Chapter 29 - The Recorded Confession
We brought the cassette deck down to the oak library table while the federal prosecutors gathered around.
TXT
Arthur pressed play on the tape labeled Galveston — December 14, 1984.
TXT
A hiss of magnetic static filled the grand room, followed by the muffled clinking of glasses in a hotel suite.
TXT
"You can't keep Arthur in West Texas forever, Judith," a man’s voice spoke—sharp, arrogant, and unmistakably Dr. Arthur Vance. "Thomas is meeting with the state attorney general on Monday. He found the ledger discrepancies in the pipeline supply invoices."
TXT+ 2
"Thomas won't make it to Monday," Judith’s voice rang through the small speaker, chillingly calm and entirely devoid of emotion. "His nightcap is already poured. By midnight, his heart will stop, and the local coroner will sign the standard certificate."
TXT+ 2
"And what about his woman in France?" Vance asked on the tape. "She's carrying his child."
TXT+ 1
"Julian Mercer is handling her," Judith answered. "The baby will be placed in a private institution the moment she delivers. As long as I hold the signet ring, the trustees in Zurich answer to me."
TXT+ 2
Arthur Caldwell lowered his head onto his folded hands, his shoulders heaving with ragged, silent grief. Forty years of lies, forty years of mourning a brother who had been systematically eliminated by the woman sleeping in his own bed.
TXT+ 1
"That is premeditated capital murder on magnetic tape," Elena Vance declared, shutting the evidence bag with an authoritative snap. "The death penalty is on the table."
TXT+ 1
Before anyone could move, the radio on the lead Texas Ranger’s shoulder belt crackled with an emergency priority code.
TXT
May you like
"Command, this is Unit 4 at Lew Sterrett," the dispatcher’s voice shouted through heavy static. "We have an active perimeter breach in the prisoner transport tunnel! A private medical transport van just rammed the outer sally port!"
TXT
