Chapter 9 - The Man Who Thought Harrison Would Choose Power
Daniel made his final mistake because he never believed Harrison would actually give everything up.
People usually misunderstand others by assuming everyone values the same things they do.
Daniel valued power.
So he believed Harrison did too.
He was wrong.
The encrypted drive gave federal investigators current trafficking records, payments, shell companies and communications tying Daniel directly to the shipping routes.
It also contained a recording Emily had made the night before she died.
Daniel's voice.
"You tell Harrison, and he goes down with me."
Emily answered, "Then maybe he should."
Harrison had to pause the recording.
I sat beside him.
Grace wasn't in the room.
Thank God.
Daniel said, "You think he'll choose you over his family?"
Emily's answer came immediately.
"I think he should choose Grace."
Then Daniel said the sentence prosecutors had been waiting for.
"If you force me, I'll handle you before you get the chance."
Threat.
Motive.
Not confession.
But combined with Levin, Thomas, Michael, toxicology and Grace's eyewitness memory, the case was becoming strong.
Federal agents obtained an arrest warrant.
Daniel vanished.
For twenty-three hours, nobody knew where he was.
Then he called Harrison.
I was in the kitchen.
Grace was upstairs.
Harrison answered on speaker because Helen had instructed him to record everything.
"Daniel."
His brother laughed.
"So formal."
"Where are you?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yes."
"You gave them everything."
Harrison said nothing.
"Our grandfather's accounts."
"Yes."
"Father's routes."
"Yes."
"Your own people."
"Yes."
Daniel's voice sharpened.
"Why?"
Harrison looked toward Grace's paper birds on the counter.
"Because Emily was right."
Silence.
"About what?"
"The dead don't get a vote."
Daniel laughed.
"You think becoming a saint now changes what you are?"
"No."
That answer seemed to surprise him.
"I know what I am."
Harrison's voice stayed calm.
"I'm going to answer for it."
"Then you lose everything."
"Not everything."
Daniel went quiet.
He knew.
Grace.
That was the line Daniel had never understood.
Then he said, "Where's the waitress?"
My blood went cold.
Harrison's face changed.
"Why?"
"She's made herself important."
I looked toward the windows.
Ben was already moving.
"Daniel."
Harrison's voice became lethal.
"Don't."
"That's the Harrison I remember."
The line ended.
Twenty minutes later, a car bomb exploded outside Willow & Finch.
No one was hurt.
The restaurant was closed.
But the message was clear.
Paul called me screaming.
I stared at the television footage.
Windows shattered.
Front awning burning.
My workplace.
Three years of my life.
Harrison stood beside me.
"I'm sorry."
"You didn't do it."
"My family—"
"Stop."
He looked at me.
"I'm learning."
"Slowly."
Grace came downstairs.
Saw the news.
"Miss Clare's restaurant?"
I turned off the television.
"It's okay."
"Uncle Daniel did that?"
We didn't lie.
"We think so."
Grace looked scared.
Then angry.
"He ruins everything."
Harrison crouched.
"Not everything."
She looked at him.
"He can't."
That evening, federal agents moved us to a secure location.
Not the estate.
A downtown apartment owned by no Cole company.
Grace hated it.
I hated it.
Harrison hated being protected by federal agents.
I enjoyed that part slightly.
At midnight, Grace couldn't sleep.
We folded birds.
Dozens.
White napkins.
Printer paper.
Old grocery receipts.
Harrison joined.
His were worse than mine.
Grace was horrified.
"How are you this bad?"
"I employ people."
"Not anymore," I said.
Grace laughed.
Harrison glared.
Then his phone rang.
Helen.
They had Daniel.
Or they thought they did.
A surveillance team located him entering an abandoned Cole warehouse near the river.
He was not alone.
Thomas Vane's missing archive boxes were being moved there.
Daniel planned to destroy remaining physical evidence and leave by boat.
Federal agents prepared to arrest him.
Harrison did not need to go.
Which meant, naturally, he tried.
Helen threatened to arrest him too.
I supported her.
He remained.
For forty minutes.
Then the building fire alarm activated.
Not our building.
The entire block.
Security started evacuating residents.
Ben immediately said, "No."
A federal marshal agreed.
"Possible diversion."
Then smoke entered the hallway.
Real fire somewhere below.
We had to move.
The stairwell filled with people.
Harrison held Grace's hand.
I stayed behind them.
Two agents ahead.
Ben behind.
On the twelfth floor, emergency lights failed.
Chaos.
Somebody screamed.
Then a man grabbed me.
Hard.
Hand over my mouth.
I kicked.
The person dragged me through a service door.
I bit his hand.
He cursed.
Another man appeared.
Gun.
I stopped.
"Move."
I was taken through a maintenance corridor.
Down two levels.
Into a freight elevator.
My heart pounded so hard I could hear it.
Daniel wasn't at the warehouse.
The warehouse was bait.
Of course.
The elevator opened into an underground service garage.
A black sedan waited.
Daniel stood beside it.
He looked exhausted.
Not polished anymore.
"You."
I stared.
"Disappointed?"
"I expected Harrison."
"He's difficult to carry."
Daniel smiled without humor.
"Get in."
"No."
The man behind me lifted the gun.
I got in.
Daniel sat opposite.
"Your brother is going to find you."
"Eventually."
"Federal agents too."
"Eventually."
I thought of Grace.
She had already lost me once in the stairwell.
Panic would be brutal.
I hated Daniel for that more than for the gun.
"What do you want?"
"The drive."
"Federal government has it."
"Copies."
"I don't."
"Harrison does."
"No."
Daniel stared.
"You really don't understand him."
I almost laughed.
"That is rich coming from you."
His eyes hardened.
"He will trade anything for people he loves."
"Exactly."
"What?"
"He already gave up the empire."
Daniel said nothing.
"You built your entire plan around threatening what he owned."
I leaned forward.
"You never realized Grace was the only thing he couldn't replace."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"And you."
I went cold.
"You think you're different?"
"Yes."
"He's in love with you."
My pulse skipped.
Terrible timing.
"He hasn't said that."
"He doesn't have to."
Daniel smiled.
"That's useful."
The car moved.
We drove toward the river.
My phone was gone.
No tracker I knew about.
But Harrison was paranoid.
Maybe that would finally be useful.
Daniel took me to an old marina.
A boat waited.
He wanted Harrison to bring the original physical ledger recovered from Emily's evidence archive.
There was no need for it legally.
But Daniel wanted to destroy anything tying his name to certain politicians who had not yet been exposed.
He called Harrison.
I heard his voice answer immediately.
"Clare?"
Daniel smiled.
"Alive."
Harrison's voice changed.
"Put her on."
Daniel handed me the phone.
"Harrison."
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Where?"
Daniel took the phone.
"No questions."
Harrison's voice turned cold.
"What do you want?"
"Marianne ledger. Original."
I frowned.
Marianne?
A ledger I didn't know existed.
Apparently Emily had copied records from an older source.
Harrison said, "Federal custody."
"No."
Daniel laughed.
"You kept it."
Silence.
Apparently Daniel knew his brother too.
"Bring it to Pier 31."
"Clare first."
"No."
"Daniel."
"If I see police, she goes into the river."
My stomach clenched.
The call ended.
I looked at Daniel.
"You really think he'll come alone?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because unlike me, Harrison always had one weakness."
"What?"
"Conscience."
Forty minutes later, Harrison arrived.
Alone.
Or looked alone.
Dark coat.
No visible weapon.
He carried a leather case.
My heart nearly broke from fear and fury.
Daniel walked me toward the dock.
"Open it."
Harrison did.
Ledger.
Original.
"You kept it," Daniel said.
"Insurance."
"Give it."
"Clare."
Daniel's gun pressed against my side.
"Ledger."
Harrison looked at me.
Not the gun.
Me.
"I'm sorry."
I frowned.
"For what?"
"For this taking so long."
Then every light at the marina shut off.
Daniel swore.
Gunfire cracked somewhere behind us.
I dropped.
Harrison lunged.
Daniel fired.
The shot went wide.
Harrison hit him.
They crashed against the dock.
I crawled away.
Federal agents emerged from darkness.
Ben appeared beside me.
"Hurt?"
"No."
Daniel and Harrison fought.
Not elegant.
Two brothers carrying forty years of history in every blow.
Daniel pulled a knife.
Harrison grabbed his wrist.
Federal agents shouted.
"DROP IT!"
Daniel looked at his brother.
"You destroyed us."
Harrison's face was bleeding.
"No."
He twisted the knife away.
"You did."
Daniel reached for the gun on the dock.
Harrison could have killed him.
I saw it.
Everyone did.
His hand closed around the weapon first.
Daniel froze.
Harrison aimed.
For one terrible second, the old world waited.
Brother killing brother.
Violence ending violence.
Then Harrison lowered the gun.
"No."
Daniel stared.
Harrison stepped back.
"You don't get to turn me into you."
Federal agents tackled Daniel.
Handcuffs closed around his wrists.
He screamed.
Threatened.
Cursed Harrison.
Cursed Emily.
That was his final mistake.
Harrison stopped.
Slowly turned.
"What did you say?"
Daniel smiled.
"She should have stayed out of my business."
The entire marina seemed to go silent.
Helen Mercer stepped forward.
"Thank you, Daniel."
He looked at her.
She lifted a recorder.
His face changed.
Not a full confession.
But enough to support everything else.
He was taken away.
Harrison came to me.
Blood on his lip.
Bruised cheek.
I slapped his chest.
He blinked.
"Ow."
"You came alone?"
"No."
"Looked alone."
"That was the point."
"You could have been killed."
"So could you."
"Do not use my argument."
His face changed.
"You're okay."
It wasn't a question.
"No."
I looked at him.
"I'm furious."
He laughed.
Then I started crying.
Everything broke loose.
Harrison pulled me into his arms.
I held him.
Hard.
For several seconds, nothing existed except relief.
Then he whispered into my hair.
"Daniel was right about one thing."
I pulled back.
"Bad time to compliment him."
His eyes held mine.
"I'm in love with you."
My heart stopped.
There it was.
Not at dinner.
Not beneath stars.
On a freezing Chicago dock with federal agents arresting his brother fifteen feet away.
"You have terrible timing."
"I've been told."
I laughed through tears.
Then kissed him.
Once.
Briefly.
Because there was still Grace.
Always Grace.
"We tell her slowly."
Harrison nodded.
"She decides what this means."
"Yes."
"And I am not becoming her mother."
"I know."
"I'm Clare."
His hand touched my face.
"That's who I want."
When we returned to the secure apartment, Grace ran toward us.
She hit Harrison first.
Little fists against his coat.
"You lost her!"
He let her.
"I'm sorry."
"You said safe!"
"I know."
Then she threw herself at me.
I held her.
"I'm here."
She cried.
"I thought you left."
"No."
I pulled back.
"Remember our promise?"
Her face crumpled.
"I didn't leave without telling you."
She nodded.
Harrison knelt beside us.
Grace looked at his bruised face.
"Did Uncle Daniel do that?"
"Yes."
"Is he going to jail?"
"Yes."
"For Mommy?"
Harrison swallowed.
"We think so."
Grace started crying again.
Not scared this time.
Something else.
Release.
For two years, Daniel had lived in every window.
Every hallway.
Every raised voice.
Now he was handcuffed.
Now adults believed her.
Now the secret belonged to everyone.
Grace whispered, "Can I stop remembering now?"
Dr. Maya would later explain memories didn't work that way.
May you like
But that night I told her the only answer that mattered.
"You don't have to remember alone anymore."
