{"id":10334,"date":"2026-09-13T15:33:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T15:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=10334"},"modified":"2026-09-13T15:33:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T15:33:24","slug":"part-16-the-investigator-patrick-hired-before-we-met-gave-me-the-missing-proof-and-elliots-last-escape-route-led-straight-back-to-my-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=10334","title":{"rendered":"PART 16 \u2013 The Investigator Patrick Hired Before We Met Gave Me the Missing Proof, and Elliot\u2019s Last Escape Route Led Straight Back to My House"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The private investigator\u2019s name was Henry Vale.<\/p>\n<p>He was sixty-two now and living two states away.<\/p>\n<p>Detective Chen found him before noon.<\/p>\n<p>He remembered Patrick immediately.<\/p>\n<p>That did not surprise me.<\/p>\n<p>Apparently a twenty-five-thousand-dollar assignment made an impression.<\/p>\n<p>Henry agreed to speak after consulting an attorney.<\/p>\n<p>I joined the interview remotely.<\/p>\n<p>I wanted to see him.<\/p>\n<p>He appeared on screen in a plain office, wearing reading glasses and a checked shirt.<\/p>\n<p>He looked ordinary.<\/p>\n<p>I had started distrusting ordinary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMs. Hale,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJenna.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJenna.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Patrick hire you to investigate me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No hesitation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He gave the date.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-three days before the Camden gala.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did he ask for?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBackground profile.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEmployment, social patterns, relationships, public records, preferences.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPreferences.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He looked uncomfortable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat coffee I drink?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat restaurants I like?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere I exercise?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho my friends are?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I swallowed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDating history?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He looked down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dad shifted beside me.<\/p>\n<p>I continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Hale said he was considering a business approach involving your father and wanted to understand the family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you believe that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd later?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Henry removed his glasses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe became unusually interested in you personally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did he ask?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow you met previous partners. What personality traits you responded to. What caused previous relationships to end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My stomach turned.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick had not merely learned where to encounter me.<\/p>\n<p>He had studied how to become someone I would choose.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did you tell him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Henry looked ashamed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToo much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTell me now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He described the report.<\/p>\n<p>I tended to trust humor more than overt charm.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick had been funny at the gala.<\/p>\n<p>I disliked men who bragged.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick had spent our first conversation making fun of his own terrible dancing.<\/p>\n<p>I valued reliability because a previous boyfriend had constantly canceled plans.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick never canceled during our first year.<\/p>\n<p>I preferred small thoughtful gestures to expensive gifts.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick brought me a used novel I had mentioned instead of flowers after our third date.<\/p>\n<p>Every memory became contaminated.<\/p>\n<p>Not because the gestures had necessarily been fake forever.<\/p>\n<p>Because they had begun as instructions.<\/p>\n<p>Dad placed his hand near mine without touching.<\/p>\n<p>He waited.<\/p>\n<p>I appreciated that too.<\/p>\n<p>Henry continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI stopped the assignment after several weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Hale asked for information I wasn\u2019t comfortable obtaining.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFinancial records.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My attention sharpened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMine?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour father\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo you refused.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Hale said he had other sources.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elliot.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas later.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus.<\/p>\n<p>The machine already existed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you meet Marcus Cole?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Henry hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt Mr. Hale\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Marcus tell you why they were investigating me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said something I remembered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Henry looked directly at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said, \u2018The daughter is the door. Richard is the room.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dad closed his eyes.<\/p>\n<p>That was the original plan.<\/p>\n<p>I was access.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Patrick react?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe told Cole not to talk about you that way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The detail hurt.<\/p>\n<p>Even then, Patrick had objected to dehumanizing me while participating in the plan built around doing exactly that.<\/p>\n<p>Contradiction again.<\/p>\n<p>Always contradiction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you contact me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Henry looked ashamed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI convinced myself it was corporate intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou knew he was dating me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLater.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd you still said nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t want involvement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I almost laughed.<\/p>\n<p>The phrase could have been engraved over this entire disaster.<\/p>\n<p>People saw pieces.<\/p>\n<p>People looked away.<\/p>\n<p>People did not want involvement.<\/p>\n<p>Silence was the cheapest currency Marcus ever spent.<\/p>\n<p>Henry leaned toward the camera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s something else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I waited.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Hale contacted me again last year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Henry gave the month.<\/p>\n<p>The same month my brakes failed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did he want?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSurveillance on Marcus Cole.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That surprised me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said he thought Cole was planning something against you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you help?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did you find?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Henry opened a folder.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI kept copies after I realized the situation might become criminal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Detective Chen leaned closer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat copies?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPhotographs. Location logs. Audio.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My heart started pounding.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf Marcus?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd Mr. Hale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Henry had followed both.<\/p>\n<p>One photograph showed Marcus meeting Elliot Crane.<\/p>\n<p>Another showed Thomas Avery.<\/p>\n<p>Another showed Patrick confronting Marcus outside a restaurant.<\/p>\n<p>There was audio from that confrontation.<\/p>\n<p>Chen played it.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou said nobody gets hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marcus laughed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re developing morals late.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI gave you the accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou gave me crumbs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI gave you Richard\u2019s subsidiary information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd you were paid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeave Jenna alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marcus answered, \u201cThen give me another route.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patrick went silent.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRichard signs, Jenna signs, everyone lives happily ever after.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patrick said, \u201cAnd if they don\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A pause.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen we stop asking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The recording was dated two weeks before my brakes failed.<\/p>\n<p>My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick knew.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe not every detail.<\/p>\n<p>Enough.<\/p>\n<p>Then another recording.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick speaking to Elliot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe almost crashed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elliot answered, \u201cThat was the point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My blood went cold.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick sounded furious.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe could have died.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elliot replied, \u201cBut she didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then Patrick said something that destroyed the last ambiguity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI cut exactly where Marcus showed me. He said it would leak slowly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n<p>Direct admission.<\/p>\n<p>No question anymore.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick intentionally damaged my brakes knowing there was risk.<\/p>\n<p>Henry\u2019s surveillance had captured it eleven months before any of us knew to investigate.<\/p>\n<p>Dad stood and walked away from the screen.<\/p>\n<p>I did not cry.<\/p>\n<p>Something had settled.<\/p>\n<p>For days, I had been trapped between competing versions of Patrick.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus coerced him.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick volunteered.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick loved me.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick used me.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick tried to save Dad.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick endangered me.<\/p>\n<p>Now I understood the mistake.<\/p>\n<p>I did not need to choose one version.<\/p>\n<p>They were all him.<\/p>\n<p>A person could contain love and cowardice.<\/p>\n<p>Fear and greed.<\/p>\n<p>Remorse and cruelty.<\/p>\n<p>What mattered was what he chose when choices became expensive.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick repeatedly paid with me.<\/p>\n<p>Henry continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s one more recording.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Detective Chen played it.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick and Elliot again.<\/p>\n<p>Dated three months ago.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick said, \u201cI\u2019m done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elliot laughed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve been done six times.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI mean it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou forged her signature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou stole her money.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou damaged her car.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patrick went silent.<\/p>\n<p>Elliot continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t get to rediscover your conscience and walk away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patrick answered quietly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m collecting everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elliot stopped laughing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf anything happens to Jenna, Richard, or me, everything goes to police.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That explained the storage unit.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick had finally attempted resistance.<\/p>\n<p>Too late to become innocent.<\/p>\n<p>Not too late to matter.<\/p>\n<p>The recording ended.<\/p>\n<p>Henry said, \u201cAfter that meeting, Patrick asked me to build an evidence file.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe red folder.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou helped him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause by then I understood what I had helped start.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou didn\u2019t start my husband\u2019s choices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut you helped him target me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At least he did not hide.<\/p>\n<p>Detective Chen arranged for Henry\u2019s evidence to be transferred to investigators.<\/p>\n<p>It strengthened cases against everyone.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus.<\/p>\n<p>Elliot.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>Possibly Sarah, depending on what she had done and when.<\/p>\n<p>No one would be able to blame a single mastermind and pretend the others were helpless.<\/p>\n<p>That mattered to me.<\/p>\n<p>Dad returned to the table.<\/p>\n<p>His eyes were red.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI should have protected you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I shook my head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom a man I chose?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom people using me to reach you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI should have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat thinking is how Marcus wins even after arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dad frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe made everyone responsible for crimes except the people committing them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I took his hand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re responsible for what you do next.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He squeezed mine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo are you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That was enough.<\/p>\n<p>Detective Chen received another update.<\/p>\n<p>Sarah Crane\u2019s cooperation had produced bank records.<\/p>\n<p>The five-million-dollar reserve existed.<\/p>\n<p>So did investor agreements.<\/p>\n<p>Elliot\u2019s network was unraveling quickly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny location on Elliot?\u201d Dad asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPassport?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFlagged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVehicles?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing tracked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProperties?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSearching.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I thought of Elliot\u2019s habits.<\/p>\n<p>Fourteen years inside Dad\u2019s company.<\/p>\n<p>He knew our offices.<\/p>\n<p>Dad\u2019s house.<\/p>\n<p>Riverside.<\/p>\n<p>My schedule.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n<p>What location would feel safest to someone who had spent years studying us?<\/p>\n<p>My house.<\/p>\n<p>The thought came so simply I almost dismissed it.<\/p>\n<p>Then I remembered the first day.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick giving away my car.<\/p>\n<p>Us leaving for Dad\u2019s dinner.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick had known I would be gone.<\/p>\n<p>Our house had been empty.<\/p>\n<p>His office contained evidence.<\/p>\n<p>But what if that was not the only hidden place?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSearch my house again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was processed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSearch it again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnything Elliot could have accessed without Patrick knowing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dad understood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNorth Ridge installed security there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick had upgraded our home cameras eighteen months earlier.<\/p>\n<p>He said his company received a discount through a vendor.<\/p>\n<p>North Ridge.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chen immediately checked.<\/p>\n<p>The installation record existed.<\/p>\n<p>North Ridge technicians had installed cameras, smart locks, and network equipment at our house.<\/p>\n<p>Elliot\u2019s hidden vendor.<\/p>\n<p>He potentially had remote access for more than a year.<\/p>\n<p>My home had never been private.<\/p>\n<p>Police returned.<\/p>\n<p>They searched Patrick\u2019s office again.<\/p>\n<p>The router.<\/p>\n<p>Security hub.<\/p>\n<p>Walls.<\/p>\n<p>Garage.<\/p>\n<p>Basement.<\/p>\n<p>At first, nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Then a technician found an unauthorized network device hidden inside the smart-home control panel.<\/p>\n<p>It had been transmitting data externally.<\/p>\n<p>Audio.<\/p>\n<p>Video.<\/p>\n<p>Access logs.<\/p>\n<p>Someone could know when I was home.<\/p>\n<p>When Dad visited.<\/p>\n<p>When Patrick left.<\/p>\n<p>When doors opened.<\/p>\n<p>Everything.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDestination?\u201d Chen asked.<\/p>\n<p>The technician traced it.<\/p>\n<p>A private server.<\/p>\n<p>The server connected to an account used by Elliot.<\/p>\n<p>My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n<p>Then officers found something physical.<\/p>\n<p>Behind a removable basement panel was a small lockbox.<\/p>\n<p>Not Patrick\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Inside were cash, identification documents bearing Elliot\u2019s photograph under another name, a handgun, and keys.<\/p>\n<p>One key belonged to our house.<\/p>\n<p>Another to a vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>The third had a plastic tag.<\/p>\n<p>B-17.<\/p>\n<p>Dad frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is B-17?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I knew.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStorage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat storage?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur neighborhood has private garage units behind the old railway building.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patrick once rented one when renovating his office.<\/p>\n<p>Unit B-17.<\/p>\n<p>Police moved there.<\/p>\n<p>The lock opened.<\/p>\n<p>Inside was Elliot\u2019s emergency escape cache.<\/p>\n<p>Clothes.<\/p>\n<p>Food.<\/p>\n<p>Burner phones.<\/p>\n<p>Cash.<\/p>\n<p>License plates.<\/p>\n<p>A laptop.<\/p>\n<p>And printed copies of every message exchanged between Marcus, Patrick, Thomas, and Sarah.<\/p>\n<p>Elliot had prepared to survive the collapse.<\/p>\n<p>But he was not there.<\/p>\n<p>Then one officer noticed fresh tire marks inside the unit.<\/p>\n<p>A vehicle had left recently.<\/p>\n<p>Security footage from a traffic camera showed a dark sedan departing forty minutes earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Plate stolen.<\/p>\n<p>Direction south.<\/p>\n<p>Chen traced road cameras.<\/p>\n<p>The sedan appeared twice.<\/p>\n<p>Then vanished near my neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p>My skin prickled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe went back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dad looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo your house?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I nodded.<\/p>\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n<p>Evidence?<\/p>\n<p>Money?<\/p>\n<p>A final hiding place?<\/p>\n<p>Police surrounded the property.<\/p>\n<p>No movement.<\/p>\n<p>No visible vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>They entered.<\/p>\n<p>The first floor was empty.<\/p>\n<p>Second floor empty.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick\u2019s office empty.<\/p>\n<p>Basement empty.<\/p>\n<p>Then an officer noticed the attic ladder had been lowered.<\/p>\n<p>Elliot was there.<\/p>\n<p>He had returned to the house of the woman his plan had targeted.<\/p>\n<p>Police ordered him down.<\/p>\n<p>No response.<\/p>\n<p>They climbed.<\/p>\n<p>The attic was empty.<\/p>\n<p>But a roof hatch stood open.<\/p>\n<p>Elliot had crossed into the neighboring property before police arrived.<\/p>\n<p>Search teams expanded.<\/p>\n<p>Then my phone rang.<\/p>\n<p>Unknown number.<\/p>\n<p>Chen motioned not to answer.<\/p>\n<p>A text appeared.<\/p>\n<p>You wanted your house back, Jenna.<\/p>\n<p>Another.<\/p>\n<p>Come take it.<\/p>\n<p>Dad said, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I agreed.<\/p>\n<p>Then a photograph arrived.<\/p>\n<p>Our kitchen.<\/p>\n<p>Taken from inside the house.<\/p>\n<p>Timestamped seconds earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Police were already inside.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chen called the team.<\/p>\n<p>They checked the kitchen.<\/p>\n<p>Nobody.<\/p>\n<p>Then another photograph.<\/p>\n<p>My bedroom.<\/p>\n<p>Another.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>Live images.<\/p>\n<p>Elliot was not physically taking them.<\/p>\n<p>He still had access to the compromised camera system.<\/p>\n<p>He wanted us to think he was inside.<\/p>\n<p>A distraction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does he want us looking away from?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>Chen froze.<\/p>\n<p>Then Dad\u2019s phone rang.<\/p>\n<p>His company.<\/p>\n<p>A fire alarm had activated at Bennett Industrial.<\/p>\n<p>Multiple floors.<\/p>\n<p>Security feeds down.<\/p>\n<p>Elliot had sent police toward my house while triggering something at Dad\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n<p>Dad stood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe servers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chen was already moving.<\/p>\n<p>Then my phone buzzed one final time.<\/p>\n<p>A photograph of Bennett Industrial appeared.<\/p>\n<p>Smoke rising from a service entrance.<\/p>\n<p>Elliot\u2019s message beneath it:<\/p>\n<p>Your father chose his company over my family twenty years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Tonight he chooses between the company and you.<\/p>\n<p>A second photograph arrived.<\/p>\n<p>This one was not old surveillance.<\/p>\n<p>It was live.<\/p>\n<p>Jason stood outside the secondary Bennett building where investigators had sent him to retrieve backup records.<\/p>\n<p>A rifle scope was centered on his chest.<\/p>\n<p>My breath stopped.<\/p>\n<p>The next message contained only five words.<\/p>\n<p>Tell Richard which child matters more.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=10335\">Click here to continue reading: PART 17: Elliot Put a Rifle Sight on My Brother and Demanded Dad Choose, but Jason Had Already Noticed Someone Watching Him<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The private investigator\u2019s name was Henry Vale. He was sixty-two now and living two states away. Detective Chen found him before noon. He remembered Patrick immediately. That did not surprise &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10354,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10334\/revisions\/10354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}