Chapter 13 - LAURA'S VIDEO
Police vehicles raced toward Wexler Quarry.
Hale sat beside Ethan in an unmarked SUV.
“If Laura made a video, Daniel may believe it's still somewhere.”
“Unit 214?”
“Maybe.”
Ethan thought harder.
Laura had hidden the key in the recipe tin.
But she had not hidden the video there.
Why?
Because the key was meant to lead him somewhere.
The storage unit contained evidence.
But Daniel already knew about it.
So Laura's real protection had to be something else.
Ethan suddenly remembered her old camera.
“She used to record Emmie's dance recitals.”
Hale looked at him.
“So?”
“The camera stopped working a few weeks before she died.”
“Where is it?”
“My garage.”
Hale radioed officers at Ethan's house.
“Search the garage for a camera or memory card.”
Five minutes later, an officer responded.
“We found an old digital camera.”
“Card?”
“Empty.”
Ethan cursed.
Then the officer said, “But the battery compartment feels strange.”
Silence.
“Open it.”
A pause.
“We've got a microSD card taped beneath the battery.”
Hale looked at Ethan.
“Laura hid it.”
“Can they read it?”
“Working on it.”
They reached the quarry access road.
The white van was parked beside an abandoned maintenance building.
Riker stood outside with Emmie.
His arm was around her shoulders.
A pistol hung low at his side.
Ethan stepped from the SUV.
Hale grabbed him.
“Stay behind me.”
Riker shouted.
“No cops closer!”
Emmie looked terrified but awake.
“Dad!”
Ethan's entire body reacted to her voice.
“I'm here, baby!”
Riker backed toward the building.
“Phone!”
Ethan held up his hands.
“What?”
“Daniel wants the storage files and Laura's video.”
“I don't have the video.”
“Then Emmie comes with me.”
“No.”
Riker smiled.
“You really don't understand how much that child remembers.”
“She remembers you lied to her.”
His smile disappeared.
Hale called out.
“Dean, this is over.”
Riker laughed.
“You think Daniel keeps people around when things are over?”
Hale studied him.
“He's going to abandon you.”
“No.”
“He already did.”
Riker's jaw tightened.
Hale continued.
“Daniel used your name in the files at Unit 214.”
That was a bluff.
Ethan knew it.
Riker didn't.
His eyes shifted.
Hale saw it.
“He's making you the fall guy.”
“Shut up.”
“You altered Laura's crash report. You accessed school data. You helped Vivian escape.”
“SHUT UP!”
Emmie flinched.
Then Ethan's phone buzzed.
Message from the officer at his house.
Video recovered. Watching now.
Seconds later another message arrived.
Laura recorded Daniel and Riker together. Clear faces. Clear conversation.
Ethan looked up.
Riker saw his expression.
“What?”
Ethan slowly smiled.
“Laura got you.”
Riker went pale.
“What did you say?”
“She recorded you.”
“No.”
“She recorded both of you.”
Riker's hand tightened around the gun.
And from inside the abandoned building, another voice shouted:
“Dean, don't believe him.”
May you like
Daniel Voss stepped into view.
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