Chapter 8 - THE SENATOR’S SON CAME ALONE
Brandon Hale had a cut over his eyebrow.
It did not come from his mother.
He made that clear first.
“My driver grabbed me when I tried to leave.”
Price frowned.
“Your driver?”
“My mother’s security.”
“Why stop you?”
“Because I told her I was going to the police.”
Daniel looked at the young man.
Twenty years old.
Tailored coat.
Shoes that cost more than Daniel's first car.
Terrified.
“Where’s your lawyer?”
“Coming.”
“Then stop talking,” Rachel said.
Brandon almost laughed.
“You people are very weird about lawyers.”
Daniel said, “You’ll appreciate it later.”
Brandon sat in a private hospital meeting room until counsel arrived.
Price arranged formal interview procedures.
Daniel was not permitted inside for most of it.
Good.
He waited with Lily.
Two hours later, Brandon requested to speak with Daniel and Lily with lawyers present.
Lily agreed.
Brandon entered.
His eyes went immediately to Lily’s face.
He stopped.
“I’m sorry.”
Lily stared.
He looked down.
“I hit you.”
Daniel’s hands curled against his knees.
Rachel noticed.
Brandon continued.
“Tyler hit you first.”
Lily did not move.
“I grabbed your bag.”
She typed:
AND HIT ME.
Brandon closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
WHY?
He sat.
“At first?”
Lily waited.
“I wanted the ledger.”
THEN?
Brandon looked sick.
“You hit me with your camera.”
Lily typed:
SORRY.
Daniel almost choked.
Brandon gave a broken laugh.
“I deserved it.”
Lily’s eyes hardened.
Brandon continued.
“Then I got angry.”
No excuse.
Just fact.
“I hit you twice.”
Daniel looked at Price.
“How many injuries?”
Price shook his head.
“Not here.”
Brandon stared at Daniel.
“I know what you want to do to me.”
Daniel’s voice came low.
“You don’t.”
Brandon went pale.
Daniel immediately hated himself.
He forced his hands open.
“No.”
He looked at Lily.
“What I want doesn’t matter.”
Brandon swallowed.
“Tyler kept going.”
Lily’s fingers tightened around the tablet.
“Ethan pulled him away.”
“Then Tyler hit Ethan with the flashlight.”
“And your phone?”
Brandon looked at Lily.
“Tyler took it.”
“Where?”
“He smashed it behind the greenhouse.”
Price made a note.
“Pieces recovered?”
“Some.”
“Cloud backup?”
Brandon looked at Lily.
“She said it was uploading.”
Daniel turned toward her.
Lily typed:
SOME AUDIO.
Price nodded.
“We have a warrant request in process for account data.”
Daniel asked Brandon:
“Why did your mother stop you from talking?”
Brandon looked toward the door.
“My mom has spent twenty-two years building her career around being the person who came from nothing.”
Daniel said nothing.
“That isn't true.”
“No.”
“She knew about the old money?”
“Some.”
“How much?”
Brandon rubbed his face.
“She had emails from when she worked with my grandfather’s firm.”
“About me?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't she destroy them?”
“She said destroying records made people guilty.”
Daniel almost smiled at the irony.
Brandon continued.
“She kept them because she thought someday Charles Whitmore would use the history against her.”
“So she knew Lily’s story could expose her.”
“Yes.”
“Did she order the attack?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Daniel watched him.
Brandon said again:
“No.”
“What did she do after?”
“I called her.”
“When?”
“Eleven twenty-six.”
One minute after the camera feed went dark.
“What did you say?”
“That Tyler had lost it.”
“And Lily?”
“I said she was hurt.”
“Did you say how badly?”
“I didn't know.”
“What did your mother do?”
“Called Charles.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Why?”
“Because Tyler had the phone.”
Lily typed:
MY PHONE.
“Yes.”
“Why did that matter more than you hitting her?”
Brandon looked ashamed.
“Because it had pictures of the ledger.”
Lily stared.
Daniel felt the sentence land.
They had not called parents to confess an assault.
They had called because evidence still existed.
Price asked:
“Did Senator Hale contact police?”
“No.”
“Campus security?”
“I don't know.”
“She told me to go home.”
“What about Ethan?”
“She said Richard would handle Ethan.”
Daniel frowned.
“Did Richard?”
“I don't know.”
Brandon looked toward Lily.
“My mother wasn't scared of you going to police.”
Lily typed:
WHY NOT?
“She thought it would become a rich-kids-beat-student story.”
Daniel felt disgust rise.
Brandon continued.
“She was scared of the ledger.”
“Why?”
“Because it connects all three families.”
Daniel said, “To me.”
“Yes.”
Brandon looked at him.
“And because you made the first money possible.”
Lily’s eyes shifted toward her father.
Daniel did not speak.
Brandon continued.
“My mother says none of them would be where they are without what you did.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“That sounds like her.”
“She also said if your daughter published it, everybody would ask why your money was allowed to become our money.”
Rachel leaned forward.
“What does she mean ‘allowed’?”
Brandon looked at Daniel.
“You tell them.”
Daniel stared.
Not yet.
Lily typed:
DAD?
He looked at her.
Brandon spoke before Daniel could.
“Their parents weren’t your enemies.”
Daniel’s face went still.
“No.”
“They worked for you?”
“Not exactly.”
Brandon shook his head.
“My mother said you picked them.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Lily typed:
PICKED THEM FOR WHAT?
Brandon looked at Daniel.
“Tell her.”
Daniel wanted to hate him.
Instead he hated the nineteen years between the answer and this room.
Brandon continued:
“Cole didn't just get contracts from Ghost money.”
“Whitmore didn't just buy warehouses.”
“My mother’s first political donor network didn't just appear.”
He looked at Lily.
“Your father built the legal side they all used to become respectable.”
Daniel stood.
“Enough.”
Lily’s eyes flashed.
She typed:
NO.
Daniel looked at her.
She tapped harder.
TELL ME.
The room waited.
Daniel sat again.
“Tomorrow.”
Lily glared.
“Not because I'm avoiding it.”
Rachel looked skeptical.
Daniel continued.
“Because this is bigger than a hospital-room confession, and I need the documents in front of us.”
Brandon laughed bitterly.
“Still controlling the room.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Yes.”
That was true too.
Price’s phone vibrated.
He read a message.
“Search team found pieces of Lily’s phone.”
Lily sat straighter.
“Storage chip damaged.”
Daniel looked at Price.
“Cloud?”
“Working on it.”
Another message.
Price’s expression changed.
“What?”
“The hospital received a legal demand from Whitmore counsel.”
“For what?”
“Preservation of all visitor logs and medical communications.”
Rachel’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“They claim Lily may have been involved in an extortion conspiracy targeting donors.”
Daniel stood.
Lily grabbed his sleeve.
He looked down.
She typed with one hand.
DON’T.
Daniel sat.
Her fingers trembled.
He covered them.
Brandon watched.
Then said:
“There’s something else.”
Daniel looked at him.
“What?”
“Tyler called his father from my phone.”
“After the attack?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“I couldn't hear everything.”
“But?”
Brandon swallowed.
“He told Charles, ‘She found the source.’”
Daniel went cold.
“And Charles said?”
Brandon looked at Lily.
“He said, ‘Then make sure Walker never sees the originals.’”
The parents had not ordered the beating.
May you like
But one of them had understood instantly what Lily discovered.
And his first concern had not been whether she would live.
Related Stories
