Chapter 14 - Boone’s Price
Curtis Boone did not look ashamed.
Renata hated that almost as much as the lie.
“You rode with Keene.”
“Yes.”
“You told me you were running from him.”
“I was.”
“After you helped him.”
“Yes.”
Isaac stood behind Renata.
Boone glanced at him.
“You two should stop looking surprised whenever a criminal admits committing crimes.”
Renata placed Claire’s photograph on the table.
“What were you doing in Weller’s Tahoe?”
“Negotiating.”
“For what?”
“My freedom.”
“With a federal official?”
“With a corrupt federal official.”
“You expected him to protect you?”
“I expected him to get me a passport and cash.”
“In exchange for?”
“The original ledger.”
Renata leaned closer.
“You have it.”
“No.”
“You told me you didn’t know where Daniel hid it.”
“I don’t.”
“Then what were you selling?”
“A lie.”
Boone smiled bitterly.
“I told Weller I had it.”
“Why?”
“To make him show himself.”
“Instead he showed you his SUV.”
“He also showed me where he keeps money.”
Isaac said, “You were playing both sides.”
“I’ve survived twelve years that way.”
Renata’s voice sharpened.
“And Daniel?”
Boone’s expression changed.
“Daniel died because he refused to.”
That stopped the room.
Renata sat.
“Tell me everything about yesterday.”
Boone exhaled.
“Weller came to the cabin with Keene. They wanted the ledger. I told them I’d trade it for documents and money.”
“You planned to run.”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“Keene got a call from Rock.”
Renata remembered the timing.
“The Marshals are here.”
“Keene panicked. Told me to leave through the rear trail. Weller wanted me dead.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he said, ‘We should finish this.’”
Isaac frowned.
“And Keene protected you?”
“For the moment. He believed I knew where the ledger was.”
Renata saw the structure.
Weller wanted the remaining evidence destroyed.
Keene wanted it recovered first.
Boone wanted to survive by making each man think he had something valuable.
Rock was the frightened messenger caught between all three.
“What did Weller move?”
Boone stared at her.
“What?”
“Rock heard Keene say move him now. Rock says the person being moved was Shepherd.”
Boone shook his head.
“No.”
Renata studied him.
“Rock misunderstood?”
“The command wasn’t about Weller.”
“Then who?”
Boone hesitated.
“Keene had another man nearby.”
“Name.”
“Arthur Bell.”
Isaac knew it.
“County records director.”
Boone nodded.
Renata had seen Bell’s signature on property filings.
“What was he doing there?”
“He forged the transfer records.”
“For Hollow Ridge?”
“For everyone.”
“Where is he now?”
Boone leaned back.
“That’s the problem.”
Renata’s phone rang immediately, as if the case itself had been listening.
A deputy spoke.
“Arthur Bell’s house is empty.”
“Vehicle?”
“Gone.”
“Phone?”
“Off.”
“When was he last seen?”
“Yesterday. Twenty minutes after Rock’s call.”
Renata stared at Boone.
“Keene moved him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Bell kept copies.”
“Where?”
Boone smiled without warmth.
“That’s what Keene is trying to find.”
Renata wanted to reach across the table and shake him.
Instead she said, “You want consideration.”
“I want to live.”
“You’re still going to answer for your crimes.”
“I know.”
“Then give me something worth bringing to prosecutors.”
Boone’s eyes moved to Daniel’s name written on a case folder.
“Daniel called the original ledger ‘the promise book.’”
Renata frowned.
“Why?”
“He said every dirty payment was somebody breaking a promise.”
Daniel would say something like that.
Boone continued.
“He told me once that Callaways kept promises in one place.”
Renata remembered the fishing photograph from Box 314.
Their father’s boat.
A family tradition.
Every summer James had taken the children to Lake Arden.
Before leaving, he made them write one promise for the coming year and place it into a tin beneath the dock.
Childish things.
Renata promising to learn to swim underwater.
Daniel promising to stop stealing her cassette tapes.
Their father called it the promise box.
Renata stood so quickly the chair scraped.
Isaac looked at her.
“You know where.”
“Yes.”
Lake Arden lay ninety miles away.
The old family dock had not belonged to them for years.
But if Daniel hid the original ledger where Callaways kept promises—
it had been waiting beneath water and wood for twelve years.
Renata headed for the door.
Boone called after her.
“Deputy.”
She turned.
His expression was serious now.
“If the ledger is still there, don’t bring it back here.”
“Why?”
“Because Weller knows about the lake.”
Renata froze.
“How?”
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Boone looked toward the observation glass.
“Your father told him.”
