Chapter 9 - Peter Sloan
Richard couldn't hear my earpiece.
He saw only an old man walking toward him.
That was useful.
“Tell me about Claire,” I said.
He tilted his head.
“You're still pretending you don't know?”
“Know what?”
“That she found your case files.”
My feet stopped.
Richard's smile widened.
“Your wife wasn't stupid, Arthur. She knew you were worried about Meridian. She started checking names. Bank records. Property deeds. She found my father before you did.”
My throat tightened.
“Claire never told me.”
“She planned to.”
In my earpiece, Tessa whispered, “Sloan located. Alive. Critical condition.”
I kept my face still.
Richard continued.
“My father had someone tamper with her car. He wanted to scare her. Make the brakes soft. Make her stop digging.”
“Did he order her killed?”
Richard's jaw twitched.
“No.”
That answer came too fast.
“What happened?”
“He hired an idiot.”
For the first time, Richard looked away.
“The line was cut too deep.”
My chest hollowed out.
Claire's death had not been the plan.
But someone had still touched her car.
Someone had still sent her into an intersection without brakes.
Richard raised the gun higher.
“My father spent the rest of his life waiting for you to come after him.”
“I never knew.”
“Exactly.”
His face twisted.
“He died terrified of a man who wasn't even looking.”
That was his real wound: humiliation, inherited from a father who died afraid.
“Then you found Lily,” I said.
“I found your weakness.”
“No. You found a kind woman and mistook kindness for weakness.”
His finger tightened on the trigger.
“Keep talking.”
Tessa's voice came through my earpiece.
“Extraction team has Sloan. Hold subject.”
A distant engine started behind the barn.
Richard heard it.
His eyes snapped toward the sound.
He understood.
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
He swung the gun toward the trees.
I moved before he finished turning.
Not fast like a movie.
Fast enough.
I hit his forearm with both hands and drove the barrel toward the ground.
The gun fired once.
The porch light shattered.
Richard slammed his shoulder into me and we both fell into the gravel.
Boots pounded from every direction.
“Federal agents! Drop it!”
Richard released the pistol.
Then he laughed beneath me.
“You think Sloan saves you?”
Tessa cuffed him.
Richard turned his head toward me.
“Sloan didn't see who touched Claire's car.”
I stared down at him.
“Who did?”
May you like
His smile returned.
“My mother.”
