Chapter 13 - Hale Comes Home.
David did not go to the address alone.
He also did not tell Natalie where he was going.
Rachel insisted on coming, and Owen arranged for two private security officers to stay several blocks away.
The address belonged to an old townhouse on the Upper East Side registered to a shell company connected to Hale's firm.
The front door was unlocked.
David hated that detail.
"This is an invitation," Rachel whispered.
"I know."
"Invitations can be traps."
"I know that too."
They entered.
The townhouse smelled faintly of cedar and old paper.
No lights were on downstairs.
A lamp glowed on the second floor.
Jonathan Hale sat in a study beneath it.
He looked exactly as he always had.
Gray suit.
Blue tie.
Silver hair combed neatly back.
A man David had trusted since his twenties.
"You took your time," Hale said.
David stopped in the doorway.
"Where is the capsule?"
Hale glanced at Rachel.
"I asked you to come without Natalie."
"You didn't say without Rachel."
"Always careful with language."
Hale smiled faintly.
"Emily liked that about you."
David's hands tightened.
"Do not use her name like we're old friends."
"We are old friends."
"Not anymore."
Hale gestured toward two chairs.
Neither David nor Rachel sat.
"You have built an impressive story," Hale said.
"Hidden cameras, stolen documents, forged signatures, a wounded child, and one ambitious chief financial officer."
"You forgot the disappearing attorney."
"I took time away because my own firm became unsafe."
Rachel laughed once.
"You control the network."
"That is what Natalie told you?"
"You knew she talked."
Hale's expression remained calm.
"Natalie is frightened."
"She should be."
"Not of me."
David stepped closer.
"Then who?"
"Grant."
Rachel folded her arms.
"Convenient."
Hale opened a drawer and placed a folder on the desk.
"Emily discovered Grant was diverting company funds through acquisition vehicles."
"And you helped him."
"I documented him."
"The camera shows you taking Emily's file."
"Because she asked me to authenticate it."
"Grant was with you."
"Because he did not yet know Emily suspected him."
David stared at Hale.
The explanation was smooth enough to be dangerous.
"Why was Natalie there?"
"Emily wanted to know whether the Mercer family connection created a claim against the trust."
Rachel shook her head.
"That does not explain why Natalie later targeted David."
Hale looked at David.
"Because Natalie fell in love with the idea of becoming Mrs. David Walker."
David felt anger rise.
"You arranged our meeting."
"Grant arranged it."
"You told Natalie about the rabbit."
For the first time, Hale's face changed.
It was only a slight narrowing of the eyes.
David saw it.
"She told you that?"
"Yes."
Hale leaned back.
"Then Natalie has become more reckless than I thought."
"Did you send her after it?"
"No."
David took out his phone and showed him the photograph of the capsule.
Hale did not touch the screen.
"Where did you get that?"
"You tell me."
"I have never seen it."
Rachel watched him carefully.
"Natalie identified the serial number before this photograph arrived."
Hale's calm finally cracked.
"Serial number?"
David enlarged the image.
"Four-E, nineteen, A-seven."
Hale stood.
His reaction was immediate enough to answer the question he had denied.
"Where is it?"
David stared at him.
"So you do know it."
Hale walked toward the window.
"You have no idea what Emily put inside that capsule."
"Then tell me."
"I cannot."
"Cannot or will not?"
"If the contents are released without context, people who had nothing to do with Grant's scheme could be destroyed."
"Who?"
Hale did not answer.
David felt something shift.
"This isn't about protecting Grant."
Hale looked back at him.
"No."
"Then who are you protecting?"
Hale's eyes moved toward Rachel.
"Ask your lawyer why Emily named Rachel Kim in her private correspondence."
Rachel went still.
David turned toward her.
"What is he talking about?"
"I have no idea."
Hale opened the folder on his desk and slid one page forward.
It was a copy of an email from Emily to Jonathan Hale dated nineteen months earlier.
One sentence was highlighted.
Rachel found the mismatch, and she cannot know yet that I know she found it.
David looked at Rachel.
Rachel read the sentence twice.
"I've never seen this."
Hale's voice became quiet.
"Then perhaps Emily was investigating more people than you realized."
Rachel shook her head.
"This could be fabricated."
"Of course it could."
Hale smiled sadly.
"That is the problem when everyone learns to forge everything."
David's phone rang.
Owen.
He answered.
"Sir, you need to come home."
David's stomach tightened.
"Is Lucy safe?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
Owen hesitated.
"Someone entered Mrs. Walker's old bedroom."
"What did they take?"
"Nothing that we can tell."
"Then why are you calling?"
Owen lowered his voice.
"Because they left something on the bed."
David waited.
May you like
"A brass capsule with a blue ring."
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