Page 81 of Beneath the Surface

If you’ve made it this far, you’re close to the end. Everything you need to take down Wheeler is on this drive. Video testimony from witnesses. Recorded confessions. Evidence of bribes, murders, corruption going back twenty years.

But there’s one more thing. Something I needed you to hear directly from me.

The video labeled “For Quinn” is for you alone. Watch it when you’re ready. When you’re strong enough.

I’m proud of you, baby girl. I’m so proud.

Finish this.

—Dad

Quinn’s hands shook as she pulled out the USB drive. It was labeled in her father’s handwriting:WHEELER EVIDENCE - MASTER FILE.

“Do you have your laptop?” she asked Dax.

He pulled it from his bag, booted it up, and handed it to her.

Quinn plugged in the drive with trembling fingers. The directory opened, showing dozens of video files, each one labeled with a date and a name.

Thomas Crane - 2013Clara Mendez - 2014Leesa Fine - 2015

Quinn’s breath caught. “Leesa Fine. That’s—”

“My fiancée.” Dax’s voice was strangled. “Your father interviewed her?”

Quinn ignored the pang of irrational jealousy and clicked on the file. Leesa’s face filled the screen—young, beautiful, alive. The date stamp said three weeks before she died.

“My name is Leesa Fine,” she said on the video, her voice clear and strong. “I’m a social worker for Blackridge County, and I’m here to testify about the Riverside Group Home and its connection to Wheeler Properties LLC...”

Dax made a choked sound. Quinn paused the video and looked at him.

“I didn’t know,” she whispered. “I didn’t know he’d interviewed her.”

“She never told me.” Dax’s tortured eyes were locked on Leesa’s frozen face on the screen. “She said she was working with a journalist, but she never said who. I didn’t know it was your father.”

“They were working together. Fighting Wheeler together.” Quinn’s throat tightened. “And Wheeler killed them both.”

Dax’s jaw clenched, and when he spoke, his voice was rough with emotion. “Play it. I need to hear what she said.”

Quinn hit play.

Leesa talked for twenty minutes about the group home, about the abuse and neglect she’d discovered, about the paper trail that led back to Wheeler’s properties. About how Wheeler was profiting off the suffering of vulnerable children.

When the video ended, Dax was silent, tears streaming down his face.

Quinn found his hand and held it tight.

“There are others,” she said softly, scrolling through the files. “Dozens of them. Witnesses who trusted my father to protect their stories.”

Dax’s voice was deep, gruff when he spoke. “We need to watch all of them. Document everything.”

“Not now.” Quinn’s eyes found the file at the bottom of the list.For Quinn - PLAY LAST.

Her father’s video. His final message to her.

“I need to watch this one first,” she said softly, already reaching for the mouse.

Dax nodded. “Do you want privacy?”