Chapter 4 - THE BOATHOUSE RECORDINGRiley turned as the lock clicked.
The projection room had no second door. One narrow window overlooked the ballroom two floors below.
Footsteps approached outside.
She searched the desk, found a screwdriver, and removed the ventilation cover beside the projector. The opening was barely wide enough for her shoulders.
The door handle moved.
“Riley,” Grant called from the hallway. “Open the door before this becomes more dangerous.”
She pushed Daniel’s bag through the vent.
“Your men fired into a crowded ballroom. I think we passed dangerous.”
“I didn’t send that man.”
“You always have an answer.”
“Because your father forced me to prepare for his mistakes.”
The lock began to turn.
Riley climbed into the ventilation shaft and pulled the cover into place behind her. The metal duct groaned beneath her weight. She crawled toward the sound of rushing air while Grant entered the room below.
“Find her,” he ordered.
Riley followed the duct to a maintenance closet and dropped through the ceiling.
Detective Ortiz was waiting.
“You took your time,” Ortiz said.
“You could have helped.”
“I was busy convincing three police officers not to arrest you.”
Riley handed her the note Vanessa had given her. On the back, Vanessa had written a location: Briar Lake Boathouse 4.
Ortiz frowned. “Daniel rented that place under another name.”
“Then that’s where the live feed came from.”
They slipped out while police questioned guests. Vanessa remained beside Grant, maintaining her performance. Trent was placed in an ambulance for a bruised shoulder but sent Riley a message saying he would follow when he could.
Briar Lake lay twelve miles north of town.
Fog covered the water when Riley and Ortiz reached the old marina. Most of the seasonal cabins were closed. Boathouse 4 stood at the end of a narrow wooden dock, one light glowing above its door.
Ortiz drew her weapon.
Riley carried Daniel’s bag.
“You stay behind me,” Ortiz said.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you keep ignoring it.”
They entered.
The boathouse appeared empty. A small motorboat floated inside the covered slip. Tools hung along the walls. A folding chair sat beneath a camera mounted on a tripod—the same chair Daniel had occupied in the video.
Riley touched the rope tied around its arms.
It had already been cut.
“He was here,” she said.
Ortiz examined the floor. “Recently.”
A motor started outside.
The dock shook.
A second boat slammed into the boathouse supports. Ortiz lost her footing. Riley caught the railing as a masked man crashed through the side door.
He struck Ortiz’s wrist, sending her gun into the water.
Riley rushed him.
He caught her around the waist and drove her backward into a workbench. Tools scattered. Riley pushed against his face, but he pinned one arm and reached for Daniel’s bag.
She released it deliberately.
When he shifted to grab the handle, Riley twisted beneath him, hooked his knee, and threw him against the wall.
He recovered quickly.
The man charged again, lifting Riley and carrying her toward the open boat slip. She struck his shoulder, but he would not release her.
They fell together into the lake.
Cold water closed over Riley’s head.
The man held her sweater, trying to pull the bag from her shoulder. Riley kicked away, but the soaked fabric trapped her arms. Her chest tightened.
She saw the pale surface above.
Then Vanessa plunged into the water.
She struck the attacker with an emergency paddle and pulled Riley toward the dock ladder. Ortiz, recovering from the collision, helped drag them out.
The masked man climbed onto the opposite side of the slip and fled through the rear door.
Vanessa collapsed beside Riley, coughing.
Riley stared at her. “How did you get here?”
“I followed Grant.”
“He let you leave?”
“He thought I was going home to recover.”
Ortiz retrieved a backup weapon from her ankle holster. “Where is he?”
“On his way.”
Riley stood despite the cold. “Then we search fast.”
They found a hidden compartment beneath the folding chair. Inside was Daniel’s broken wristwatch, a memory card, and a small brass key identical to the object Riley had felt inside the bag’s lining.
Riley removed the bag’s inner seam.
A second key dropped into her palm.
The keys were a matched pair.
“What do they open?” Vanessa asked.
Ortiz studied the engraved numbers. “Safe-deposit boxes.”
A car door closed near the marina.
Vanessa looked toward the window. “Grant.”
They moved into the boat and lowered themselves below the edge of the slip. Grant entered the boathouse with two men.
“The girl was here,” one man said.
“Find the memory card,” Grant replied. “The bag is useful, but the recording is dangerous.”
Riley held the card inside her fist.
Grant walked toward the chair.
“Vanessa’s becoming unstable,” he continued. “If necessary, release the audio.”
“What about Trent?”
“He can be managed.”
“And Daniel?”
Grant paused.
“Daniel has one final task.”
Riley’s pulse quickened.
Her father was alive and working for Grant—or being forced to.
Grant’s men searched the walls. One approached the boat.
Ortiz pointed toward the ignition.
Riley shook her head. Starting the engine would reveal them.
Vanessa reached into the water, untied the boat, and pushed silently away from the dock. The current carried them toward the open lake.
Grant’s man stepped onto the slip seconds after they drifted into the fog.
They paddled until the marina disappeared.
On the far shore, Ortiz inserted the memory card into Daniel’s phone.
An audio file began playing.
First came Daniel’s voice.
“If you’re hearing this, I failed to keep my family out of Vale’s hands.”
Then another voice entered.
Vanessa’s.
Clear. Calm. Unmistakable.
“Daniel knows too much,” the recording said. “Make the bridge accident look final.”
Riley turned slowly toward her stepmother.
Vanessa’s lips parted.
“That isn’t what happened.”
The recording continued.
“And if Riley survives,” Vanessa’s voice said, “bring her to me.”
Ortiz raised her weapon.
Vanessa backed toward the edge of the lake.
Riley looked from the gun to the woman who had just jumped into freezing water to save her.
May you like
Then Daniel’s phone displayed a second file.
Its title contained tomorrow’s date.
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