Afraid.
But determined.
"I don't know how long I have," he said.
Daniel stared at the screen.
Thomas continued.
"Daniel, if you're watching this, I'm sorry."
He explained everything.
The corruption went far beyond Bellwood.
Money had been exchanged for protection.
Cases had been altered.
People had been threatened.
Thomas had gathered enough evidence to expose it.
But he needed one final document.
A signed agreement.
That document was hidden somewhere only Daniel would recognize.
Thomas smiled faintly.
"You remember Dad's workshop."
Daniel whispered:
"The old clock."
Thomas nodded.
"The truth is inside."
The recording ended.
Daniel stood.
For the first time in thirty-eight years, he knew where to look.
The workshop was gone.
The building had been demolished years earlier.
But Daniel remembered something.
Their father had kept an old grandfather clock in the house.
The clock had belonged to his grandfather.
After their father's death, Daniel had inherited it.
He had kept it in storage.
They returned to his home.
The clock stood in the corner.
Daniel stared at it.
He had never opened the back.
Harris helped him move it.
Behind the wooden panel was a hidden compartment.
Inside was an envelope.
Daniel opened it.
The document inside was old.
But perfectly preserved.
A signed agreement.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
And signatures.
Richard Vale.
Edward Crane.
Several others.
Enough to destroy reputations.
Enough to reopen the case.
Enough to prove Thomas had never betrayed the department.
Daniel sat down.
He had spent thirty-eight years wondering whether his brother had died alone.
Now he knew.
Thomas had fought until the end.
Harris looked at the document.
"We need to take this to the state investigators."
Daniel nodded.
But before they could leave, a car stopped outside.
Headlights crossed the windows.
Harris looked through the curtain.
"It's Crane."
Daniel's face hardened.
Edward Crane stepped out.
He was older now.
But he still carried himself like a man who believed the world belonged to him.