Chapter 8 - THE BLUE ROOM
Officer Ramirez stopped him.
“Don’t touch anything.”
He pointed at the whiteboard. “What does that mean?”
“We don’t know yet.”
In a locked cabinet, police found folders labeled by sponsor name.
Each contained scripts.
LILY WORSE TODAY.
DOCTOR SAYS NEW TREATMENT NEEDED.
WE MAY HAVE TO SELL OUR HOME.
Daniel laughed without humor. “Sell our home? Melissa owns half of it and I make enough money to pay for any treatment in the country.”
“That wouldn’t raise donations,” Ramirez said.
They also found a burner phone.
One message thread was between Melissa and Evan.
MELISSA: DANIEL CAN’T KNOW UNTIL THE BOARD VOTE.
EVAN: HE’LL BE OUT BY THEN.
MELISSA: AND THE POLICY?
EVAN: ACTIVE FRIDAY MORNING.
Daniel went still.
“What board vote?”
At Hart Systems, Omar found the answer.
A special board meeting had been quietly scheduled for Friday afternoon.
Agenda: leadership stability.
Evan had convinced three directors that Daniel was mentally exhausted, distracted by family problems, and making reckless decisions.
“They were planning to remove me,” Daniel said.
Omar nodded. “Looks like it.”
“And if something happened to me before then…”
Maya finished the thought. “Melissa gets the insurance money. Evan gets control of the company. Grant keeps the charity business alive.”
Daniel looked at the old camera on the evidence table.
“My daughter was the product.”
Nobody answered.
Then Ramirez’s phone rang.
She listened for a few seconds.
“What hospital?”
Her face changed.
She hung up.
“Grant Vance was found in his SUV near the river.”
Daniel’s chest tightened. “Dead?”
“No. Barely conscious.”
“What happened?”
“Someone beat him badly.”
Daniel stared at her.
Ramirez continued, “And before he passed out, he told the paramedic one thing.”
May you like
She paused.
“He said Melissa wasn’t in charge.”
