Chapter 25 - The Betrayal That Wasn’t
For the next four hours, I hated Arthur Vance.
I hated Bianca too.
I hated myself most of all.
We had brought the ledger out.
We had led Harrison directly to it.
At two-thirty in the morning, Fiona established a command center inside Craigiehall Cottage.
Police vehicles filled the courtyard.
Logan sat beside me at the kitchen table, his hand wrapped around mine.
Nobody said the obvious thing.
Harrison had demanded the ledger.
Arthur had taken it.
Bianca had followed.
It looked like betrayal.
Then Lily noticed the backpack.
“Mom.”
I looked up.
She stood near the hallway bench holding Arthur’s worn leather satchel.
“He left this.”
Inside were clothes.
Medication.
His passport.
Wallet.
Return ticket.
Everything a fleeing man would need.
Except one old flip phone.
Fiona powered it on.
One unsent text filled the screen.
**IF I TAKE IT, HE WILL FOLLOW ME INSTEAD OF CLAIRE.**
I closed my eyes.
Arthur had not stolen the ledger.
He had carried the target away from my family.
Minutes later, the phone rang.
Unknown number.
Fiona activated recording equipment.
“Hello?”
Static.
Then Bianca whispered.
“Claire?”
“I’m here.”
“Harrison has Arthur.”
My stomach dropped.
“Where are you?”
“I got away.”
“Where?”
“I can’t tell you. He might be tracking the phone.”
Her breathing came fast.
“Harrison was waiting near the palace road. Arthur knew it. He ran because he wanted Harrison to chase him.”
“Does Harrison have the ledger?”
“Yes.”
I squeezed Logan’s hand.
“Is Arthur alive?”
“For now.”
Bianca’s voice broke.
“Harrison thinks there’s an access code inside the ledger that unlocks an account worth thirty-two million dollars.”
Alistair shook his head.
“There is no such account.”
“I know.”
Bianca inhaled.
“But Harrison doesn’t.”
“Can you locate him?”
“I saw the building.”
“What building?”
“An old marine warehouse. Somewhere near the Forth.”
Logan leaned toward the speaker.
“Which side?”
“I don’t know.”
“Describe it.”
“Red brick. Tall chimney. Metal roof. A faded white number painted over a loading bay.”
“What number?”
“Seventeen.”
Logan stood.
“I know it.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Bo’ness.”
An abandoned marine engineering yard east of the old docks.
Fiona immediately mobilized officers.
I stood too.
“No.”
Logan blocked me.
“I’m going.”
“Absolutely not.”
“He is doing this because of me.”
“He is doing this because he is dangerous.”
“And Arthur may die because he tried to protect my family.”
Logan stared at me.
Then Fiona spoke.
“Claire does not enter the building.”
I nodded.
“I’ll remain with police.”
Logan sighed.
“That is not the same as staying home.”
“It’s the best deal you’re getting.”
Forty minutes later, we approached Bo’ness beneath pouring rain.
Blue lights remained off.
Police vehicles stopped half a mile away.
Through binoculars, Fiona identified Warehouse 17.
One light burned inside.
Then my phone vibrated.
A video message.
Harrison appeared on screen.
Arthur sat tied to a metal chair behind him.
Blood ran from his eyebrow.
The Northern Book lay on a table.
Harrison smiled.
“Claire Ashford.”
His voice was calm.
Almost cheerful.
“You destroyed my profession, my family, my name, and my future.”
“You did that yourself,” I whispered.
The recorded video continued.
“Bring the original 1974 charter and come alone.”
Alistair stared at me.
“He thinks you still have it physically?”
I understood immediately.
Harrison did not know the original charter had already been entered into federal evidence years ago.
He was bluffing with incomplete information.
That gave us something.
I called the number attached to the video.
He answered.
“Claire.”
“You want the charter?”
“Yes.”
“Then Arthur walks out first.”
Harrison laughed.
“You’re negotiating with me?”
“I negotiated an eighty-four-million-dollar default while your clients were celebrating an imaginary fetus. Yes, Harrison. I’m negotiating.”
Silence.
Even Fiona looked at me.
Finally Harrison said, “You haven’t changed.”
“No.”
I looked through the windshield toward the dark warehouse.
“I just stopped hiding it.”
He gave me thirty minutes.
What Harrison did not know was that while he spoke, police had traced the signal.
And Bianca, hiding inside the abandoned yard, had found something far more valuable than courage.
She had found Harrison’s second phone.
On it were messages proving he had hired the man who photographed Lily.
And one message revealed his final plan.
He did not intend to escape with the money.
May you like
He intended to burn Warehouse 17 with Arthur inside.
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