Chapter 13 - The Missing Six Minutes)
Vivienne entered Sebastian's hospital room alone.
Two federal officers remained outside.
Sebastian sat upright with his shoulder bandaged.
Without the perfect suit and carefully controlled surroundings, he looked smaller.
Not harmless.
Just ordinary.
Vivienne remained near the door.
"You have five minutes."
Sebastian smiled faintly.
"You always did hate wasting time."
"Four minutes fifty five seconds."
His smile disappeared.
"Daniel survived the fall."
Vivienne said nothing.
"I told Marcus to get him."
"You said that on the recording."
"Marcus refused."
"Also recorded."
"What wasn't recorded is what happened after."
Vivienne waited.
Sebastian looked toward the window.
"Daniel surfaced behind the boat."
Her chest tightened.
"He was alive?"
"Yes."
"Conscious?"
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"I don't know."
"You were there."
"Less than two minutes."
"What happened?"
"Marcus wanted to leave. I didn't."
Vivienne almost laughed.
"You're trying to make yourself sound humane."
"I'm telling you what happened."
"Then tell me."
"Daniel grabbed the swim ladder."
Vivienne could see it.
Daniel in freezing water.
Fighting.
Trying to climb back.
Sebastian continued.
"I reached toward him."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"That's a lie."
"Fine. Because I didn't want him dead."
"You just wanted his company, his silence, and apparently his wife."
Sebastian flinched.
"Daniel looked at me."
Vivienne waited.
"And he said Ethan's name."
Her throat closed.
Sebastian lowered his eyes.
"That was when Marcus hit him."
"With what?"
"The boat hook."
Vivienne's face hardened.
"Daniel fell back into the water."
"Yes."
"And then?"
"Marcus ordered me to start the engine."
"Did you?"
Sebastian nodded.
Vivienne felt nothing.
Perhaps she had exhausted her capacity for shock.
"You drove away."
"Yes."
"While Daniel was alive."
"Yes."
"Then you're responsible."
"I know."
The answer surprised her.
Sebastian continued.
"But Daniel did not die there."
Vivienne narrowed her eyes.
"What?"
"Another boat arrived."
"Whose?"
"Pike's."
Vivienne stared.
"Deputy Commissioner Pike?"
"Yes."
"He was offshore?"
"Marcus called him."
"What happened?"
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I left."
"You left Daniel in the water with two men working for you."
"Yes."
"And Pike later controlled the investigation."
"Yes."
Vivienne understood.
The missing six minutes mattered because Daniel might have been alive when Pike arrived.
"Why isn't this in your previous statements?"
"Because admitting it meant admitting the rest."
"You covered up murder."
Sebastian looked at her.
"Yes."
Finally.
No justification.
No euphemism.
Vivienne asked, "Why tell me now?"
"Because Pike will blame everything on Marcus and me."
"You deserve it."
"So does Pike."
"I agree."
Sebastian leaned back.
"There's a harbor surveillance station seven miles from the marina."
"It was investigated."
"The main camera was."
Vivienne waited.
"There was a weather camera."
Her pulse jumped.
"Why wasn't it found?"
"Pike had the footage removed."
"Then it's gone."
"No."
Sebastian looked at her.
"Daniel had already subpoenaed automatic backups from the weather service."
Vivienne stared.
"Where?"
"His corporate legal archive."
"That archive was searched."
"Not under weather."
"What name?"
Sebastian hesitated.
"Sunday."
Vivienne almost laughed at Daniel's obsession with that word.
"Why Sunday?"
"Because you used to take Ethan to the harbor on Sundays."
Sebastian looked exhausted now.
"Daniel hid everything inside ordinary memories."
Vivienne turned toward the door.
Sebastian spoke.
"Vivienne."
She stopped.
"I am sorry."
She did not turn.
"No."
"For Daniel."
"No."
"For Ethan."
She looked back.
"You don't get to use apology as another way to control how you're remembered."
Sebastian's face tightened.
"I mean it."
"Then live with the fact that meaning it changes nothing."
She left.
Within twenty minutes, Agent Torres found the weather archive.
The footage was grainy.
Distant.
But clear enough.
Daniel's boat.
Sebastian's boat leaving.
Then another vessel arriving.
Pike's.
Two men pulled Daniel from the water.
Vivienne's heart jumped.
"They saved him."
Torres shook her head.
"Keep watching."
Daniel moved.
Barely.
Alive.
Pike bent over him.
Another man stood nearby.
Not Marcus.
Vivienne leaned closer.
"Who is that?"
Torres froze the frame.
The man's face was partly visible.
Older.
Silver hair.
Expensive coat.
Vivienne recognized him.
She had known him for twenty years.
Edmund Cross.
Chairman of Hale Meridian's board.
Daniel's mentor.
The man who had delivered the eulogy at Daniel's funeral.
Vivienne whispered.
"No."
The footage continued.
Edmund gestured.
Pike lifted Daniel.
For one second Vivienne believed they were putting him safely into the boat.
Then they moved him toward the opposite side.
Daniel disappeared from view.
The boat remained still for several minutes.
Then departed.
Without Daniel.
Vivienne stepped back.
Sebastian had covered up the crime.
Marcus had attacked Daniel.
Pike had corrupted the investigation.
But Edmund Cross had apparently been present for the final act.
Agent Torres said quietly.
"We need to find him immediately."
Vivienne looked toward the clock.
At that exact moment, her phone rang.
Hale Meridian board office.
She answered.
Edmund's voice came through.
"Vivienne, I think you and I need to talk before the federal agents misunderstand what happened."
Vivienne's face became cold.
"Where are you?"
May you like
Edmund chuckled.
"Somewhere Daniel should have stayed away from."
