Chapter 12 - The Bodyguard Who Pulled the Trigger
For one terrible moment, nobody moved.
Gabriel Shaw stared at his own face on the screen.
I instinctively stepped away from him.
Caleb looked toward his longtime security chief.
"Gabriel?"
His voice was barely audible.
Gabriel slowly raised both hands.
"Boss, that's not what it looks like."
The room became unbearably quiet.
Elizabeth Warren stood.
"Nobody should touch anything. We need the investigators to review this."
Gabriel nodded.
"Agreed."
But Caleb kept staring at the recording.
He'd trusted Gabriel through three weeks of pain, sleepless nights, and humiliation.
Now the video appeared to show him beside the SUV when the fatal shot was fired.
"Explain," Caleb whispered.
Gabriel swallowed.
"I was there."
My stomach dropped.
"But I didn't shoot you."
He looked toward the screen.
"The man in that recording is wearing my coat."
I stared.
"What?"
Gabriel pointed toward the figure.
"Look at the left hand."
The specialist enlarged the image.
The man's hand was visible for only a fraction of a second.
A silver ring gleamed on his middle finger.
Gabriel held up his own hand.
No ring.
Then he revealed a scar across his knuckles.
"I injured this hand five years ago. The man in that recording doesn't have the scar."
Elizabeth nodded.
"That needs independent verification."
The specialist examined another camera angle.
The man turned.
His face became clearer.
My heart pounded.
He resembled Gabriel.
But his nose was different.
His hairline lower.
Gabriel closed his eyes.
"I know who that is."
Caleb looked at him.
"Who?"
"My younger brother."
Silence.
Gabriel continued.
"His name is Michael Shaw."
I stared.
"Your brother?"
He nodded.
"He worked for Owen years ago. I thought he'd left Chicago."
Caleb's expression hardened.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't know he was involved."
His voice broke.
"I swear I didn't."
Investigators later confirmed that the man in the recording was Michael Shaw, not Gabriel.
But the discovery raised another question.
Why had Michael impersonated his brother?
And why had Gabriel been allowed to remain so close to Caleb afterward?
The answer came from a second recording.
This one showed Owen speaking to Michael inside the garage before the shooting.
Owen handed him a coat.
Then pointed toward a photograph of Caleb.
The audio was faint.
But one sentence was clear.
"If Mercer survives, Gabriel takes the blame."
I felt cold.
Owen had prepared an escape route for every possible outcome.
Caleb's death.
Caleb's disability.
Or Gabriel's arrest.
He'd planned to destroy everyone who could challenge him.
Then Elizabeth received a call.
Her expression changed.
"Caleb, we have a problem."
He looked up.
"What?"
"Owen has filed an emergency motion to remove the original trust documents from the estate."
Caleb's jaw tightened.
"On what grounds?"
Elizabeth looked toward me.
"He claims Thomas Holloway stole them before he died."
My stomach dropped.
May you like
Then she revealed the final detail.
"His petition says the documents are hidden somewhere inside Grace's bedroom."
