Chapter 15 - The Recording Dated Tomorrow
Daniel left the detention center with more questions than answers.
Detective Quinn waited outside.
“What did Victoria say?”
He studied her face.
“She said Emily knew you.”
Quinn did not immediately respond.
That hesitation frightened him more than denial would have.
“Is it true?”
“I met Emily once.”
“You told me you never knew why Harold named you.”
“I did not know why he named me as a custodian.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“No.”
“When did you meet my wife?”
“Two weeks before she died.”
Daniel felt betrayal rise again.
“Why?”
“She contacted me through an anonymous account. I was a patrol officer then. She said she had evidence involving my father.”
“What did she give you?”
“Nothing. She became frightened and left before we could talk.”
“Why didn’t you mention this?”
“Because I could not prove the woman I met was Emily. She used another name.”
“You recognized her.”
“After I saw family photographs during this investigation.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You were assigned to Lily’s case before the ambulance arrived. You were named in Harold’s letter. You met Emily before her death. How many coincidences am I supposed to accept?”
Quinn’s expression hardened.
“You think I am the Regent?”
“I think everyone has lied to me.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is the only one I have.”
Quinn removed her badge and held it out.
“Then take this to Internal Affairs. Tell them everything. I will cooperate.”
Daniel did not take it.
A police vehicle stopped beside them.
An officer hurried toward Quinn carrying a sealed evidence container.
“This was delivered to headquarters ten minutes ago.”
“From where?”
“No return address.”
Inside was a small black drive marked with the number two.
The second piece of Emily’s ledger.
A note was attached.
DANIEL MUST WATCH THIS ALONE.
Quinn arranged for the drive to be examined in a secure digital laboratory.
No explosive program or tracking software was found.
Daniel refused to watch it alone.
Rachel, Quinn, and two federal investigators joined him.
The first folder contained financial records.
The second contained photographs of Meridian Circle meetings.
The third held a video file.
Its creation date made no sense.
It was dated the following day.
A technician checked the system.
“The metadata has not been altered.”
“That is impossible,” Daniel said.
“Unless the recording device was intentionally programmed with a future timestamp.”
They played the video.
Emily appeared on the screen.
She stood inside Daniel’s current secure residence.
The same residence he and Lily had entered only three days earlier.
Behind Emily was the exact wallpaper, the exact lamp, and the exact staircase.
Daniel felt cold spread through his body.
The video could not have been recorded three years ago.
Emily looked directly into the camera.
“Daniel, when you see this, Victoria will have been arrested, Marcus will have opened the false vault, and Lily will have survived the dinner.”
No one in the room moved.
Emily continued.
“You will believe the plan is ending.”
Daniel whispered, “What plan?”
“It is only beginning.”
She held up a photograph.
It showed Harold Hale, Samuel Quinn, Victoria, Marcus, and several others standing around a circular table.
One person’s face had been cut from the image.
“The Regent is not one person,” Emily said. “It is a position. When one Regent falls, another takes their place.”
She lowered the photograph.
“The next Regent has been beside you since Lily was born.”
Rachel stepped backward.
Quinn reached for her weapon.
Daniel looked from one woman to the other.
Emily’s image flickered.
“If they are both in the room when you watch this, trust neither of them.”
The lights in the laboratory went out.
Emergency alarms sounded.
A gunshot cracked through the darkness.
Daniel felt someone seize his arm.
Then Lily’s voice came through his phone, though he had left her under armed protection at the residence.
“Dad?”
He raised the phone.
“Lily, where are you?”
Her breathing was fast.
“There’s a woman in the house.”
“Go to the safe room now.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“She knows the code.”
A voice spoke behind Lily.
A voice Daniel recognized.
Calm.
Familiar.
Impossible.
“Hello, Daniel.”
The line went silent.
The laboratory lights returned.
Rachel was gone.
Detective Quinn lay on the floor beside a spreading pool of blood.
The second drive had disappeared from the evidence terminal.
On the dark monitor, a final message appeared.
THE NEW REGENT HAS ACCEPTED THE CROWN.
Daniel’s phone vibrated once more.
A photograph filled the screen.
Lily stood inside the hidden room behind Harold Hale’s portrait.
Beside her was a woman whose face remained outside the frame.
In Lily’s hands was the silver key.
May you like
Below the image were seven words.
BRING THE REMAINING DRIVES, OR LOSE HER TOO.
