00:00Ask Reverend Cain. Ask Dr. Whitmore. Ask anyone who has ever tried to speak against me and lived long enough
00:08to regret it.
00:09Maya stared at the message, her hands cold despite the morning sun now breaking over the lake.
00:15He's threatening everyone who's already testified.
00:18Reverend Cain, Dr. Whitmore.
00:21Adrian said sharply to Marcus,
00:23Call the palace, now. I want eyes on both of them immediately.
00:29Marcus was already dialing, his jaw tight.
00:32This isn't a bluff this time.
00:34He knows exactly who's vulnerable.
00:37He's had twenty years to build that list.
00:40The calls came back within minutes.
00:42Reverend Cain, relocated to a secure palace guest room after his ordeal in the cellar, was accounted for, shaken but
00:50safe.
00:51Dr. Whitmore, however, did not answer his assigned phone.
00:55He was with the king this morning, Isabelle's voice said through the line.
00:59Tension cutting through her usual calm.
01:02Reviewing the medical records for tomorrow's hearing.
01:04I'll check his location myself.
01:07A long, agonizing pause followed.
01:10When Isabelle's voice returned, it was tight with controlled fear.
01:14He's not in the palace, she said.
01:17His assigned security detail says he left an hour ago for a personal errand.
01:22He didn't say where.
01:24The group split immediately.
01:26Marcus driving Adrian and Edmund back toward the capital at full speed.
01:31Daniel and Maya following behind with Margarite, who insisted on accompanying them despite the obvious danger.
01:37Daniel told her, as they drove,
01:40You should stay hidden.
01:42I spent 20 years hiding, Margarite said.
01:45If Victor intends to silence every witness before tomorrow's hearing,
01:49I'd rather be standing beside them than waiting safely somewhere to hear how it ended.
01:55Maya glanced at her father, driving with white-knuckled focus.
01:5923 years of fear, finally finding an outlet in forward motion instead of hiding.
02:06Do you know where Whitmore might have gone?
02:08She asked him.
02:10Daniel shook his head slowly.
02:12No, but I know the kind of man Victor is.
02:15If he wants someone silenced quietly, he won't do it somewhere obvious.
02:20He'll do it somewhere that looks like an accident.
02:23Marcus's palace contacts finally tracked Whitmore's vehicle through traffic camera footage,
02:29not toward any medical facility,
02:31but toward the small rural parish where Reverend Cain had once hidden in the cellar.
02:36Why would he go there?
02:38Adrian asked.
02:40The church records, Marcus said, pulling up an old note from Edmund's earlier investigation.
02:46Cain mentioned once that the parish kept duplicate copies of certain sealed documents
02:51as a safeguard in case palace archives were ever compromised.
02:56If Whitmore wanted additional proof to strengthen tomorrow's testimony,
03:00then Victor's people would know exactly where to find him too.
03:04Edmund finished grimly.
03:06They arrived at the quiet parish 20 minutes later
03:08to find Whitmore's car parked haphazardly near the church entrance,
03:13driver's door hanging open.
03:15The church was silent and empty,
03:18afternoon light filtering weakly through stained glass windows.
03:22Marcus moved cautiously down the center aisle,
03:25weapon drawn,
03:26while Adrian and Edmund checked the side rooms.
03:30They found Whitmore in the small records office at the back,
03:33slumped against an overturned filing cabinet,
03:36a thin trickle of blood on his temple,
03:39but his chest rising and falling steadily.
03:42He's alive, Marcus said,
03:44kneeling beside him quickly,
03:46unconscious but alive.
03:48Whitmore's eyes fluttered open weakly
03:51as Marcus checked his pulse.
03:53They took the files, he whispered.
03:55The duplicate archive.
03:57They took everything.
03:59Who took them?
04:00Adrian asked urgently.
04:02How many?
04:03Two men.
04:04Whitmore managed.
04:06They weren't interested in hurting me,
04:08only in making certain I understood the message.
04:11What message?
04:13Edmund asked.
04:14Whitmore closed his eyes briefly,
04:17gathering strength.
04:18They said to tell you all,
04:20but this was simply a demonstration,
04:23that tomorrow's hearing could proceed exactly as scheduled,
04:26with exactly the testimony already planned,
04:29and nothing further would happen to anyone in this room,
04:32or additional demonstrations would follow,
04:34each one less gentle than the last.
04:36He's not trying to stop the hearing entirely,
04:39Marcus said slowly,
04:41piecing it together.
04:42He's trying to limit what gets said inside it.
04:45He wants Marguerite's confession,
04:48Edmund's recognition,
04:50all of it to proceed exactly as planned,
04:52as long as his own name never enters the record.
04:55He's negotiating through violence,
04:57Isabel said through the phone,
04:59having stayed at the palace to coordinate with King Frederick,
05:02the same way he's apparently done for 20 years.
05:05Back at the palace that evening,
05:08the family gathered in the private study,
05:11Whitmore resting under medical care.
05:14The weight of Victor's demonstrated reach,
05:16settling heavily over everyone.
05:18If we name Victor tomorrow,
05:21King Frederick said,
05:22we risk retaliation against everyone who testifies.
05:26Whitmore nearly died today,
05:28simply for retrieving old records.
05:30If we don't name him,
05:32Adrian said,
05:33he remains free to do this to someone else,
05:36indefinitely,
05:37for as long as he lives.
05:38We'd be trading one hearing's safety,
05:41for every future victims.
05:43Maya,
05:44silent through most of the discussion,
05:46finally spoke.
05:47There's a third option.
05:48We don't name him in the hearing at all.
05:51We build an entirely separate case,
05:54quietly,
05:55with enough independent evidence
05:56that he can't simply threaten witnesses into silence.
06:00Because the proof doesn't depend
06:01on any single person's testimony.
06:04What evidence do we actually have?
06:06Marcus asked.
06:08Priya's confession.
06:09If she'll give it in writing somewhere safe.
06:12Maya said,
06:13my father's 20 years of surveillance on the shipping fraud.
06:16Marguerite's original financial records
06:18from before she went into hiding.
06:21Whitmore's duplicate archive.
06:22Before they stole it.
06:24Do we still have copies?
06:25I photographed several pages before they arrived.
06:29Whitmore said weakly,
06:30from his medical bed,
06:32having been wheeled in to join the conversation.
06:34Instinct, I suppose.
06:36After 30 years of learning not to trust a single copy
06:39of anything important.
06:42Then we have a foundation,
06:44Marcus said.
06:45Enough to build a case
06:46that doesn't collapse
06:47the moment one witness
06:48gets frightened into silence.
06:50Priya,
06:51who had been brought quietly to the palace
06:53under Marcus's protection,
06:55sat across from Maya
06:56in a small private room.
06:58If I give a formal statement,
07:00Priya said.
07:01Written,
07:02signed,
07:02notarized.
07:03He'll know immediately.
07:05He has people watching me for eight years.
07:08Then we protect you properly this time.
07:11Maya said.
07:12Not hidden.
07:13Not alone.
07:14Under crown protection.
07:16The same as Marguerite.
07:18The same as my father.
07:20You've spent eight years being used by him.
07:23Let this be the moment
07:24you finally stop being afraid of him.
07:26Instead,
07:28Priya's hands trembled
07:29as she finally nodded.
07:31Get me the paperwork.
07:32I'll sign everything.
07:34As the family finalized their plan late that night,
07:37Marcus's phone buzzed
07:39with an urgent alert
07:40from the holding facility,
07:41handling Marguerite's case.
07:43He read it quickly,
07:45his expression shifting to genuine alarm.
07:48What is it?
07:49Adrian asked.
07:50The hearing,
07:51Marcus said slowly.
07:53It's been moved,
07:55not postponed,
07:56moved,
07:57to a different venue entirely,
07:59effective immediately,
08:01by order of the presiding judge.
08:03Who authorized that?
08:05King Frederick demanded.
08:06I wasn't informed of any change.
08:08Marcus scrolled further,
08:10his face going pale
08:12as he found the answer.
08:13According to this,
08:15he said quietly.
08:16The request came through this afternoon,
08:19citing security concerns
08:21after today's incident at the church.
08:23It's signed by a judge
08:24none of us have ever worked with before.
08:27Assigned only this week
08:29to replace the original presiding magistrate.
08:31Who assigned the replacement?
08:33Isabel asked.
08:35Marcus looked up slowly,
08:37already knowing the answer
08:38before he said it aloud.
08:40The appointment traces back
08:42to a judicial oversight committee.
08:44He said,
08:46one that,
08:46until three days ago,
08:48was still chaired by Lord Bertrand Voss.
08:51Coming up in episode 40,
08:53the new judge.
08:54With Marguerite's hearing
08:56suddenly relocated
08:57under a judge
08:58tied to Bertrand's final act
09:00before his arrest,
09:02the family races
09:03to determine
09:04whether tomorrow's proceedings
09:05have already been compromised.
