Chapter 8: What Garrett Shredded
Martin Garrett was arrested at 11:47 that morning.
Adrian was in the hospital corridor when his investigator called with the news.
He stood very still and listened to the details: Garrett's office, the shredder, the building security footage, the two officers who had arrived before Garrett could finish.
Three boxes.
Roughly two-thirds destroyed.
One-third recovered.
"What was in the recovered third?" Adrian asked.
"Financial records.
Correspondence.
And a contract." The investigator paused.
"The contract is between Garrett's holding company and a private security operative.
Dated eleven days ago."
Eleven days ago.
Five days before Renata's accident.
"Does the contract name the operative?"
"First name only on the document.
But the holding company's bank records show a wire transfer to an account registered to a man named Delos.
Paulson's team is running him now."
Adrian thanked him and hung up.
He went back to room 412 and told Renata.
She listened without expression.
When he finished, she said, "Your father is going to say Garrett acted alone."
"He already said it."
"And the police?"
"Paulson is experienced.
He'll follow the money." Adrian sat down.
"The question is whether the wire transfer traces back far enough."
"And if it doesn't?"
"Then Garrett takes the full weight and my father walks away." He looked at her.
"But Garrett knows that.
And Garrett is not a loyal man.
He's a practical one."
Renata was quiet for a moment.
"There's something I didn't tell you last night."
He waited.
"The lawyer who came to my apartment.
When Daniel was eight months old." She reached for the cup of water on her bedside table.
"He didn't just threaten me.
He brought a document.
A non-disclosure agreement.
He said if I signed it and took the money, everything would be handled quietly.
If I didn't—" She stopped.
"He said your father had a contact in family services.
That a single mother with no income and no family nearby could find herself in a very difficult position."
"He threatened to take Daniel."
"He made it sound like an observation.
Not a threat." She set the water down.
"I didn't sign.
But I was terrified.
I moved twice in the next year.
I changed my phone number.
I stopped using my real name on any paperwork I could avoid."
"Do you still have the NDA?"
She looked at him.
"I photographed every page before I gave it back."
Adrian leaned forward.
"Where are those photographs?"
"On a hard drive.
At Clara's apartment.
I gave it to her two years ago in case something happened to me."
He took out his phone and called Clara.
She answered immediately.
"I heard about Garrett.
It's on the news."
"The hard drive," he said.
"Can you get it to Paulson today?"
"I already called him.
I'm on my way to the station now."
Adrian looked at Renata.
She was watching him with that same careful expression — the one that hadn't fully decided whether to trust the good thing yet.
"Clara," he said.
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me," she said.
"Thank Renata.
She kept everything.
She kept every single thing, even when she was terrified.
She just needed someone to carry it for her for a while."
He hung up.
The paternity results came back that afternoon.
The hospital had expedited them at his lawyer's request.
The doctor handed him the envelope in the corridor outside room 412.
He opened it alone.
Then he went inside.
Renata looked at his face before he said a word.
"I know," she said softly.
"I know you know." He set the results on the bed.
"But I wanted you to see it in writing.
I wanted it to exist somewhere official." He sat down.
"They're mine."
She nodded.
Her eyes were bright.
"They're mine," he said again.
Not to convince anyone.
Just because he needed to say it twice.
Daniel was brought back to the hospital that afternoon by Clara.
He walked into room 412 with the careful seriousness of a child who had learned not to expect too much from new situations.
Adrian crouched down to his level.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked.
Daniel looked at him for a long moment.
"Mum has a picture of you," he said.
"In a box under her bed."
Adrian didn't say anything for a moment.
"She kept it?" he asked Renata.
"I kept it," she said.
Daniel studied Adrian's face with the focused attention of a four-year-old making an important decision.
Then he said, "Are you staying?"
"Yes," Adrian said.
"I'm staying."
Daniel considered this.
Then he climbed up onto the chair beside the bed, picked up Renata's cup of water, took a sip without asking, and set it back down.
Adrian looked at Renata.
She pressed her hand over her mouth, but she was smiling.
Outside the room, his phone buzzed.
His lawyer.
*Gerald's personal assistant just contacted my office.
She says she has documents she wants to turn over voluntarily.
May you like
She's been keeping copies of his correspondence for two years.
She wants immunity.*
