Chapter 13 - The Municipal LeakThe hunt for the municipal insider led us straight to Arthur Vance Jr.—not my father, but a corrupt county zoning clerk who happened to be Luca’s estranged uncle and Wendy’s primary legal proxy.
While state police mobilized to raid the county records office, I stayed inside the brick house with Mrs. Patel, who had insisted on packing overnight bags and locking every deadbolt on the doors.
"You can't stay here alone, Jessi," Mrs. Patel insisted, stirring a pot of spiced tea on the stove. "Not while that uncle is still out there. He knows how your father wired this house. He knows every backup system."
"That's exactly why we're staying, Mrs. Patel," I said calmly, looking at the security monitor mounted by the back door. The screen displayed real-time footage of the perimeter, powered by the reinstated local server. "My father left us an insurance policy. And I'm going to use it to draw them out."
At 11:45 PM, the motion sensors in the driveway triggered a silent alarm.
I didn't panic. I motioned for Mrs. Patel to take Maya into the reinforced safe room behind the pantry—a space my father had installed specifically for emergencies. I locked them inside, grabbed my phone, and sat quietly at the kitchen island in the dim light.
Ten seconds later, the glass on the back kitchen door shattered with a crisp, localized pop.
A gloved hand reached through the broken pane, flicked the interior deadbolt, and pushed the door open.
A tall man stepped into the kitchen, wearing a dark trench coat and holding a suppressed firearm. As he stepped under the overhead light, I recognized his face immediately from old family photographs in the ledger.
May you like
Uncle Arthur Jr.
He lowered his weapon slightly when he saw me sitting alone at the island, waiting for him. A cold, sardonic smile spread across his face.
