CHAPTER 7 THE CONFESSION OF DANIEL PRICE
Daniel Price occupied a guarded room two floors below Jonathan.
His skin was gray.
Bandages covered his shoulder and abdomen.
Two federal officers stood outside the door.
Lila entered with Detective Hale.
Price looked smaller in the hospital bed.
Nothing like the man who had held a gun underground.
Nothing like the monster Sam described.
That made Lila hate him more.
Monsters were easier when they looked like monsters.
Price’s eyes opened.
“You came.”
Lila remained near the door.
“You asked for me.”
“I’m sorry.”
She said nothing.
“I never meant for your mother to die.”
“You left her bleeding on the kitchen floor.”
Price’s mouth trembled.
“I panicked.”
“You kidnapped my brother.”
“Charles said Sam had taken photographs.”
“So you tied him to a chair.”
“I was told they only wanted the evidence.”
“You put explosives around him.”
“I didn’t know about them until we arrived underground.”
Lila took one step closer.
“You keep describing things as though they happened near you instead of because of you.”
Price closed his eyes.
Hale remained silent.
Lila continued.
“You entered our home.”
“Yes.”
“You threatened my mother.”
“Yes.”
“You fought with her.”
“Yes.”
“You watched her fall.”
“Yes.”
“And you walked away.”
Price opened his eyes again.
Tears had gathered in them.
“I tried to call an ambulance.”
“But?”
“Charles took my phone.”
“Then you obeyed him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Price looked toward the window.
“Because he owned everything.”
“Your job?”
“My life.”
“That sounds dramatic.”
“It’s true.”
Lila’s voice turned cold.
“No.”
“It’s convenient.”
Price stared at her.
Lila moved closer to the bed.
“My mother worked until her hands shook.”
“She ate less so Sam and I could eat more.”
“She never owned a company.”
“She never had lawyers.”
“She never had anyone powerful behind her.”
“And she still said no to Charles.”
Price looked away.
“That is why she was better than you.”
Hale watched Price carefully.
The man’s breathing became uneven.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I do.”
“Then tell me who ordered you to go to our house.”
Price looked at Hale.
“If I speak, I need protection.”
Hale replied,
“You are under federal guard.”
“That’s not protection.”
“Charles has people everywhere.”
“Name them.”
Price laughed weakly.
“You think this ends with Charles?”
Lila remembered those exact words beneath the tower.
Her stomach tightened.
“Who else?”
Price hesitated.
Then whispered,
“Victor Crane.”
Jonathan’s interim replacement.
Hale stepped forward.
“What is Crane’s role?”
“He manages the political side.”
“Bribes?”
“Judges.”
“Inspectors.”
“Police.”
“Media.”
“Charles handles company operations.”
“Crane protects the machine.”
“Who ordered Claire Hart’s house searched?”
“Crane.”
“Who ordered Sam taken?”
“Charles.”
“Who ordered Claire killed?”
Price looked at Lila.
“No one.”
Lila’s jaw tightened.
Price raised his hand weakly.
“I swear.”
“We were supposed to take the ledger and scare her.”
“She grabbed a kitchen knife.”
“She wasn’t attacking me.”
“She was trying to reach the alarm near the stove.”
“I caught her arm.”
“She slipped.”
“Her head hit the counter.”
“I checked her pulse.”
“She was still alive.”
Lila stopped breathing.
“What?”
“She was alive when I left.”
Hale moved closer.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
“Then someone returned.”
Price nodded.
Lila stared at him.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“No.”
“Who had access?”
“Crane knew the address.”
“Charles knew.”
“And another person.”
“Who?”
Price swallowed.
“Deborah Hart.”
The room went silent.
Lila’s face emptied.
“My aunt.”
“She isn’t your aunt.”
“I know what she was.”
Price’s eyes widened slightly.
“You know she worked for the government.”
“Yes.”
“Then you don’t know everything.”
Lila stepped closer.
“What don’t I know?”
Price looked at Hale.
The detective said nothing.
Price continued.
“Deborah never left the investigation.”
“She changed sides.”
Lila shook her head.
“No.”
“She began working for Charles.”
“That’s a lie.”
“She gave him the location of the first ledger.”
“That’s a lie.”
“She identified Ruth.”
“That’s a lie.”
“She told Crane where your mother lived.”
Lila moved so fast Hale had to catch her arm.
“Stop.”
“He’s lying!”
Price flinched.
“I have proof.”
“What proof?”
“A payment file.”
“Where?”
“Corporate archives.”
“Victor Crane kept a private ledger.”
“Every bribe.”
“Every informant.”
“Every payoff.”
“Where is it?”
Price looked toward Hale.
“I want full protection.”
“You have no leverage,” Hale said.
“I have names that could take down judges and federal agents.”
“Where is the ledger?”
Price turned back to Lila.
“Inside the shelter.”
Lila went still.
“The Ruth Bell Family Center?”
“Yes.”
“Charles bought the property because Crane hid the ledger beneath it years ago.”
“Why hide it there?”
“Because no one searches under homeless families.”
The cruelty of the answer stunned even Hale.
Price continued.
“The shelter used to be a Brooks Industrial administration building.”
“There’s a sealed records room beneath the kitchen.”
“Crane moved the ledger there after Elizabeth Mercer started asking questions.”
Lila heard the name.
“Jonathan’s mother.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?”
Price closed his eyes.
“I don’t know.”
“Charles said she was becoming a problem.”
“Then she died.”
“How?”
“I wasn’t with the company then.”
“Who would know?”
“Ruth.”
Lila looked toward Hale.
He understood.
They needed to speak to Ruth immediately.
But Price caught Lila’s wrist.
His grip was weak.
Still, she recoiled.
“One more thing.”
“What?”
“Your mother knew Deborah was alive.”
Lila froze.
Price released her.
“She received letters.”
“When?”
“For years.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Charles intercepted most of them.”
“Most?”
“One got through.”
“What did it say?”
“I never saw it.”
“But Claire changed after receiving it.”
“She started searching for the ledger again.”
Lila’s voice shook.
“When did she receive it?”
“Two years ago.”
The same time the Great Lakes package arrived.
Hale opened the door.
“We’re done.”
Price called after them.
“Lila.”
She turned.
His face was full of fear.
Not for her.
For himself.
“If Charles is only the public face of this, Victor Crane is going to move tonight.”
“Move what?”
“The second site.”
Lila’s blood went cold.
“The shelter.”
Price nodded.
“He will burn it before sunrise.”
Hale was already calling federal agents.
They left the room at a run.
Upstairs, Jonathan was trying to stand when Lila and Hale returned.
Elaine blocked him.
A nurse threatened to call security.
Jonathan ignored all three.
“What happened?”
Lila told him.
Every word.
Price’s confession.
Crane’s role.
Deborah’s alleged betrayal.
The hidden ledger beneath the shelter.
The threat of fire.
Jonathan listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he looked at Elaine.
“Call the fire marshal.”
“Already done.”
“Hale?”
“Federal agents are heading to the shelter.”
Jonathan pulled the IV line from his arm.
The monitor alarmed.
Lila stared at him.
“What are you doing?”
“Leaving.”
“No.”
“I built the corporate structure that allowed this.”
“You were a child when it began.”
“I was a man when I inherited it.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I chose not to look closely enough.”
He reached for his clothes.
Lila blocked him.
“You can barely stand.”
“I don’t need to stand long.”
“You are not going into a burning building.”
“It isn’t burning yet.”
As if the universe had heard him, Hale’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed instantly.
“What?”
Lila’s stomach dropped.
Hale lowered the phone.
“The shelter’s fire alarm just activated.”
Jonathan moved toward the door.
A nurse tried to stop him.
He turned to Elaine.
“Get the car.”
Lila grabbed her coat.
Sam stepped out from the waiting area.
“I’m coming.”
“No,” Lila and Jonathan said together.
Sam looked at both of them.
Then his face hardened.
“My mother may have hidden something there.”
Jonathan knelt despite the pain.
His face tightened.
“Sam, listen to me.”
“You have already done more than any fourteen-year-old should ever be asked to do.”
“This is not your burden.”
“They made it my burden.”
“No.”
Jonathan’s voice softened.
“They placed it in your hands.”
“That does not mean you must carry it forever.”
Sam looked at Lila.
She touched his shoulder.
“Stay with Elaine.”
“I’ll come back.”
“You promise?”
Lila looked at him.
The word carried eight years of history.
Hunger.
Cold.
Abandonment.
Fear.
“I promise.”
Sam nodded.
Jonathan saw the way Lila’s face changed when she said it.
She had made promises before because promises were the only currency she possessed.
This time, she made one with no certainty she could keep it.
They reached the hospital elevator.
Hale stepped inside with them.
Before the doors closed, Jonathan’s phone rang.
Victor Crane.
Jonathan answered.
“Where are you?”
Crane’s voice was calm.
“Cleaning up your family’s mistakes.”
“You set the fire.”
“I protected the company.”
“You sound like Charles.”
“Charles never understood what the company required.”
“What does it require?”
“Sacrifice.”
Jonathan looked at Lila.
“Whose?”
Crane laughed softly.
“Always someone poorer than you.”
The call ended.
The elevator doors opened.
Outside, through the hospital entrance, flames were already visible in the distance.
May you like
The shelter was burning.
And sixty-three families were still inside.
