Chapter 9 - The North Boathouse
The emergency generators came on thirty seconds later.
The shooter was gone.
Kevin survived, and Mercer stabilized him until paramedics arrived under armed escort.
Dominic wanted police brought in immediately.
Arthur objected.
"You have no idea what kind of scandal this becomes."
Dominic looked at him. "A child was taken from my house and a man was shot. I am finished protecting reputations."
Arthur looked away.
That sentence hit something.
At 11:46 p.m., Chicago police and county investigators entered the estate.
Dominic gave them the brace, the pills, Angela's letter, Caleb's recorder, and the security logs.
He kept only one fact from the room.
The north boathouse.
Not to obstruct the police.
To test Arthur.
Dominic told Vincent the location within Arthur's hearing, then deliberately changed the time.
"One-thirty," he said.
At 12:07, a camera overlooking the boathouse captured a black SUV arriving.
Arthur had passed the information.
Dominic watched the feed from the security room.
"Who did he tell?"
Vincent traced the landline call Arthur had made earlier.
The prepaid number had now activated inside the SUV.
A man stepped out.
Gray coat.
Tall.
Older than Dominic remembered.
But alive.
Marcus Vale.
Dominic stopped breathing for one second.
His dead brother walked to the water as casually as if returning from vacation.
He looked directly toward the hidden camera.
Then smiled.
Marcus raised a phone.
Dominic's phone rang.
He answered.
"Hello, brother," Marcus said.
Dominic stared at the screen.
"You should have stayed dead."
May you like
Marcus laughed softly.
"You should have stayed crippled."
