Chapter 8 - The Confession in the Bedroom
Annie’s voice was quiet, but every hidden microphone captured it.
Marcus stared at her as though the frightened seven-year-old beneath the bed had suddenly appeared before him.
“You remember?” he asked.
“I remember your boots.”
Marcus looked down instinctively.
He no longer wore the silver star pendant. Tom had expected that.
Annie continued.
“I remember the mud. I remember your voice. I remember Chief Voss telling you to find the blue ledger.”
Marcus glanced toward the door.
Tom moved between him and the exit.
“It’s over,” Tom said.
Marcus laughed, but the sound was empty.
“You have a traumatized child’s memory and a dead man’s files.”
“She isn’t a child anymore.”
“She was seven.”
“She saw you.”
Marcus’s anger surfaced.
“She wasn’t supposed to be there.”
The words hung in the air.
Tom kept his expression controlled.
“Where was she supposed to be?”
“With her aunt. Her mother changed the plan.”
Marcus realized his mistake.
He stepped backward.
Tom pressed him.
“You thought the house would be empty except for David.”
“We only wanted the records.”
“We?”
Marcus looked toward the window.
A car door slammed outside.
Voss had arrived.
Marcus’s eyes moved rapidly around the room as he understood that he had been trapped between Tom, Annie and the man who had controlled him for years.
“Voss planned it,” Marcus said suddenly. “He said David would destroy all of us.”
Tom remained silent.
Marcus continued, desperate now.
“He said we would frighten him, take the ledger and leave. But David fought back. Everything happened too quickly.”
“Then you helped hide the truth.”
“I protected the department.”
“You protected yourself.”
Footsteps sounded in the hallway.
Voss appeared in the doorway, holding a weapon at his side.
No one moved.
“You always talked too much, Marcus,” Voss said.
Marcus turned toward him.
“You said you would protect me.”
“I protected you for ten years.”
Voss raised the weapon slightly.
Before he could take another step, Annie reached into her pocket and blew the silver whistle Tom had given her years earlier.
The sharp sound filled the house.
Federal agents entered from every direction.
“Drop it!” Sarah Bennett shouted.
Voss looked toward the windows, the hallway and the agents behind him.
There was nowhere to go.
His weapon fell to the floor.
Marcus lowered his head.
May you like
For ten years, Annie’s silence had concealed the truth.
In the end, her voice brought an entire criminal network down.
