Chapter 14 - THE ARCHITECT ARRIVES
Police remained hidden.
Bennett needed Morgan talking.
Claire forced herself not to look toward the officers’ positions.
Judge Morgan walked closer.
She wore a long dark coat.
Her expression was calm.
Almost disappointed.
“Claire.”
Morgan smiled faintly.
“You have caused an extraordinary amount of trouble.”
Claire stared at her.
“You tried to bury me alive.”
“No.”
Morgan looked toward Richard.
“He turned a clean plan into a disaster.”
Richard laughed.
“Clean?”
“You promised she wouldn’t wake up.”
Cole stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Morgan raised one hand.
Cole stopped.
Even now, he obeyed her.
Claire understood why Samuel called Morgan the Architect.
She controlled everything.
People.
Money.
Documents.
Outcomes.
Claire asked the question Bennett needed answered.
“What happened to my father?”
Morgan’s face remained still.
“Samuel refused to cooperate.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“He had a heart condition.”
Richard suddenly interrupted.
“Tell her the truth.”
Morgan turned.
Richard smiled.
“You’re going to sacrifice me anyway.”
“Richard.”
“You had Lawson falsify the report.”
Claire stared at Morgan.
Morgan’s calm finally cracked.
“Samuel created his own problems.”
Claire stepped closer.
“You were there when he died.”
Morgan said nothing.
That silence traveled clearly through Claire’s wire.
At the command post, Bennett whispered.
“We have enough.”
Officers moved.
“POLICE!”
Lights flooded the bridge.
Morgan turned.
Cole ran toward the sedan.
Richard dropped to the pavement.
Claire backed away.
Cole tried to reach the driver’s side door.
An officer intercepted him.
Within seconds, he was surrounded.
Morgan remained standing.
She did not run.
She looked directly toward Bennett approaching from the darkness.
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
Bennett removed handcuffs.
“I hear that a lot.”
“You think a recording from a frightened woman will destroy seventeen years on the bench?”
“No.”
Bennett smiled.
“But the documents from Samuel Parker might.”
Morgan’s confidence vanished.
“The documents?”
Richard suddenly laughed from the ground.
“You didn’t know about the second key.”
Morgan stared toward Claire.
Then toward Richard.
“You fool.”
Richard shook his head.
“No.”
“Samuel fooled all of us.”
Bennett handcuffed Morgan.
Then Claire remembered something.
“The envelope.”
Richard looked down.
It was gone.
During the confusion, the red envelope had disappeared from his hand.
Claire searched the pavement.
Nothing.
Then Bennett’s radio crackled.
A young voice came through.
“Detective Bennett?”
Ethan.
Bennett grabbed the radio.
“Ethan, stay at the command post.”
“I am.”
“Then what is it?”
There was a pause.
“A black SUV just drove away behind us.”
May you like
Bennett turned sharply.
Rebecca had escaped custody.
