Chapter 15 - The Trap at the Empty House
Ortiz decided the only advantage they still possessed was that Nathan did not know exactly how much of Eli's video had been recovered.
The damaged file stopped before the final moments in the kitchen.
Nathan could not know whether investigators had seen him handling the cookie bag, heard Judith's warnings, or captured his exit.
Ortiz wanted to use that uncertainty.
A controlled leak was prepared.
Through a channel Price had previously accessed, the case file was updated with a false note claiming Megan had stored an original ledger in a hidden compartment at the Reed house.
The note suggested the ledger contained handwritten initials linking every transfer directly to Nathan.
There was no ledger.
The house had been cleared for a covert surveillance operation.
Thomas hated the idea of his home becoming bait.
Megan hated it more.
"Every room is already ruined in my head," she said.
"Now they're going to wait there for him like it's a stage."
Ortiz did not apologize.
"If Nathan believes a document can destroy him, he may take the risk."
"What if Price goes instead?" Thomas asked.
"Then we learn something."
"What if Judith goes?"
Ortiz looked at Megan.
"Then we learn something else."
The operation began at ten that night.
Unmarked police vehicles positioned themselves several houses away.
Cameras watched the front and back entrances.
Officers waited inside two neighboring homes with permission from residents.
Thomas, Megan, and Eli remained at the hospital under security.
For the first two hours, nothing happened.
At twelve-fifteen, a sedan drove slowly past the Reed house and continued.
At twelve-forty, a man walking a dog paused near the driveway, then moved on.
At one-oh-three, the side gate opened.
A figure in dark clothing crossed the yard.
Thomas watched the live feed from Ortiz's laptop.
The person wore gloves and a hood.
He or she used a key on the back door.
No forced entry.
The figure went directly to the kitchen.
Thomas's pulse hammered.
The person opened the pantry, checked beneath the sink, then moved toward the study.
Ortiz whispered into her radio.
Officers closed in.
The figure heard something and ran.
Police intercepted the intruder at the side gate.
When the hood came off, Thomas felt a shock almost equal to the first night.
Judith.
Megan turned away from the screen.
Thomas closed his eyes.
Ortiz drove to the house while another detective remained with the family.
Judith was arrested for unlawful entry and evidence-related offenses while the larger case remained under review.
During questioning, she finally stopped protecting herself with half-answers.
She told Ortiz she had seen the false case note through Price.
Price had contacted her from a temporary number and warned that the ledger would prove Nathan had used her signature on transfers she claimed not to understand.
Judith believed the ledger could also show she had received money.
She went to the house to destroy it before Nathan or police could find it.
"So even after everything, she was still cleaning up," Megan said.
Thomas said nothing.
Judith also revealed something new.
She had not seen Nathan since the afternoon in the kitchen.
After realizing Eli had eaten the cookie, Judith confronted Nathan by phone.
Nathan told her the boy was "useful pressure" and ordered her to leave the house.
She refused.
According to Judith, Nathan returned through the back door shortly before Thomas arrived.
Judith had already gone.
That explained the three-minute deletion window.
Nathan could have been inside the house while Thomas stood in the kitchen calling for help.
"Where was he hiding?" Thomas asked Ortiz.
"We're checking."
Crime scene technicians returned to the home again.
Behind the laundry room door, they found a narrow utility closet accessible from the back hallway.
Dust on the floor showed a recent shoe impression.
A torn fiber from a dark green shirt clung to a nail.
Nathan could have stood there less than twenty feet from Thomas.
He could have listened to the emergency call.
He could have waited until Thomas knelt beside Megan, then used a tablet or phone to access the router and delete the footage.
He could have slipped out the back while sirens approached from the front.
The thought made Thomas physically ill.
Judith provided one final piece of information in exchange for her attorney being allowed to discuss cooperation with prosecutors.
Nathan maintained a private safe-deposit account under the name of his late brother.
The earlier document-storage box was not the only location.
This one was at a small regional bank outside the city.
Police secured a warrant by morning.
Inside the box were cash, two passports carrying Nathan's photograph under different names, and a notebook of payments.
One line listed S.P. beside a series of dates and amounts.
Samuel Price.
Another line listed J.L.
Judith Lane.
A third set of initials appeared repeatedly beside the largest payments.
M.R.
Thomas frowned when Ortiz showed him.
"Who is M.R.?"
Ortiz looked at Megan.
Megan had gone completely pale.
"I know," she whispered.
Thomas turned to her.
"Who?"
May you like
Megan's answer opened a door none of them had expected.
"My father's former attorney."
