Chapter 21 - The Confession on the Record
While Elena was being fingerprinted in federal holding, Daniel was creeping through the darkened corridors of Arthur Vance's downtown legal offices, completely unaware of the trap closing around him.
Using an old master key card his mother had kept from years ago, Daniel disabled the rear stairwell latch and slipped into the archive room on the fourteenth floor. His heart was pounding like a jackhammer against his ribs. The beam of his small pocket flashlight danced across rows of tall steel filing cabinets.
"Where is it... where is the Hayes box?" Daniel muttered under his breath, sweat dripping into his eyes.
He located the fireproof safe labeled *H.H. ESTATE - 1964*. Punching in the override code Julian's operatives had provided, he heard the satisfying mechanical click of the safe door swinging open. Inside lay the thick oilcloth-wrapped bundle containing the original property deeds and transport codicils.
"I got it," Daniel breathed, a manic grin stretching across his face. "I'm free. I'm rich."
Suddenly, the overhead fluorescent lights buzzed to life with blinding intensity.
"Drop the bundle, Daniel."
Daniel gasped, spinning around. Standing in the doorway of the archive was Detective Vance, his sidearm drawn and resting at low ready, flanked by two armed state troopers. Standing right beside them was me, still dressed in my evening gown, with Arthur Vance watching coldly from the threshold.
Daniel looked between the police officers and me, his grin melting into raw, pathetic terror. "Claire... Claire, wait! It's not what it looks like!"
"You're holding stolen legal documents from a locked attorney's safe at eleven o'clock at night, Daniel," I said calmly, folding my arms. "What exactly does it look like?"
"Julian made me do it!" Daniel blurted out, his hands shaking so violently he dropped the oilcloth bundle onto the floor. He dropped to his knees, throwing his hands in the air. "Uncle Julian threatened me! He said if I didn't get these deeds, he would have me killed! He set me up! Claire, you have to believe me!"
"Uncle Julian is currently on a container vessel preparing to depart from Terminal 4," Detective Vance said dryly. "And you just committed a Class A felony burglary, Mr. Vance."
"Listen to me! I'll tell you everything!" Daniel cried, tears streaming down his face as he crawled across the carpet toward my feet. "I have the encrypted flash drive Julian gave my mother! It has all the offshore account numbers, the shell companies in Panama, the names of the port officials Julian paid off to keep Harold's trust hidden! I'll give it all to you, Claire! Just tell them not to send me to prison! Please! I was your husband!"
I looked down at the man sobbing on the carpet, begging for mercy he had never once shown me. When he had thrown my suitcases into the rain, he didn't care if I had a roof over my head. When he watched his mother tear up my family photographs, he had smirked and poured himself another glass of scotch.
"Hand over the drive, Daniel," I said quietly.
Sobbing, Daniel reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a sleek titanium thumb drive, holding it out with trembling fingers. Detective Vance stepped forward, securely bagging the drive as evidence, while the two state troopers pulled Daniel to his feet and snapped cold steel handcuffs around his wrists.
"You're under arrest for commercial burglary and criminal conspiracy," the trooper stated, reading Daniel his rights as they led him down the hallway.
As Daniel was dragged past me, he looked at me with hollow, broken eyes. "Claire... please... tell them I helped you..."
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"You didn't help me, Daniel," I whispered. "You just finally paid your debt."
***