Chapter 3 - The Secret Midnight Reel Carried
Declan returned twenty minutes later with blood on his knuckles and fury in his eyes.
The gunman had escaped through an old drainage tunnel beneath the east grounds.
Rowan already knew about the tunnel.
She had discovered it two days earlier while examining the foundation of the stable.
She had not mentioned it.
That omission now felt heavier.
“Are you hurt?” Declan asked.
“No.”
“You're lying again.”
“You always assume that.”
“Because you're good at it.”
He walked toward her.
Rowan stepped back.
Declan stopped immediately.
That tiny hesitation told her something about him.
He was dangerous.
But he was not careless with her.
“I want the truth,” he said.
“So do I.”
“You knew there was a tunnel.”
“How?”
“I've spent a week reading the old property plans.”
“You found it.”
“I suspected there was one.”
Declan's eyes narrowed.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was still determining whether it was being used.”
“By whom?”
“I don't know.”
He studied her.
“You are not simply a horse therapist.”
“No.”
There it was.
The first clean crack in the wall.
Declan's voice became quiet.
“Who sent you?”
“No one.”
“Then why did you come?”
Rowan's silence answered him.
Declan stepped aside.
“Come with me.”
She hesitated.
“Why?”
“Because we're going to stop pretending that whatever is happening here has anything to do with horses.”
His private office overlooked the valley.
Unlike the rest of Ashgrove, it was immaculate.
No dust.
No clutter.
No wasted movement.
He shut the door.
“You have ten minutes.”
“For what?”
“To tell me the truth.”
“And if I don't?”
“Then I'll spend the next ten minutes finding out another way.”
Rowan sat.
“You won't like it.”
“I rarely do.”
She looked at him.
“Three years ago, my brother Finn died.”
Declan's expression changed.
Not much.
Enough.
“He worked in transport.”
“I know.”
That stopped her.
“You know?”
“I know the name.”
“How?”
“Because your brother carried horses for one of my father's companies.”
Rowan stood.
“You said you knew him?”
“I knew of him.”
“Did you know he was killed?”
Declan was silent.
That silence was devastating.
“You knew.”
“I knew he died.”
“And you never told me.”
“You never told me you were his sister.”
Rowan laughed once.
Bitterly.
“You never asked.”
“You used a different surname professionally.”
“My surname isn't different.”
“You used your mother's maiden name on your licensing documents.”
Rowan's pulse jumped.
“You investigated me.”
“After the shooting.”
He opened a file.
She recognized the photograph.
Hers.
“Rowan, there are too many coincidences.”
“You think I came here to hurt your family.”
“No.”
She blinked.
“I think you came here because you believe my family hurt yours.”
That distinction mattered.
“You're right.”
Declan stared at her.
“Who do you think killed Finn?”
“My father.”
The word hung there.
Declan looked away.
“My father died sixteen months ago.”
“I know.”
“He had nothing to do with Finn's death.”
“How can you know that?”
“Because I investigated it.”
Rowan's breathing changed.
“You investigated my brother?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Finn had been scheduled to testify against someone.”
“Who?”
Declan opened another file.
Nothing.
A blank page.
“Someone erased the records.”
Rowan leaned closer.
“What were they hiding?”
Declan hesitated.
“An internal smuggling operation.”
She looked at him.
“With horses?”
“With drugs, weapons, money, anything that could be moved inside legitimate racing transport.”
Rowan's stomach turned.
Finn had been involved without realizing it.
Or had realized too late.
“Why would he testify?”
“Because he found something.”
“What?”
Declan looked toward Midnight Reel's stable through the window.
“An encrypted ledger.”
Rowan's heartbeat quickened.
“Where is it?”
“We never found it.”
She remembered Finn's last words.
Don't trust the Kavanagh stable.
Maybe the stable had never been the problem.
Maybe it had been the hiding place.
That night, Rowan returned to Midnight Reel's stall after everyone had gone.
The horse stood quietly.
She reached beneath the old feed trough.
Nothing.
Behind the water barrel.
Nothing.
Under the floorboard.
Nothing.
Then Midnight Reel stamped.
Once.
Hard.
Rowan froze.
The horse had his head turned toward a wooden beam.
She approached.
Ran her fingers along it.
There.
A seam.
She pulled.
A narrow compartment opened.
Inside was a small metal cylinder.
Rowan's breath caught.
She opened it.
A flash drive.
She had found Finn's ledger.
Before she could pocket it, a light came on.
Declan stood in the doorway.
She closed her hand around the drive.
His expression was unreadable.
“What did you find?”
Rowan stared at him.
“The thing you were looking for.”
He stepped inside.
“Show me.”
“No.”
Declan did not move.
“Why?”
“Because I don't know if I can trust you.”
He looked almost offended.
Then he nodded.
“Fair.”
He took one slow step toward her.
“I don't know if I can trust you either.”
Rowan tightened her grip.
“Then we're even.”
“No.”
His voice softened.
“Because I am starting to care whether you trust me.”
She looked away.
That was the most dangerous thing he could have said.
The drive contained hundreds of files.
Transactions.
Names.
Shipping routes.
Payments.
Photographs.
And one file labeled D.K.
Rowan opened it.
Inside were documents proving that someone had been using Declan's identity to authorize illegal shipments.
Not just forged signatures.
Video footage.
Meetings.
Encrypted conversations.
Someone had built an entire false identity around him.
“They framed you,” Rowan whispered.
Declan stared at the screen.
“Who?”
Rowan opened the final video.
A man appeared.
Cormac.
The stable hand.
But he was not speaking to a criminal.
He was speaking to Declan's cousin.
Liam Kavanagh.
Declan went completely still.
“No.”
Rowan looked at him.
“That's your cousin.”
“I know.”
The recording continued.
Liam said, “Once the old man was gone, Declan would inherit everything. We couldn't allow that.”
Cormac replied, “And the sister?”
“She'll blame Declan when she learns what happened.”
Rowan's stomach dropped.
The sister.
There was one line in Finn's investigation that had never made sense.
He had written about a woman.
A witness who disappeared.
A witness whose name had been erased.
Declan stared at the screen.
“My mother.”
Rowan looked at him.
“What?”
“My mother saw something.”
He had told Rowan his mother died when he was eighteen.
But now he shook his head.
“She didn't die from illness.”
Silence.
“She disappeared.”
That revelation changed everything.
The Ashgrove family had not simply been built on criminal money.
It had been built on a lie.
And somewhere inside that lie was the person who had ordered Finn's death.
The next day, Liam arrived at Ashgrove.
He walked into the dining room smiling.
“You look tired, Declan.”
Declan returned the smile.
“You always did enjoy arriving when other people had already done the work.”
Liam laughed.
Rowan stood near the doorway.
His eyes landed on her.
He smiled again.
“Ah.”
His expression changed.
Recognition.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
“That explains the gunshot.”
Declan moved.
Fast.
He grabbed Liam by the collar.
“Say that again.”
Liam's smile vanished.
Rowan stepped forward.
“Declan.”
He stopped.
Liam straightened his jacket.
“I was merely commenting on our guest.”
“You knew who she was,” Rowan said.
Liam looked directly at her.
“Of course.”
“How?”
“Your brother wasn't the only one who left unfinished business.”
Declan's face became terrifyingly calm.
“Get out.”
Liam smiled.
“You still think you're in control.”
He walked toward the door.
Then paused.
“One more thing.”
He looked at Rowan.
“Your brother didn't die because he knew too much.”
Rowan's chest tightened.
“He died because he gave something to someone.”
“What?”
May you like
Liam smiled.
“You.”
