CHAPTER 8 — THE LAST LIE
The search warrant was executed at Mill Creek the following morning.
Arthur wasn’t there.
He stayed home with Titan.
He had spent twelve years wanting to walk into Victor Rourke’s office and demand the truth.
Now that the investigation was moving, he understood that his presence wouldn’t help.
He made coffee.
Sat beside the window.
And waited.
At noon, a black SUV stopped outside.
Mason stepped out.
Arthur opened the door.
“What happened?”
Mason looked exhausted.
“They searched my father’s storage building.”
Arthur waited.
“They took boxes. Computers. Files.”
“And the recorder?”
Mason shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Arthur studied him.
“Why are you here?”
Mason looked toward Titan.
The old dog was asleep beside the fireplace.
“I wanted to tell you something.”
Arthur said nothing.
Mason stepped inside.
He didn’t sit.
“My father told me your son caused the collapse.”
Arthur’s expression didn’t change.
“He said David ignored orders. Went into a restricted corridor. Put the other workers at risk.”
Arthur waited.
Mason continued.
“I believed him.”
“Why?”
“Because he was my father.”
Arthur looked at him.
“That’s not evidence.”
Mason lowered his eyes.
“I know.”
Arthur walked to the kitchen table.
He picked up a copy of Marcus’s rescue log.
“David entered after the second collapse.”
Mason read it.
“The building was already down?”
“Yes.”
Arthur placed another document beside it.
“The east corridor had been closed before David arrived.”
Mason stared.
Arthur continued.
“Your father says David caused the disaster. But David was called there to rescue people after it happened.”
Mason looked up.
“Then why did my father say that?”
Arthur answered:
“Because dead men can’t defend themselves.”
Mason sat down.
For the first time, Arthur saw him without the leather jacket, the laughter or the friends standing behind him.
Just a frightened man realizing that the person he’d trusted most had lied to him.
Mason rubbed his face.
“What am I supposed to do?”
Arthur looked toward Titan.
The dog was awake now.
Watching them.
“Tell the truth.”
Mason nodded slowly.
Then he took out his phone.
“I recorded my father.”
Arthur didn’t reach for it.
“Give it to Bennett.”
“I already did.”
Arthur looked at him.
Mason continued.
“He said Keller was supposed to make sure nobody ever heard David’s recording.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
“Did he say why?”
Mason swallowed.
“Because David named the people who ordered the corridor sealed.”
Arthur felt his chest tighten.
“Did he name your father?”
Mason looked directly at him.
“Yes.”
Silence filled the kitchen.
Then Mason said:
“I’m sorry about the diner.”
Arthur didn’t answer.
Mason looked toward Titan.
“And the dog.”
Arthur watched him for a long moment.
Then he spoke.
“You thought being a Rourke meant nobody could touch you.”
Mason lowered his head.
Arthur continued.
“Your father thought the same thing.”
He placed Marcus’s report back on the table.
“But David went into that building because six men needed help.”
Arthur’s voice remained steady.
“He didn’t ask who owned it.”
Mason looked up.
Arthur opened the door.
“Go tell the investigators everything you know.”
Mason stood.
As he walked outside, Arthur spoke once more.
“Mason.”
The younger man turned.
“Don’t apologize to me because you’re afraid of what happens next.”
Arthur looked toward Titan.
“Become someone who wouldn’t do it again.”
That evening, Bennett called.
The search team had recovered the recorder.
It was damaged.
But the memory storage appeared intact.
Arthur sat down.
“Can you hear David?”
Bennett paused.
“We haven’t completed the examination.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
Then she added:
“But the preliminary recovery contains his voice.”
END OF CHAPTER 8
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