Chapter 13 - An Unscheduled Visitor on Cell Block Four
The visiting room at the Julia Tutwiler State Correctional Facility smelled of floor wax, rancid coffee, and despair. Daniel sat on a molded plastic chair, separated by two-inch thick Plexiglas from Vanessa, whose once-meticulously styled blonde hair was now streaked with gray and pulled back into a severe bun. She wore the unadorned orange jumpsuit of a convicted felon serving eight to twelve for grand larceny, kidnapping, and conspiracy.
When Vanessa picked up the receiver on her side of the partition, her lip curled into a bitter, venomous smirk. "Come to gloat again, Daniel? Or did your saintly mother send you to offer me another Bible and a conditional pardon?"
"I don't waste time on pardons," Daniel replied flatly through his receiver. "I came because of Nautilus Holdings. And because of Julian."
The color drained from Vanessa’s face so rapidly that Daniel wondered if she might faint. The venomous smirk dissolved into pure, raw terror. Her fingers trembled against the receiver, the knuckles whitening as she pulled the handset closer.
"How... how do you know that name?" she stammered, her gaze darting frantically toward the correctional officers pacing the perimeter of the room.
"We opened the music box in the carriage house," Daniel said, leaning forward until his forehead almost touched the glass. "You didn't chain my mother to that chair five years ago just to steal her pension and this house, did you? You were being squeezed. Julian Vance was breathing down your neck, demanding the collateral Arthur promised him forty years ago."
Vanessa swallowed hard, her chest heaving. "You don't understand what he is, Daniel. You think I was a monster? I was a pawn! When Julian showed up in my office six months before that party, he showed me pictures of my children. He told me if I didn't produce the bearer bonds Arthur had hidden in that estate, he would butcher my family and frame me for corporate embezzlement."
"Where are the bonds, Vanessa?"
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"There are no bonds!" Vanessa hissed, tears of genuine panic welling in her eyes. "Arthur tricked him. Arthur converted Julian’s dirty money into real estate deeds and buried the primary deed of trust somewhere inside the legal framework of Margaret's foundation. Margaret holds the only signature that can unlock the master vault. Julian isn't coming for the house, Daniel. He’s coming to force Margaret to sign the liquidation order. And if she refuses... he won't use chains. He’ll burn her to ashes."
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