's surveillance system remotely nineteen times during the previous month.
The credentials belonged to Daniel.
He stared at the report.
"I didn't do this."
Quinn replied, "We know."
"How?"
"Several logins occurred while you were in meetings with other people."
"Then someone stole my credentials."
"Or copied them."
Rachel remembered something.
"Daniel, your old laptop."
"What about it?"
"You left it at the house after the screen broke."
Daniel nodded.
"In the office cabinet."
The laptop was gone.
Only three people had access to the locked office without Daniel.
Rachel.
Mrs. Bell.
And Simon Grant, head of household security.
Simon had worked for the Hale family for six years.
Former military.
Quiet.
Dependable.
He had helped carry Lily to the car when she broke her wrist the previous summer.
He had coordinated security at Michael's memorial every year.
Daniel trusted him.
Or had.
Quinn summoned Simon.
He arrived twenty minutes later.
Tall.
Early fifties.
Closely shaved gray hair.
He seemed unsurprised to find police in the study.
"Mr. Hale."
Daniel held up the empty laptop case.
"Where is it?"
Simon frowned.
"The damaged computer?"
"Yes."
"I don't know."
"You had access."
"So did others."
"Who?"
"Mrs. Hale. Mrs. Bell. You."
Rachel watched him.
Quinn asked, "When did you last see it?"
"A few weeks ago."
"Exact date?"
"I don't remember."
Quinn studied him.
"Did you provide security credentials to an outside contractor?"
"No."
"Did you install cameras in the upper hallway?"
Simon looked at Daniel.
"What cameras?"
A moment too late.
Rachel saw it.
Quinn did too.
She said, "I didn't say hidden cameras."
Simon remained still.
Then smiled faintly.
It was the first time Daniel had ever found the man's smile frightening.
"You implied it."
"No," Quinn said. "I didn't."
Simon moved.
Fast.
His right hand went inside his jacket.
Quinn drew her weapon.
"Don't."
Simon stopped.
Two officers stepped forward.
Daniel placed himself between Simon and Rachel.
Quinn ordered him to remove his hand slowly.
Simon did.
He held a phone.
Nothing more.
But the phone screen was lit.
A countdown displayed.
00:09.
Quinn's face changed.
"What did you activate?"
Simon smiled again.
00:07.
Daniel grabbed Rachel.
Quinn shouted for everyone to move.
00:05.
A blast rocked the mansion.
Glass shattered in the west wing.
Lily screamed from downstairs.
Daniel ran.
Smoke poured from the direction of the garage.
Another alarm began sounding.
For one horrifying moment, the smell took Daniel back seven years.
Fire.
Michael.
Victor.
He nearly froze.
Rachel grabbed his arm.
"Lily."
That broke the memory.
They ran downstairs.
Mrs. Bell emerged from the family room carrying Lily.
She was safe.
Fire suppression activated in the garage.
Police secured Simon.
The explosion had destroyed a storage cabinet.
Inside it, officers found the missing delivery box.
And Daniel's old laptop.
The blast had been intended to destroy both.
Simon refused to explain.
He asked for a lawyer.
Quinn ordered his phones and devices seized.
Daniel wanted to confront him.
Rachel stopped him.
"What are you going to get from him right now?"
"The truth."
"No. You're going to get anger."
She was right.
They moved to a nearby hotel while the mansion remained an active scene.
The microdrive from the white horse was transferred to a secure law enforcement facility.
It was encrypted.
Experts began working.
Midnight approached.
Victor's deadline.
Daniel sat beside Quinn in a mobile command vehicle several blocks from the location Victor finally sent.
An abandoned railway warehouse.
Of course.
Victor wanted Daniel alone.
Daniel would appear to comply.
A duplicate drive had been prepared.
Trackers were hidden in Daniel's belt and shoe.
Officers positioned themselves outside the area.
Rachel hated the plan.
But Evelyn remained missing.
At 11:58, Daniel entered the warehouse.
One hanging light illuminated an empty table.
No Victor.
No Evelyn.
A phone rang on the table.
Daniel answered.
Victor's voice.
"You brought company."
Daniel's stomach dropped.
"No."
"Detective Quinn has three vehicles east of you. Two officers behind the freight yard. Another on the roof."
Daniel looked around.
Victor continued.
"I told you someone close to you worked for me."
Daniel realized what he meant.
The police operation had been compromised.
"Where is my mother?"
"Not here."
"You never intended to trade."
"I intended to learn whether you had become more intelligent since Michael died."
Daniel clenched his teeth.
"And?"
"You brought a false drive."
Silence.
Daniel stared at the duplicate in his hand.
How did Victor know?
Then Quinn shouted through Daniel's hidden earpiece.
"Get out."
Gunfire erupted outside.
Daniel threw himself behind a steel column.
Lights went dark.
He heard running.
A side door slammed.
When police finally secured the warehouse, Victor was gone.
No trace of Evelyn.
One officer had been wounded.
Another vehicle had escaped through a service road nobody had included in the operation plan.
Back at the command vehicle, Quinn was furious.
"Only seven people knew our positions."
Daniel looked at her.
"One of them told Victor."
"Yes."
"Who?"
"We'll find out."
His phone vibrated.
Victor.
A photograph appeared.
Evelyn sat in a chair holding that day's newspaper.
Alive.
Beneath it was one sentence.
YOU HAVE UNTIL SUNRISE TO IDENTIFY YOUR REAL TRAITOR.
Daniel looked toward the police vehicles.
Seven people knew the operation plan.
Detective Quinn.
Her captain.
Two tactical officers.
Daniel.
The operations coordinator.
And Rachel.
May you like
Daniel's blood ran cold.
Rachel had known every position.
