Chapter 12
Daniel Runs Out Of Places
Daniel disappeared before police could arrest him.
His phone was found in a rideshare vehicle near O'Hare.
His passport remained in his apartment.
Three company accounts had been emptied overnight.
For twenty-four hours, Chicago became a map of possible exits.
Victor did not join the search.
He stayed with Lily at a secure home owned by Clara's family outside the city.
For the first time in years, he missed every meeting on purpose.
He made scrambled eggs badly.
He sat on the floor and built crooked towers from wooden blocks.
He let Lily choose the same picture book four times in a row.
At one point she touched his face and said, "Daddy stay?"
Victor could not answer immediately.
That small question accused him more effectively than Victoria ever had.
"Yes," he said. "Daddy stays."
He meant more than that afternoon.
Victoria called through her attorney later that day.
She had agreed to cooperate fully in exchange for prosecutors considering her assistance at sentencing.
Victor did not care about the bargain.
He cared about information.
"Daniel has a condo nobody knows about," she said. "Not in his name. In Evan Shaw's."
"Where?"
"River North."
Police searched it.
They did not find Daniel.
They found Evan.
He surrendered without resistance.
Victor watched the interrogation remotely with Clara and a detective.
Evan Shaw was older than the photograph on his access card, his hair almost white at the temples, but his eyes were alert.
"Did you kill Amelia Morgan?" the detective asked.
"No."
"Did Daniel ask you to?"
"Not directly."
"What did he ask?"
"He asked me to make her stop looking."
"How?"
"Fear. Surveillance. Threats. Whatever worked."
"Did you damage her vehicle?"
Evan looked toward the camera.
"No."
The detective slid the mechanic's invoice across the table.
"Daniel paid a garage two days before the crash."
Evan's face changed.
It was the first visible emotion he showed.
"Then he went around me."
Victor leaned closer to the monitor.
Evan continued.
"I told him I wouldn't touch her car. I told him if he crossed that line, I was done."
"Why keep records?"
"Insurance."
"Against Daniel?"
Evan gave a humorless smile.
"Against the Morgans."
Victor felt Thomas stiffen beside him.
Then Evan said something unexpected.
"Daniel didn't disappear because he's afraid of prison."
The detective asked, "Why did he disappear?"
Evan looked directly into the camera again.
"Because he still thinks he can win Monday's board vote."
Victor's stomach tightened.
The board meeting was less than eighteen hours away.
May you like
Daniel had not run from the company.
He was still trying to take it.
