Chapter 10 - The Father in the Security Film
Daniel remembered his father’s funeral with painful clarity. He was fourteen. Adrian was eleven. The coffin remained closed because Jonathan had supposedly died in an industrial accident at a remote property. Victoria—Vivian—stood beside the grave without tears.
Daniel had never seen the body.
Crowe claimed Jonathan survived the accident and disappeared voluntarily.
“He learned Vivian had replaced Victoria,” Crowe said. “He also learned Eleanor had been hidden and medicated. He planned to expose everything, but Vivian controlled the police commissioner, the family lawyers, and several judges. Jonathan believed any public accusation would lead to the boys’ deaths.”
“So he abandoned us?”
“He built a network to watch you. He moved money into protected accounts. He kept Victoria hidden because she was the only witness Vivian could not discredit.”
“And Isabel?”
Crowe lowered his eyes. “Jonathan contacted her.”
Daniel slammed both hands on the table. “My father involved my wife and let her die?”
“He believed she could persuade you to leave the company. Vivian discovered their meetings.”
Detective Bennett placed the mountain-road tape from the cemetery chamber into an evidence player.
The video had been recorded from a dashboard camera in a second vehicle following Isabel’s car. Rain blurred the road. Isabel drove fast, glancing repeatedly in her mirror. A black sedan remained close behind her.
Daniel expected to see Crowe.
Instead, the driver’s face appeared briefly in reflected light.
It was Arthur Ellis.
The accountant who had warned Daniel. The accountant lying in a guarded hospital after being attacked in the ballroom.
On the tape, Arthur accelerated and struck Isabel’s rear bumper. Her car swerved, hit the barrier, and disappeared over the edge.
Daniel watched without moving.
Bennett paused the video. “There may be more context.”
“What context makes that anything except murder?”
Crowe spoke quietly. “Arthur was not trying to kill her.”
Daniel turned on him.
“Vivian’s driver was behind Arthur. They had ordered him to force Isabel to stop before she reached the police station. Arthur struck too hard. He has lived with it since.”
That explanation did not lessen the horror. Arthur had participated. Whether he intended death or not, he helped cause it.
Daniel went to Arthur’s hospital room that night.
The old man was awake, his head bandaged, two officers outside. He looked smaller than Daniel remembered.
“You killed her,” Daniel said.
Arthur closed his eyes. “Yes.”
No denial. No excuse.
Daniel wanted to drag him from the bed. Instead he stood beside the window and forced himself to hear the truth.
Arthur had moved foundation money for Vivian for years. At first he believed the accounts were legal tax structures. By the time he understood, Vivian possessed enough evidence to imprison him and threaten his family. On the night Isabel died, Arthur was ordered to stop her car. After the crash, he tried to confess, but Commissioner Voss buried the report.
“Why warn me three months ago?” Daniel asked.
“Because Sophia found me in the blue room.”
Arthur began to cry.
“She asked why her name was written on bags of money. She looked like Isabel. I decided I would not fail another generation.”
“Where is Jonathan?”
“I do not know. He sends instructions through intermediaries. Always the same symbol—a black crown with one broken point.”
Daniel had seen that symbol inside the burned train car.
Arthur reached beneath his pillow and produced a hotel key card. “Someone left this in my room an hour ago.”
The card was printed with the Grand Aurelia logo and a handwritten message:
DANIEL,
COME TO THE ROOFTOP ALONE AT 2:00 A.M.
BRING ISABEL’S LETTER.
IF YOU WANT YOUR FATHER ALIVE, TELL NO ONE.
Daniel showed the message to Bennett despite the instruction. They planned surveillance, snipers, and hidden audio.
At two in the morning, Daniel stepped onto the hotel rooftop alone.
Wind moved across the empty terrace. The city glittered below.
A man stood near the edge wearing a dark overcoat.
He turned.
Daniel saw his father’s eyes in an older face.
But before either could speak, a red laser dot appeared on the man’s chest.
May you like
Daniel shouted and threw himself forward.
The rifle fired.
