Chapter 10 - the dead man on the video)
Nobody spoke for almost a minute.
Daniel replayed the clip.
Again.
Again.
The unknown man's face was visible for less than two seconds.
Margaret insisted.
"That's Thomas."
Rachel zoomed the image.
Age progression could fit.
The scar could not be verified.
Daniel stared at his father's old photograph beside the video frame.
Same jaw.
Same eyes.
Older.
Harder.
"He's alive."
Margaret's voice trembled.
Daniel did not sound relieved.
"He told Richard to remove you."
Margaret shook her head.
"He wouldn't."
"You haven't seen him in thirty-one years."
"That isn't Thomas."
"You just said it was."
"I mean... something's wrong."
Daniel stood.
"Maybe Dad isn't who you thought."
"Daniel."
"Everyone keeps telling me what he would or wouldn't do."
He pointed at the screen.
"That man discusses killing you."
Margaret flinched.
Daniel turned away.
Rachel paused the video.
"Wait."
She rewound.
"Listen."
Richard asked, "Permanently?"
The man said, "If necessary."
Rachel replayed it.
Then again.
"What?" Daniel asked.
"There's another sound."
She increased the volume.
A faint electronic click occurred immediately before the second man's answer.
Rachel frowned.
"Could be editing."
Claire leaned closer.
"My father's security system records in continuous encrypted blocks."
"Meaning?"
"If someone edited this, metadata might show it."
They examined the file.
The video creation date was eleven months earlier.
But modification date was three months earlier.
The same day Claire copied it.
Claire looked confused.
"I didn't edit anything."
Rachel said, "Someone did."
Daniel looked at the screen.
"So Thomas may not have said that."
"Or he did and someone altered something else."
The uncertainty was maddening.
Rachel contacted a forensic video specialist.
Meanwhile state investigators issued subpoenas tied to the Blackthorn files.
Whitmore Capital's stock price fell after rumors of old fraud investigations leaked.
Richard's attorneys blamed Daniel.
By afternoon, Claire received a message from her father.
You chose strangers over blood.
She replied.
Maybe because blood taught me nothing worth keeping.
Richard did not answer.
At five, Daniel and Margaret sat alone on the hotel balcony.
For the first time since the wedding, there was silence.
Margaret looked at the ocean.
"I hated him for dying."
Daniel glanced at her.
"Thomas?"
"Yes."
"I thought you loved him."
"I did."
"Both can happen."
Margaret smiled sadly.
"You sound like him."
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
"Apparently I don't know who he is."
Margaret looked down.
"There were nights when you were a baby and wouldn't sleep. I'd walk around the kitchen holding you and I'd get angry at him."
"For leaving?"
"For not being there."
She swallowed.
"Then I'd feel guilty because dead men can't choose."
Daniel looked at the horizon.
"What if he chose?"
Margaret's eyes filled.
"Then I wasted thirty-one years forgiving someone who didn't deserve it."
Daniel took her hand.
"You raised me. Whatever he did doesn't change that."
Margaret squeezed his fingers.
"And whatever Richard says doesn't change who you are."
Daniel smiled faintly.
For the first time that day, something felt stable.
Then Rachel opened the balcony door.
"We found the bank."
Daniel stood.
"The Wyoming one?"
She nodded.
"The shell corporation that paid twelve million dollars still has an account."
"Whose name?"
"Thomas Hale."
Margaret whispered.
"Active?"
Rachel nodded.
"A withdrawal was made yesterday."
Daniel's pulse increased.
"Where?"
"California."
"Where?"
Rachel looked toward the hotel across the street.
"Monterey."
Everyone froze.
Thomas Hale, dead for thirty-one years, had withdrawn money less than five miles from where his son was staying.
Daniel grabbed his jacket.
Rachel stopped him.
"We don't have a bank address yet."
"Find it."
"My investigator already did."
She handed him the address.
Daniel read it.
Then stared.
The withdrawal had been made at a private financial office across from Villa Marcelline.
At 11:52 a.m.
May you like
Eight minutes before Daniel was supposed to marry Claire.
Someone using Thomas Hale's identity had been watching the wedding.
