Chapter 18 - The Last Bargain
Rain started again.
Hard.
It hammered the marina roof and turned every light into a blur.
Leonard held Evelyn at the edge of the dock with Daniel's revolver pressed into her side. Laura held the metal tube.
"Ledger," he said.
"Let her go."
"That is not how bargaining works."
Leonard cocked the gun.
"Another step and your sister becomes the last Vale your father ruins."
"You're really going to blame Dad for this too?"
"Quiet."
"No. You've blamed him for twenty-eight years because you can't stand that you're exactly like him."
"Evelyn," Mark warned.
She kept going.
"He was a coward. You're a coward with better suits."
Anna stepped out beside Carson. "Leonard."
"You stole my father's life," she said. "You stole from workers who trusted you. You killed Daniel because he was finally going to tell the truth."
Leonard laughed. "Daniel killed Daniel. Guilt makes weak men careless."
"Did you change his medication?"
Carson's body camera was pointed at him. Leonard saw it.
"I gave him a choice. Silence or consequences."
"That's not an answer."
"It is the only one you're getting."
Behind him, Evelyn hooked a dock rope around Leonard's ankle. Laura saw it.
Laura threw the metal tube past him.
Mark lunged.
The gun fired. Evelyn dropped.
Leonard crashed into the water as Mark hit him from the side.
Carson and two agents rushed forward. Anna grabbed Evelyn.
"Where are you hit?"
Evelyn stared at herself, then started laughing.
"I'm not."
In the water, Leonard surfaced once, fighting the rope around his leg.
Then Mark dropped to his knees and hauled the older man toward the dock.
"Don't make me become you," Mark said.
Leonard coughed water and blood from his bitten lip.
Carson lifted the recovered tube. "Ledger is safe."
Laura pulled Evelyn into her arms.
Anna stood in the rain, watching Leonard being led away. "It should feel better," she said.
"Maybe later."
Mark looked toward the estate lights across the lake.
"Closing is at nine tomorrow morning."
Evelyn stared at him.
"After all this, you're still selling it?"
Mark looked at Laura.
This time, he did not decide for them.
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The House That Lied
