Chapter 6 - The Witness Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
The first gunshot shattered a locker.
The second was followed by shouting.
Ava dropped to the floor.
Naomi pulled Marcus behind the concrete column.
Patrick fired toward the officers.
“Move!”
Emergency lights flickered on.
Red.
Dim.
Confusing.
Ava saw Victor Crane disappear through a maintenance door.
Sergeant Pell shouted, “Drop your weapons!”
Naomi answered with two shots that struck the wall beside him.
Not to kill.
To force him back.
Marcus grabbed the duffel.
Ava grabbed the cassette.
They ran.
Patrick stayed behind them.
The station erupted in chaos.
Passengers screamed upstairs.
Alarms began sounding.
Ava reached the maintenance corridor.
The door Crane had used was still swinging.
She chased him.
“Ava!” Naomi shouted.
Too late.
Crane moved surprisingly fast for a man his age.
Ava followed him through a service tunnel and up a steel staircase.
When she reached the top, she found an empty loading platform.
Crane was gone.
A black SUV accelerated from the far gate.
Ava raised her weapon but did not fire.
Too many civilians.
Naomi reached her.
“You cannot chase armed suspects alone.”
Ava watched the vehicle disappear.
“I almost had him.”
“No. He almost separated you from us.”
Ava knew Naomi was right.
That made her angrier.
State police arrived within minutes.
This time, Naomi contacted one specific commander she trusted personally.
Sergeant Pell and one officer escaped.
The third surrendered.
His name was Tyler Monroe.
Twenty-three.
Two years on the force.
Terrified.
Marcus questioned him inside a private holding room.
Monroe began crying before they even started.
“I didn’t know.”
Ava stood behind the glass.
Naomi said, “They always know something.”
Inside, Marcus asked, “Who told you to go to the station?”
“Sergeant Pell.”
“Why?”
“He said Mercer was armed and dangerous.”
“Did he tell you to recover evidence?”
Monroe hesitated.
Marcus leaned forward.
“Tyler, you just participated in an armed attempt to steal evidence for Victor Crane.”
The young officer looked sick.
“I don’t know Crane.”
“You saw him.”
“I thought he was federal.”
Ava closed her eyes.
That was Crane’s strength.
He had spent decades hiding behind official-looking people.
Uniforms.
Titles.
Credentials.
Authority.
Marcus pressed.
“Who is Pell reporting to?”
Monroe whispered, “Deputy Chief Sloan.”
Ava looked at Naomi.
There it was.
A usable link.
Sloan to Pell.
Pell to Crane.
Naomi’s phone buzzed.
“Forensics.”
She answered.
Ava watched her expression change.
“What?”
Naomi ended the call.
“The cassette.”
Ava’s heart jumped.
“They recovered it?”
“The tape survived.”
“And?”
“It contains Ethan Vale’s statement.”
Marcus joined them.
“Can we hear it?”
An hour later they sat around a laptop.
The digitized recording began.
A nervous young man spoke.
“My name is Ethan Michael Vale.”
Ava listened carefully.
“I worked for Victor Crane from 1999 until 2007.”
Naomi paused.
“That’s nine years after Crane supposedly died.”
Marcus nodded.
Proof that the death certificate was false.
The recording continued.
Ethan described hidden cash.
False seizures.
Officers paid to reroute patrols.
Judges bribed.
Prosecutors pressured.
Then he said:
“My brother Malcolm knows.”
Ava stiffened.
“He found out six months ago.”
The recording crackled.
“He wants me to testify.”
Ava looked at Naomi.
Chief Vale wanted Ethan to testify?
Not silence him?
Ethan continued.
“Malcolm says we can take Crane down if Detective Mercer gets the financial books.”
Ava’s breathing slowed.
Daniel and Malcolm Vale had been working together.
The recording destroyed everything Patrick had assumed.
Marcus whispered, “Vale wasn’t betraying your father.”
Ava stared at the speaker.
Then Ethan said something even stranger.
“If something happens to Daniel, do not trust Patrick Mercer.”
Patrick went pale.
Ava slowly turned.
“No.”
Patrick backed away.
“Ava.”
“No.”
Ethan’s recorded voice continued.
“Patrick owes Crane money. Daniel thinks Patrick can still be saved. I don’t.”
Ava stood.
Naomi moved between them.
Patrick raised his hands.
“I told you I was involved.”
“You told me you warned Sloan.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t say you worked for Crane.”
“I never worked directly—”
“Stop saying directly!”
Ava’s voice cracked.
Patrick lowered his head.
The tape continued.
“Patrick gave Crane Daniel’s planned meeting location.”
Ava stopped.
Patrick closed his eyes.
Ellen had once told Ava that grief could physically hurt.
Ava had never understood until now.
“You sent Dad into that ambush.”
Patrick’s voice barely worked.
“Yes.”
Ava stepped toward him.
Naomi stopped her.
“Did you know they were going to kill him?”
“No.”
“Did you know they might?”
Patrick cried openly.
“Yes.”
Ava turned away.
For years Patrick had driven her to school.
Attended birthdays.
Helped with college tuition.
Sat in the front row when she graduated from the academy.
Every act of love now seemed wrapped around a secret.
Marcus stopped the recording.
“There’s more.”
Ava wiped her eyes.
“Play it.”
Ethan’s voice returned.
“Crane believes the financial ledger is in Daniel’s possession.”
Patrick looked up suddenly.
“What ledger?”
The recording continued.
“But Daniel told me he hid it where Crane would never look.”
A pause.
“He said Ava already has it.”
Ava froze.
Naomi looked at her.
“You were eight.”
“I didn’t have anything.”
Ethan continued.
“Daniel said, ‘She carries it every day.’”
Ava’s heart began pounding.
She remembered her father.
Small details.
His hands tying her shoes.
Packing her lunch.
Giving her a birthday present three weeks before he died.
A silver charm bracelet.
Ava touched her wrist unconsciously.
She had not worn it in years.
It was stored inside a jewelry box at her mother’s house.
A tiny silver police shield hung from it.
Her father had told her:
For my brave girl.
Ava looked at Naomi.
“The bracelet.”
They drove immediately to the safe location where Ellen was staying.
Ava barely let her mother speak.
“Where is my childhood jewelry box?”
Ellen stared.
“At the house.”
“Did Dad give me a silver bracelet before he died?”
“Yes.”
“Did anyone ever ask about it?”
Ellen thought.
Then her face changed.
“Malcolm Vale.”
Ava stopped.
“The chief?”
“After your father died, Malcolm came to the house.”
“What did he ask?”
“He asked if Daniel had given you anything unusual.”
“Did you tell him?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Patrick told me not to trust Malcolm.”
Ava looked toward Patrick.
Her uncle dropped his eyes.
The pieces were aligning.
Patrick had spent nineteen years convincing Ellen that Vale was dangerous.
Maybe because Vale knew Patrick’s betrayal.
Naomi said, “We retrieve the bracelet.”
Ava shook her head.
“Crane already attacked the house.”
“You think he found it?”
“No.”
Ava remembered something.
When she was thirteen, her mother had moved Ava’s childhood belongings to a storage unit.
The jewelry box was never at the house.
“I know where it is.”
They reached the storage facility after dark.
Unit 614.
Ava unlocked it.
Dust covered old furniture.
Boxes were stacked to the ceiling.
She found one labeled AVA—BEDROOM.
Inside was the jewelry box.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
The silver bracelet lay exactly where she remembered.
Ava lifted the police shield charm.
Naomi examined it.
“There’s a seam.”
Marcus used a small knife.
The charm opened.
Inside was something no bigger than a fingernail.
A microfilm strip.
Patrick whispered, “Daniel.”
Ava stared at the last secret her father had given her.
Then the storage facility lights went out.
Again.
Ava heard footsteps outside.
But this time she didn’t panic.
She smiled.
Naomi looked at her.
“What?”
Ava held up the charm.
“This isn’t the ledger.”
Marcus frowned.
“How do you know?”
“Because my father knew somebody might eventually find it.”
She turned the microfilm toward the emergency light.
Only one sentence had been photographed onto it.
MALCOLM KNOWS WHERE THE REAL BOOK IS.
Ava looked at Naomi.
After twenty-four hours spent believing the chief was her enemy, the truth had reversed again.
They didn’t need to arrest Malcolm Vale.
May you like
They needed to find him.
Before Victor Crane did.
