{"id":8504,"date":"2026-10-01T17:10:37","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T17:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/?p=8504"},"modified":"2026-10-01T17:10:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T17:10:37","slug":"part-20-daniel-led-investigators-to-marcuss-master-list-but-one-name-on-it-revealed-the-scheme-had-reached-into-thomass-original-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/?p=8504","title":{"rendered":"PART 20 \u2013 Daniel Led Investigators to Marcus\u2019s Master List, but One Name on It Revealed the Scheme Had Reached Into Thomas\u2019s Original Investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Daniel\u2019s attorney advised him not to answer.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel answered anyway.<\/p>\n<p>When investigators showed him Marcus\u2019s note, he closed his eyes.<\/p>\n<p>Then he said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was hoping he destroyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The master list existed.<\/p>\n<p>Not rumor.<\/p>\n<p>Not metaphor.<\/p>\n<p>A real record.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus kept it because he needed to remember what he owned.<\/p>\n<p>Not property.<\/p>\n<p>People.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel claimed he had seen versions over the years.<\/p>\n<p>Names.<\/p>\n<p>Secrets.<\/p>\n<p>Debts.<\/p>\n<p>Crimes.<\/p>\n<p>Family vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n<p>Amounts owed.<\/p>\n<p>Favors performed.<\/p>\n<p>Enough information to frighten dozens of people into obedience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d Ortiz asked.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>Then gave an address.<\/p>\n<p>A commercial records-storage facility outside the city.<\/p>\n<p>The irony was almost insulting.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus hid his most dangerous secret among thousands of ordinary boxes.<\/p>\n<p>The unit was registered under a law firm that had dissolved twelve years earlier.<\/p>\n<p>The rental fees were paid automatically through a shell account.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel knew because he created the account.<\/p>\n<p>Police obtained a warrant.<\/p>\n<p>Julian wanted to go.<\/p>\n<p>Nobody even argued with him this time.<\/p>\n<p>He knew the answer.<\/p>\n<p>We waited at Rebecca\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>I had begun to recognize the rhythm.<\/p>\n<p>Call.<\/p>\n<p>Silence.<\/p>\n<p>Waiting.<\/p>\n<p>Then another piece of the past arriving in the present.<\/p>\n<p>At 3:20 p.m., Ortiz called.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey found it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Julian stood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe list?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeveral binders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course Marcus did not trust one list.<\/p>\n<p>He trusted systems.<\/p>\n<p>The binders were coded.<\/p>\n<p>Initials.<\/p>\n<p>Dates.<\/p>\n<p>Numbers.<\/p>\n<p>Photographs.<\/p>\n<p>Copies of documents.<\/p>\n<p>Cross-references.<\/p>\n<p>A person could be listed under financial leverage, personal leverage, legal exposure, family pressure.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus had categorized human weakness like inventory.<\/p>\n<p>My name appeared.<\/p>\n<p>So did Julian\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Corinne\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Elaine\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Patricia\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Hall\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Kessler\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Hundreds more.<\/p>\n<p>My entry was newer than most.<\/p>\n<p>M.C.<\/p>\n<p>Widow.<\/p>\n<p>Property clear.<\/p>\n<p>Son solvent.<\/p>\n<p>Pride high.<\/p>\n<p>Family communication weak.<\/p>\n<p>I stared at the words.<\/p>\n<p>Family communication weak.<\/p>\n<p>That was the opening Marcus exploited.<\/p>\n<p>Not poverty.<\/p>\n<p>Not age.<\/p>\n<p>Silence.<\/p>\n<p>He understood that I would hide hardship from Julian.<\/p>\n<p>He built the entire theft around it.<\/p>\n<p>Julian read the line.<\/p>\n<p>His face tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe knew us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe studied us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There was a difference.<\/p>\n<p>Knowing someone requires seeing them as human.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus saw patterns.<\/p>\n<p>Pressure points.<\/p>\n<p>That was not intimacy.<\/p>\n<p>It was surveillance.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas\u2019s entry occupied several pages.<\/p>\n<p>T.C.<\/p>\n<p>Insurance investigator.<\/p>\n<p>Persistent.<\/p>\n<p>Family stable.<\/p>\n<p>Difficult to intimidate financially.<\/p>\n<p>Strong moral identity.<\/p>\n<p>Risk: documentation.<\/p>\n<p>I almost smiled.<\/p>\n<p>That sounded like Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>Then the notes became darker.<\/p>\n<p>Wife potentially usable.<\/p>\n<p>Son potentially usable.<\/p>\n<p>My hands went cold.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus had considered us before Thomas died.<\/p>\n<p>Julian read silently.<\/p>\n<p>His jaw tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid he ever approach you back then?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnything strange?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNothing I remember.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maybe Thomas\u2019s refusal prevented it.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe Marcus decided murder was simpler.<\/p>\n<p>Another notation:<\/p>\n<p>T.C. refuses compromise. Pike emotional. Hall available.<\/p>\n<p>There it was.<\/p>\n<p>The murder forming in shorthand.<\/p>\n<p>Mercer said the binders could become central evidence.<\/p>\n<p>Not only for Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>For decades of fraud.<\/p>\n<p>Extortion.<\/p>\n<p>Obstruction.<\/p>\n<p>Potential additional violent crimes.<\/p>\n<p>The network Thomas tried to expose had finally become visible.<\/p>\n<p>But Daniel warned investigators about one thing.<\/p>\n<p>The binders were not the complete master.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s missing?\u201d Julian asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe key.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat key?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA decoding index.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Without it, many initials could not be confidently connected to people.<\/p>\n<p>Some entries were obvious.<\/p>\n<p>Others not.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel knew where the index had once been.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus moved it after a former employee broke into his office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel swallowed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith someone he trusted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Julian laughed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMarcus trusted someone?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel looked toward Ortiz.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe trusted that this person was too compromised to betray him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel gave a name.<\/p>\n<p>Samuel Kessler.<\/p>\n<p>The retired county official.<\/p>\n<p>My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n<p>Kessler had spoken to police.<\/p>\n<p>Twice.<\/p>\n<p>He had admitted bribes.<\/p>\n<p>He had surrendered Thomas\u2019s envelope.<\/p>\n<p>But he never mentioned holding Marcus\u2019s decoding index.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz called Arizona authorities immediately.<\/p>\n<p>They went to Kessler\u2019s home.<\/p>\n<p>Empty.<\/p>\n<p>His phone remained on the kitchen counter.<\/p>\n<p>Medication was gone.<\/p>\n<p>Car gone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe ran,\u201d Julian said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There was that word.<\/p>\n<p>But this time the possibilities were limited.<\/p>\n<p>Kessler had either fled voluntarily or someone had moved him.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus was in custody.<\/p>\n<p>Who else would care?<\/p>\n<p>The master list provided the answer.<\/p>\n<p>One coded entry appeared repeatedly beside Kessler.<\/p>\n<p>A.R.<\/p>\n<p>Position: regulatory.<\/p>\n<p>Exposure: Pike closure.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas\u2019s safe-deposit ledger contained the same initials.<\/p>\n<p>A.R.<\/p>\n<p>I remembered the old correspondence.<\/p>\n<p>The state insurance inquiry Thomas triggered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho investigated Pike?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz searched the archived file.<\/p>\n<p>The lead investigator had been a man named Arthur Raines.<\/p>\n<p>A.R.<\/p>\n<p>Julian looked at her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs he alive?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not Arizona.<\/p>\n<p>Not retired across the country.<\/p>\n<p>Here in the same state.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur Raines had risen through government service after Pike\u2019s inquiry closed.<\/p>\n<p>Later became deputy director of the insurance division.<\/p>\n<p>Then consultant.<\/p>\n<p>Now retired.<\/p>\n<p>Seventy-two years old.<\/p>\n<p>Respected.<\/p>\n<p>Decorated.<\/p>\n<p>The man who had received Thomas\u2019s complaint.<\/p>\n<p>The man whose investigation ended for insufficient evidence.<\/p>\n<p>The man who accepted that critical records had been destroyed.<\/p>\n<p>His initials appeared in Marcus\u2019s leverage ledger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat was Marcus holding over him?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>The coded entry contained one notation.<\/p>\n<p>Pike payment.<\/p>\n<p>My stomach sank.<\/p>\n<p>Julian stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe investigator was paid?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the possibility changed everything.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas\u2019s complaint may not merely have failed.<\/p>\n<p>It may have been buried.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur Raines was contacted.<\/p>\n<p>He agreed to an interview.<\/p>\n<p>Then canceled.<\/p>\n<p>His attorney called instead.<\/p>\n<p>That alone proved nothing.<\/p>\n<p>But investigators obtained old bank records.<\/p>\n<p>A deposit appeared three months after Thomas died.<\/p>\n<p>Forty thousand dollars.<\/p>\n<p>Source obscured through two intermediary accounts.<\/p>\n<p>One account belonged to Daniel.<\/p>\n<p>Julian looked at him across the interview room recording.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel closed his eyes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He remembered.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus ordered the transfer.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel did not know the final recipient.<\/p>\n<p>Now he did.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur Raines.<\/p>\n<p>The official responsible for reviewing Pike.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas had been fighting a system already compromised.<\/p>\n<p>That explained why his evidence disappeared into procedural darkness.<\/p>\n<p>Why Walter Crane\u2019s brake concerns went nowhere.<\/p>\n<p>Why nobody connected the threats.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe the murder investigation itself had not been deliberately corrupted.<\/p>\n<p>But the context that could have made police suspicious had been buried.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas looked like an ordinary accident victim because the investigation that explained his danger had already been neutralized.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur Raines finally agreed to speak under subpoena.<\/p>\n<p>His story came apart quickly.<\/p>\n<p>He admitted receiving money.<\/p>\n<p>He called it a consulting payment.<\/p>\n<p>Nobody believed the description.<\/p>\n<p>He admitted meeting Marcus privately.<\/p>\n<p>He admitted delaying requests for Pike records.<\/p>\n<p>He admitted narrowing the regulatory inquiry.<\/p>\n<p>Then he said something unexpected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t know they were going to kill Carter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Julian watched the recorded interview without blinking.<\/p>\n<p>Raines continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought Marcus wanted the investigation gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid he threaten you?\u201d Ortiz asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Raines looked toward his attorney.<\/p>\n<p>Then answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n<p>Not physical harm.<\/p>\n<p>Something else.<\/p>\n<p>His daughter had been arrested for drug possession at nineteen.<\/p>\n<p>The charge was later dismissed.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus obtained records that should have been sealed.<\/p>\n<p>He threatened to expose them and destroy Raines\u2019s career.<\/p>\n<p>Again.<\/p>\n<p>Family.<\/p>\n<p>Shame.<\/p>\n<p>Pressure.<\/p>\n<p>Choice.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus\u2019s method already existed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you know Thomas was being threatened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you warn him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Raines stared at the table.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCowardice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At least he did not call it protection.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Thomas know you were compromised?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think he suspected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That explained the safe-deposit box.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas stopped trusting regulators.<\/p>\n<p>So he duplicated everything.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere is Kessler?\u201d Ortiz asked.<\/p>\n<p>Raines looked confused.<\/p>\n<p>He claimed no contact in years.<\/p>\n<p>Then investigators showed him Marcus\u2019s coded notes.<\/p>\n<p>His face changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Raines leaned closer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s not about me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Everyone became still.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA.R. isn\u2019t me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut you received a Pike payment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen why wouldn\u2019t this refer to you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause Marcus never called me A.R.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did he call you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRaines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho is A.R.?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Raines hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz did not believe him.<\/p>\n<p>Neither did I.<\/p>\n<p>She pushed.<\/p>\n<p>Raines finally asked for a break.<\/p>\n<p>When he returned, he looked twenty years older.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was another person.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cName.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlice Rowe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The room went quiet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho was she?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAdministrative counsel for the regulator.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did she do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe reviewed evidence before investigators received it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Julian stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo she could remove things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Raines nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWas she working for Marcus?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPike?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Raines swallowed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThomas distrusted her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That mattered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe believed someone inside the regulator was sending copies of his submissions back to Pike.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My hands became cold.<\/p>\n<p>Every time Thomas reported evidence, Marcus may have learned what Thomas knew.<\/p>\n<p>No wonder he stayed ahead.<\/p>\n<p>No wonder Thomas hid duplicates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere is Alice Rowe now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz searched.<\/p>\n<p>Her expression changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe died.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Julian exhaled sharply.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeven years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCancer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For once, no suspicious accident.<\/p>\n<p>But death still closed another door.<\/p>\n<p>Then Ortiz found something else.<\/p>\n<p>Alice Rowe had a son.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Rowe.<\/p>\n<p>He worked in private compliance.<\/p>\n<p>And his current employer was familiar.<\/p>\n<p>Whitmore Asset Holdings.<\/p>\n<p>Julian stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMarcus hired her son?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEight years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDoes he still work there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere is he?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nobody knew.<\/p>\n<p>His office had been empty since Marcus\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n<p>His phone was off.<\/p>\n<p>His apartment had not been occupied for days.<\/p>\n<p>Another missing person.<\/p>\n<p>Then the Arizona police called.<\/p>\n<p>They had found Samuel Kessler\u2019s car.<\/p>\n<p>Abandoned at an airport parking structure.<\/p>\n<p>No sign of Kessler.<\/p>\n<p>But surveillance showed him entering the terminal.<\/p>\n<p>Not alone.<\/p>\n<p>A younger man walked beside him.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators enhanced the image.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Rowe.<\/p>\n<p>Alice\u2019s son.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus\u2019s employee.<\/p>\n<p>The two men boarded a flight east before authorities knew either mattered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d Julian asked.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz checked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPhiladelphia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy Philadelphia?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel answered before anyone else.<\/p>\n<p>Because Marcus had one company there.<\/p>\n<p>Not an asset company.<\/p>\n<p>Not insurance.<\/p>\n<p>A records company.<\/p>\n<p>One that specialized in secure document destruction.<\/p>\n<p>My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe index.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Kessler has it, Rowe is taking him somewhere they can destroy it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mercer was already contacting federal authorities.<\/p>\n<p>The flight had landed hours earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Both men were gone.<\/p>\n<p>But the records company\u2019s facility was known.<\/p>\n<p>Agents were dispatched.<\/p>\n<p>We waited.<\/p>\n<p>At 8:46 p.m., the call came.<\/p>\n<p>The facility was closed.<\/p>\n<p>Security guard missing.<\/p>\n<p>Rear entrance forced.<\/p>\n<p>Industrial shredders running.<\/p>\n<p>Agents entered.<\/p>\n<p>They found Michael Rowe near the processing floor.<\/p>\n<p>He surrendered.<\/p>\n<p>Samuel Kessler was found in an office.<\/p>\n<p>Alive.<\/p>\n<p>Terrified.<\/p>\n<p>The decoding index was not destroyed.<\/p>\n<p>Not all of it.<\/p>\n<p>Several pages had already gone through the shredder.<\/p>\n<p>Most remained in Kessler\u2019s bag.<\/p>\n<p>Enough to decode dozens of names.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe hundreds.<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz called me after midnight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou should sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo should you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She laughed quietly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe decoded the entry connected to Thomas\u2019s original complaint.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does it show?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA chain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople who received his submissions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Regulator staff.<\/p>\n<p>Pike employees.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel.<\/p>\n<p>Alice Rowe.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur Raines.<\/p>\n<p>And one name that had never appeared anywhere else.<\/p>\n<p>A lawyer.<\/p>\n<p>Charles Vane.<\/p>\n<p>I did not recognize it.<\/p>\n<p>Neither did Julian.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho is he?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz\u2019s silence told me the answer mattered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe represented Harlan Pike privately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe also prepared Thomas\u2019s will.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The room went still.<\/p>\n<p>My husband\u2019s lawyer had worked for Pike.<\/p>\n<p>I felt the old floor beneath my feet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThomas didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does the list say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz read the decoded notation.<\/p>\n<p>Vane \u2014 Carter estate access if needed.<\/p>\n<p>Julian went pale.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEstate access.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Thomas died.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I understood then why Marcus had spent twenty years uncertain about Thomas\u2019s evidence.<\/p>\n<p>He had someone positioned to search after the death.<\/p>\n<p>A lawyer with access to estate records.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe the attic box escaped him.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe the bank box escaped him.<\/p>\n<p>But Charles Vane had been placed close enough to try.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs he alive?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A pause.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThree streets from you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked toward my dark front window.<\/p>\n<p>For twenty years, a man tied to Pike had lived less than a mile from Thomas\u2019s house.<\/p>\n<p>And until that night, I had never known his name.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/?p=8505\">Click here to continue reading: PART 21: The Lawyer Who Prepared Thomas\u2019s Will Had Lived Near Me for Twenty Years, and His First Answer Changed Everything Again<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Daniel\u2019s attorney advised him not to answer. Daniel answered anyway. When investigators showed him Marcus\u2019s note, he closed his eyes. 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