Chapter 10 - THE SECOND RECORDING
The second recording came from Maya's dashboard camera.
She had forgotten it existed.
It pointed sideways from inside the food truck cab and had captured the sidewalk before the attack.
Twenty minutes earlier, Daniel met someone beside the storm drain.
Andrew Pike.
The missing notary.
Their conversation had no audio.
But Pike handed Daniel a small envelope.
Daniel gave Pike a key.
Then Thomas's sedan appeared.
Pike entered the rear seat.
The footage proved Daniel had lied when he said he had never met Pike.
Maya had hidden the video because she did not know who else could be trusted.
Daniel somehow learned about it.
That frightened her more than anything.
"Who told you?" Maya asked.
Daniel smiled.
"You think Evelyn's team is clean?"
Maya refused to surrender the file.
Daniel left without threatening her.
That was worse.
The following morning, police searched Andrew Pike's former office.
They found altered corporate documents linking Daniel to fraud.
Too neatly.
Rebecca immediately suspected evidence had been planted.
Daniel's attorney made the same argument publicly.
If prosecutors used the documents, Daniel could claim the investigation was contaminated.
Daniel was actively polluting the evidence against himself.
A smart defendant did not merely destroy proof.
He created bad proof.
Rebecca told investigators not to rely on anything found at Pike's office.
Maya finally gave them the dashboard recording.
Detectives identified the key Daniel handed Pike.
It resembled a safe-deposit key.
They traced Pike's banking relationships.
One private bank confirmed he held a box.
Police obtained a warrant.
Inside they found no cash.
No forged documents.
Only a small voice recorder.
The last file contained Andrew Pike speaking.
He sounded terrified.
"Thomas says Daniel doesn't know the original arrangement. If Daniel finds out what happened when Laura died, he'll turn on him."
Then footsteps.
Pike whispered another sentence.
"Evelyn wasn't the one who abandoned Daniel."
The recording ended.
Daniel listened to the file in Rebecca's office.
For once, he had no answer.
He looked at Thomas.
"What did he mean?"
Thomas calmly stood.
"He's trying to divide us."
Daniel blocked the door.
"What happened when my mother died?"
Thomas stared at his son.
Then looked at Evelyn.
"You didn't tell him?"
Daniel turned toward her.
Evelyn felt sick.
Because she knew exactly what Thomas was about to reveal.
May you like
And it was the one secret she had hidden from Daniel his entire life.
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