CHAPTER 15 — The Exchange
My father wanted the notebooks.
He instructed me to bring them to an abandoned railway depot outside the city.
No police.
No tracking devices.
No tricks.
Daniel refused.
“We don’t hand evidence to a fugitive.”
“He has Grant.”
“We don’t know if Grant is alive.”
“That’s exactly why I’m going.”
Sarah looked at me.
“You sound like me.”
“Is that good?”
“Sometimes.”
Professor Hughes created digital copies of every notebook page.
Then we placed convincing replicas inside an evidence case.
Daniel fitted a tiny transmitter beneath the handle.
At midnight, I entered the depot.
My father stood beneath a broken overhead light.
Dean Grant was tied to a chair.
His face was bruised.
He was awake but unable to speak.
“You came,” Richard said.
“You knew I would.”
“Because unlike your real mother, you understand responsibility.”
“Don’t talk about her.”
He smiled.
“You still think Sarah is innocent?”
“What does that mean?”
“She didn’t lose you by accident.”
I tightened my grip on the case.
“She borrowed money from dangerous people. She planned to use your inheritance before you were even born.”
“Liar.”
“Ask her why her father changed his will.”
I said nothing.
He nodded toward the case.
“Slide it over.”
“Release Grant first.”
He pulled a gun.
“Still negotiating. You always were arrogant.”
“You mean difficult.”
“I mean ungrateful.”
I slid the case halfway across the floor.
He pushed Grant forward.
Grant stumbled toward me.
Then my father opened the case.
His face changed.
“These are copies.”
Police lights burst through the broken windows.
Richard grabbed Grant around the neck and raised the gun.
Daniel shouted from the darkness.
“Drop it!”
My father dragged Grant toward a side door.
Then Ethan stepped into view.
“Dad.”
Richard froze.
Ethan held the original notebooks.
“You want these?”
“Ethan, no!” I shouted.
My brother looked at me once.
Then he ran.
May you like
My father chased him into the darkness.
A gunshot followed.
