Chapter 10 - What Leonard Was Paid To Do
Leonard Pike did not confess to attempted murder.
Because, according to him, he had never intended anyone to be seriously hurt.
Detective Keene relayed the proffer through lawyers.
Daniel listened in Nora’s office.
Leonard had been paid twenty thousand dollars.
Ten thousand before the event.
Ten after.
His instructions were specific.
Create a “public disruption” near Emma.
Make Daniel react.
Do not seriously injure the child.
Daniel nearly stood.
Nora touched his arm.
“Listen.”
The champagne tower had been chosen because it looked dramatic.
Leonard claimed he was supposed to destabilize only the upper support after Emma moved.
But Emma bent near the base earlier than expected.
Rosa saw movement.
Leonard pushed.
The entire structure failed faster than he anticipated.
Daniel’s hands shook.
“So he nearly killed her by accident.”
Keene replied:
“He is minimizing. We are not adopting his description.”
“Who paid him?”
“Payment came through Halcyon.”
“Owen.”
“Maybe.”
“Celeste?”
“Maybe.”
Daniel hated the word.
Leonard claimed instructions came through encrypted messages from an unknown contact.
But before the event, he met someone once in a parking garage.
Owen.
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Why?”
“According to Pike, Owen told him Daniel needed to have a public ‘episode.’”
Nora looked at Daniel.
The old temper.
The reputation.
Owen knew him better than almost anyone.
“He knew I’d go after whoever hurt Emma.”
“Yes.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“He was right.”
Keene continued.
“Pike says Owen told him the child would not be harmed.”
“How would Owen guarantee that?”
“He couldn’t.”
Daniel stood.
“That man is not minimizing anything. He stood beside a child and pushed glass.”
Keene waited until Daniel sat again.
“Pike also claims Celeste Mercer knew there would be a disruption.”
Daniel froze.
“Knew what?”
“He does not say she knew the specific method.”
“What does he say?”
“Owen told Pike that Celeste would make sure Emma was in position.”
The room went silent.
Daniel thought of the shoebox.
Celeste knocking it down.
Emma bending.
Forty-five-dollar shoes.
Rosa’s account.
Emma’s account.
“Celeste put her there.”
Keene answered carefully.
“That is one possible interpretation.”
Daniel covered his face.
His own wife had potentially positioned his daughter near a staged danger.
Maybe believing the danger would be controlled.
Maybe not caring enough to know.
Either version destroyed something.
“Can you arrest them?”
Keene replied:
“We need corroboration.”
Daniel laughed.
“What else do you need?”
“Messages. Payments. Records.”
“Pike’s statement.”
“Pike is a participant trying to reduce his own exposure.”
Again.
Precision.
Daniel hated it.
Nora said:
“They’ll build it.”
Daniel looked at Keene.
“What can I do?”
“Nothing reckless.”
He almost smiled.
“Anything else?”
“Preserve communications. Do not confront Owen. Do not confront Celeste.”
Daniel nodded.
Keene left.
Nora looked at him.
“You should go home.”
“I don’t know where home is right now.”
She softened.
“Then go where Emma is.”
He drove to Rosa’s apartment.
Emma was building a cardboard shoe store on the floor.
“Dad!”
She ran toward him.
Daniel hugged her.
Too tightly.
“Dad.”
“Sorry.”
Rosa looked at his face.
“What happened?”
“Pike talked.”
Emma went still.
Daniel immediately regretted speaking in front of her.
Rosa noticed.
“Emma, can you finish the sign in my room?”
“Why?”
“Because I need your artistic expertise.”
Emma narrowed her eyes.
“You’re talking secret.”
Daniel crouched.
“Adult conversation.”
“I hate adult conversation.”
“So do I.”
Emma took her markers and left.
Rosa waited.
Daniel told her.
Not every legal detail.
Enough.
When he finished, Rosa sat.
“She knew.”
“Maybe.”
Rosa stared at him.
“Daniel.”
“I know.”
“No. Stop doing that.”
“What?”
“Using uncertainty to avoid feeling something.”
He looked away.
Rosa continued.
“You can say you don’t know what she knew exactly.”
“Yes.”
“But you know she deliberately humiliated Emma and put her near that tower.”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“That is enough for today.”
He nodded.
Rosa handed him tissues.
He laughed bitterly.
“Very dignified.”
“You threw a man into a shoe wall.”
“Fair.”
They sat.
Then Rosa said:
“Pike said Owen paid him?”
“Yes.”
“Then Owen may have done this before.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
“Julia’s event.”
Seven years earlier.
Camera disabled.
Missing money.
Pike.
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
Maybe Julia had not merely discovered suspicious invoices.
Maybe someone had tested the same method years ago.
Create chaos.
Turn off camera.
Move money.
May you like
Control the story.
And this time, Owen had used Daniel’s daughter as the chaos.
