Chapter 9 - THE MAN IN THE CLINIC WINDOW
Dean’s betrayal shattered Rex’s group.
Two bikers admitted Wade paid their legal fees. The others claimed they knew nothing. Rex finally understood how easily money disguised itself as loyalty when everyone wanted the same enemy.
He went to Arthur.
“I want my phone back.”
“Then we use subpoenas, warrants, and the court,” Arthur said.
“Your system buried my father.”
“And revenge will bury the recording.”
Rex reluctantly gave prosecutors Dean’s location history. It led to a Meridian-owned storage yard where agents recovered the phone, the stolen photograph, and Michael’s letter. Dean accepted money but had not destroyed them. He was charged with theft and obstruction.
The recording proved Meridian sought evidence connected to potential liability. It did not prove the buyer joined the original conspiracy.
Anna Vale supplied a new clue. One clinical photograph showed a window behind Michael. Reflected in the glass was the sign of St. Matthew’s Long-Term Neurological Center, a facility still operating under another name in northern Minnesota.
Arthur, Rex, and federal investigators traveled separately. A judge authorized a records search.
The center had housed a patient called Matthew Gray for seventeen years. His fees were paid through the same hidden account opened in Thomas’s name.
The payments kept Michael alive while making Thomas appear bribed.
Staff led investigators to a quiet room overlooking a frozen lake.
Michael Hale was fifty-one now. Scar tissue tightened the left side of his face. A neurological injury had limited his speech, but his eyes recognized Arthur immediately.
Arthur stopped in the doorway.
Michael did not reach for him.
May you like
He lifted a letter board and slowly selected five words.
Why did you stop looking?
