Chapter 13 - Midnight at BlackwaterThe abandoned development was called Blackwater Point.
Twenty-one years earlier it had been meant to become luxury waterfront homes.
Instead, lawsuits froze construction.
Concrete foundations remained among weeds and dead roads.
At 11:58 p.m., Daniel drove onto the property alone.
At least visibly.
Maya’s teams remained two miles away.
Daniel wore a microphone sewn into his shirt.
The original ledger sat inside a leather bag.
The real ledger.
Maya hated allowing it.
Daniel had insisted Robert would detect a copy.
At the center of the abandoned site stood an unfinished sales pavilion.
A light burned inside.
Daniel entered.
Robert sat at a folding table.
No Kate.
Daniel stopped.
“Where is she?”
Robert looked older than he had that morning.
“The ledger.”
“Kate.”
Robert sighed.
“You always were emotional.”
Daniel placed the bag on the table but kept one hand on it.
“Where?”
“She’s safe.”
“I heard those words from my wife.”
Robert’s expression shifted.
“Vanessa was weak.”
“She was useful to you.”
“She wanted revenge. I gave her a way to take it.”
“You destroyed her too.”
“She destroyed herself.”
Daniel hated that Robert was partly right.
“Kate.”
Robert looked toward a security camera mounted in the corner.
“She is close.”
“Show me.”
Robert opened a laptop.
Live video appeared.
Kate sat inside a small room.
She looked thinner.
Pale.
But alive.
Daniel gripped the table.
“Kate.”
She could not hear him.
“Give me the ledger,” Robert said.
“And you release her?”
“Yes.”
“You lied to Emily.”
“Yes.”
“You lied to my father.”
“Frequently.”
“You lied to me my entire life.”
Robert smiled.
“Mostly when necessary.”
Daniel pushed the bag across.
Robert opened it.
His hands trembled slightly as he saw the ledger.
For the first time, Daniel saw fear.
Robert lifted the book.
“You have no idea what this contains.”
“I read it.”
“Then you know your father was involved.”
“Yes.”
Robert expected shame.
Daniel gave him none.
“I’ll expose him too.”
“He’s dead.”
“The truth isn’t.”
Robert stared.
“You’d destroy your family name?”
Daniel thought of Kate behind the wall.
“The name nearly destroyed my family.”
Robert closed the ledger.
A vehicle engine sounded outside.
Daniel turned.
A black SUV pulled up.
Grant exited.
He opened the rear passenger door.
No Kate.
Daniel’s blood ran cold.
Robert smiled.
“I said she was close.”
Grant walked inside.
“Where is she?” Daniel demanded.
Robert nodded toward the laptop.
The feed changed.
The camera pulled wider.
Daniel recognized the room.
It was beneath the pavilion.
A basement chamber.
Kate was directly below them.
Daniel heard Maya’s voice through his hidden earpiece.
We have probable cause. Teams moving.
Grant suddenly looked toward Daniel’s collar.
His eyes narrowed.
“Wire.”
Everything exploded into motion.
Grant grabbed Daniel.
Robert seized the ledger.
Daniel drove his shoulder into Grant’s chest.
They crashed against the table.
Police vehicles roared outside.
Robert ran toward a rear door.
Grant struck Daniel once across the jaw.
Daniel fell.
Gunshots did not erupt.
Maya had insisted on controlled entry.
Officers flooded the pavilion.
Grant released Daniel and ran.
He made it ten yards before officers tackled him.
Daniel ignored everyone.
“The basement!”
He found a metal door behind a partition.
Locked.
An officer struck it with a breaching tool.
Once.
Twice.
The door opened.
Concrete stairs descended.
Daniel ran.
At the bottom stood another door.
“Kate!”
Silence.
He reached it.
Locked.
Police broke it open.
Inside—
Empty.
Daniel stopped.
The laptop feed had been prerecorded.
Robert had tricked them.
On the floor lay a small object.
A pink sandal charm.
A silver star.
Daniel picked it up.
The same charm that had once decorated Kate’s sandals.
Maya appeared behind him.
“Robert’s gone.”
Daniel stared at the charm.
“No.”
He closed his fist.
“He wanted us here.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked around the room.
A timer on the wall counted down.
Not explosives.
A remote server wipe.
00:41.
00:40.
00:39.
Robert had drawn law enforcement away while destroying something elsewhere.
Daniel suddenly understood.
“The mansion.”
Maya stared.
“What?”
“He knows we found the surveillance room.”
Daniel ran upstairs.
The ledger had been bait.
So was Blackwater.
Robert’s real target was the evidence beneath the greenhouse.
And if Kate had been moved again—
There was only one place Robert knew police would not expect her to be.
The place already searched.
The place everyone believed was empty.
May you like
Daniel looked at Maya.
“The wall.”
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