Chapter 7: The Man in the Frame
Reyes looked at the envelope for a long time before she opened it.
They were in the foyer of the Hargrove house — Maya, Priya, and Reyes — standing near the entry table while the rest of the house slept or pretended to.
It was nearly three in the morning.
One officer remained by the front door.
Another was upstairs.
Reyes read the toxicologist's report twice.
She didn't rush.
She turned each page with the same careful attention.
When she finished, she set it down.
"Dr.
Anand.
This report — your colleague who ran the panel.
Can he testify to his methodology?"
"Yes.
He's at University Hospital.
His name is Dr.
Elliot Marsh.
He didn't know what he was looking for when I sent him the samples — I described it as a cold case academic review.
His findings are clean."
"And the original blood samples?"
"I have them.
Preserved.
Chain of custody is intact from the day they were drawn."
Reyes looked at Maya.
"And you saw Victor Hale in this house two weeks before Claire Hargrove d*ed."
"Yes."
"You'd recognize him again."
"Yes."
Reyes picked up her radio.
She stepped away and spoke quietly for about ninety seconds.
When she came back, her expression hadn't changed, but something in her posture had shifted — a settling, like a decision made.
"Victor Hale has a record," she said.
"Two counts of financial fraud, both reduced on plea.
One restraining order filed by a former business associate, later withdrawn.
He's been operating under a consulting firm registered in Delaware for the past decade." She paused.
"He's not out of the country.
He's forty minutes from here."
Maya felt the air go out of the room.
"He's been here the whole time," she said.
"It looks that way."
"Then the night Claire d*ed—"
"We don't know yet what he did or didn't do that night.
What we have is a toxicology report, a witness who places him at the house, a child's testimony, and forty-seven missing seconds of footage." Reyes looked at the envelope.
"It's enough to bring him in for questioning.
It may be enough for more."
"Lauren said he has a recording," Maya said.
"Of Daniel.
From fifteen years ago."
Reyes was quiet.
"She said that's how he operates.
He finds the one thing and keeps it forever."
"Did she say what the recording contains?"
"No."
Reyes thought for a moment.
"If Hale has been using that recording as leverage over Daniel — over this household — for years, it may explain the missing footage.
Someone in this house deleted it.
Either under instruction or under threat."
"Or both," Maya said.
Reyes nodded.
"I need to speak to Daniel.
Now."
"He's in the study."
Daniel was seated behind his desk when Reyes walked in, Maya behind her.
He looked like a man who hadn't moved in hours — jacket still on, one lamp lit, a glass of water untouched beside him.
He looked up.
"They found something," he said.
It wasn't a question.
"Mr.
Hargrove." Reyes sat across from him.
"I need to ask you about Victor Hale."
Something moved across Daniel's face.
Not surprise.
Something older than surprise.
"I was wondering when we'd get there," he said.
"Tell me about the recording."
Daniel's eyes moved to Maya.
She held his gaze.
"Lauren told her," he said quietly.
"Yes."
He looked at the desk.
He picked up the glass of water, set it back down without drinking.
"Fifteen years ago," he said, "I was trying to save my first company.
It was failing.
Victor came to me with a solution — a financial arrangement that was not — it was not legal.
I knew it wasn't legal.
I did it anyway." He stopped.
"It didn't save the company.
The company failed regardless.
But Victor had the documentation.
He's had it ever since."
"What has he asked for in return for keeping it quiet?"
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"Access.
To this house.
To certain accounts.
To — information, sometimes.
About my new ventures.
My new partners." He paused.
"I thought if I gave him what he wanted, he would eventually stop."
"He didn't stop."
"No."
"Mr.
Hargrove." Reyes leaned forward slightly.
"Did you know what Victor Hale was doing to your first wife?"
The silence that followed was the longest of the night.
"No," Daniel said.
His voice broke on the word — just once, just at the edge of it.
"I swear to you.
I didn't know."
Reyes studied him.
"Then here is what's going to happen," she said.
"You are going to give me everything — every communication from Hale, every account, every arrangement, every piece of documentation you have.
And in return, I am going to do everything in my legal power to separate what you did fifteen years ago from what was done to your wife."
Daniel looked at her.
"Can you do that?"
"I can try." She paused.
"But I need everything.
Tonight.
Nothing held back."
Daniel opened the desk drawer.
He took out a flash drive.
He set it on the desk between them.
"I've had this ready," he said quietly, "for eight months."
Reyes picked it up.
"You've been waiting," Maya said.
Daniel looked at her.
His eyes were red at the edges.
"I didn't know who to trust," he said.
"I didn't know who he had.
I was afraid that if I moved wrong, he'd—" His voice dropped.
"Noah is all I have left of Claire.
If anything happened to Noah—"
"Nothing is going to happen to Noah," Maya said.
She said it the way she'd said things to Noah all night — quietly, without performance, with the full weight of someone who meant it.
Daniel nodded.
May you like
He pressed his hands flat on the desk.
"Tell me what to do," he said.
