Chapter 8
The story broke at 6:17 p.m.
It ran on every local news channel.
Then the national outlets picked it up.
"CAPTAIN THOMAS LANDRY — TWENTY YEARS OF CORRUPTION?"
The graphics were dramatic.
The tone was scathing.
Anonymous sources inside the Attorney General's office.
Evidence of bribes.
Cover-ups.
A system rotted from the inside out.
Landry's name was everywhere.
His face.
His record.
His reputation.
Everything he'd spent a lifetime building...
Was being destroyed in real time.
I watched from the hospital room.
Mom sat beside me.
Arthur had arrived an hour earlier.
He'd insisted.
Said he wanted to be there.
To protect us.
I hadn't argued.
He looked terrible.
Pale.
Exhausted.
His eyes red from crying.
He sat in the corner.
Watching the TV.
Watching his wife's uncle's life burn to the ground.
And knowing his wife was somewhere out there, watching too.
"She's going to be furious," he said quietly.
"She hates losing control."
I nodded.
"I know."
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Put it on speaker.
"You think you're clever," Brooke's voice.
Cold.
Raging.
"You think you've won."
"I haven't even started," I said.
"You destroyed him," she spat. "You destroyed everything."
"He destroyed himself. You both did."
"You have no idea what we're capable of."
"Try me."
The line went dead.
I looked at Arthur.
He was trembling.
"That was her."
"I know."
"She sounded... different. Scarier."
"That's what happens when people are cornered."
An hour later, another call came.
This time from Torres.
"We got a tip," he said.
"Someone saw Landry at a motel on Route 9. About twenty minutes outside town."
"Brooke was with him."
I stood up.
"I'm coming."
"Clara, no. It's too dangerous."
"I'm not asking, Torres. I'm telling you."
I hung up.
Turned to Arthur.
"Stay here. With Mom."
He nodded.
But I could see the fear in his eyes.
Torres met me in the hospital parking lot.
He wasn't happy.
"You're putting yourself at risk," he said as we drove.
"Brooke is unstable. Landry has nothing left to lose."
"That's exactly why I need to be there."
"If they see me, they'll make a mistake. They'll get angry. They'll slip up."
Torres didn't like it.
But he didn't argue either.
He knew me well enough.
The motel was the kind of place where people went to disappear.
Neon sign flickering.
Paint peeling.
Cars with out-of-state plates.
Uniformed officers had already surrounded the building.
SWAT was on standby.
"Room 17," the lead officer said.
"Landry's car is parked out back."
"Nobody's come out or gone in for the last hour."
I looked at the room.
Drawn curtains.
Dark windows.
Somewhere in there, two people who wanted me dead.
"Give me the megaphone," I said.
Torres grabbed my arm.
"Clara, no. Let us handle this."
"They won't come out for you. They'll come out for me."
He hesitated.
Then let go.
I took the megaphone.
Walked forward.
Until I was standing in the open.
Fifty yards from Room 17.
"Brooke. Landry."
My voice echoed across the parking lot.
"I know you're in there."
"It's over."
"Come out now, and no one else gets hurt."
Silence.
Then the door opened.
Landry stepped out.
Hands up.
But he was smiling.
That was wrong.
Men who had just lost everything didn't smile.
"Where's Brooke?" I called.
Landry's smile widened.
"Right where she needs to be."
My blood turned to ice.
I turned.
Started running back toward the cars.
"Torres! The hospital!"
Because I'd made a mistake.
A terrible one.
I'd thought they'd come for me.
But Brooke was smarter than that.
She knew I was protected.
Heavily guarded.
But my mother...
And Arthur...
They were in a hospital room.
With only two officers outside.
And I'd just taken every available officer...
And brought them twenty minutes outside of town.
It had been a trap.
The tip.
The motel.
Landry letting himself be caught.
All of it.
To draw me away.
To draw the police away.
I called the hospital.
The security guard answered.
"Room 417! Check on Room 417 now!"
I could hear him running.
Shouting.
Then...
Silence.
"Sir? The officers... they're unconscious."
"The door to the room... it's open."
My heart stopped.
"Are they there? My mother? My brother?"
"I... I don't see anyone."
Then I heard it.
Through the phone.
A woman's voice.
Brooke.
May you like
"Tell Clara I said hello."
The line went dead.
