Chapter 17: The Cornered Animal
Dawn broke over the city in streaks of bruised purple and dull gold. Daniel sat in his car across the street from Emily’s house. He had been there for three hours, watching the quiet suburban street, the engine idling occasionally to ward off the early morning chill.
Sophie was inside, asleep in her favorite dinosaur pajamas, oblivious to the fact that her entire genetic history had been unraveled and rewoven in the span of a single night.
Daniel’s phone vibrated in the cupholder. It was Price.
"We hit the cabin," she said, her voice crackling over a weak connection. "It's empty. Food is still warm on the stove. He ran."
Daniel sat up straight. "How? Did he know you were coming?"
"He has a police scanner," Price said, frustration evident in her tone. "We found it on the table. But Daniel... we found something else. We found a mapped route printed out. He’s not running north. He’s running south. Back to the city."
"Why would he come back here?"
"He doesn't have the hard drives," Price said. "We tore the place apart. They aren't here. If he doesn't have leverage against Patricia, he's a dead man. He needs money to disappear."
Daniel’s mind raced. "The trusts. He's going after the accounts."
"He needs a physical token to bypass the biometric locks on the main offshore accounts," Price said. "Claire just told us. He needs the original signet ring Patricia gave him. The one he left in the safe-deposit box."
"The box is in police custody."
"He knows that," Price said. "But he also knows you have access to the civil discovery files. He might think you have copies, or that you know where Claire hid her backups. Daniel, where are you?"
"I'm outside Emily's house."
"Stay in the car. Keep the doors locked. I'm sending a local unit to you right now."
Before Daniel could reply, a movement in the rearview mirror caught his eye. A dark sedan turned onto the quiet street, its headlights off despite the dim morning light. It rolled slowly to a stop two houses down from Emily’s.
A man stepped out. He wore a heavy coat and a baseball cap pulled low, but Daniel recognized the stooped, anxious posture from the photograph. Richard Hale.
"He's here," Daniel said softly into the phone. "He's at Emily's."
"Do not engage, Daniel! Wait for the uniforms!"
Daniel dropped the phone onto the passenger seat. He watched Hale walk up the driveway toward Emily's front porch. Hale reached into his coat, pulling out something heavy and metallic. A crowbar.
Fear, cold and sharp, spiked in Daniel's chest, immediately swallowed by a roaring, protective fury. This man had helped forge his daughter's life. This man had helped murder his wife. And now he was walking toward the house where Sophie slept.
Daniel didn't think. He acted. He threw the car door open and sprinted across the dew-slicked lawns.
Hale raised the crowbar to smash the glass pane on Emily's front door.
"Hale!" Daniel roared, his voice tearing from his throat.
Hale whipped around, eyes wide with panic. He swung the crowbar in a wild arc as Daniel tackled him on the porch steps. The heavy iron grazed Daniel’s shoulder, sending a shockwave of pain down his arm, but his momentum carried them both into the azalea bushes.
They scrambled in the dirt. Hale was older, weakened by stress and paranoia, but driven by the sheer terror of a cornered animal. He clawed at Daniel's face, scrambling to get back to his feet.
"Where is it?" Hale screamed, spit flying from his lips. "Where did Claire put the drives?"
"You killed her!" Daniel shouted, slamming his fist into Hale's jaw. "You killed Lauren!"
"Patricia ordered it!" Hale sobbed, his nose bleeding, raising his hands in surrender as Daniel drew back his fist again. "I just paid the mechanic! I didn't want to! She was going to ruin everything!"
Sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder by the second. The front door of the house flew open. Emily stood there in her robe, a baseball bat gripped in her hands, her eyes wide with shock.
Daniel grabbed Hale by the lapels of his coat, hauling him half-upright and slamming him against the brick foundation of the house. Hale went limp, sobbing hysterically.
"It's over," Daniel panted, his chest heaving. "It's all over."
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Two squad cars screeched to a halt in front of the house, tires smoking. Officers swarmed the lawn, weapons drawn. Daniel let go of Hale and stepped back, raising his hands, his eyes locked on the broken man on the ground.
He had stayed. He had fought. And he had won.
