I didn't give him a single inch. When he reached me close enough that I could make out the sweat along his hairline, I spoke. I didn't touch anything of yours, Declan. My voice carried through the quiet without effort. What I did was reassert ownership of what was already mine.
The forward momentum drained out of him. His jaw worked. Nothing coherent came. What is this? He finally managed.
You are senile. None of this is real to you. Give me that phone and the wallet. My hand went to my pocket, but what it came out with was not the hollow prop he'd assumed I carried. It was the burner phone.
I raised it so he could see it clearly. I know exactly what is real, I told him. I know about the properties you liquidated without my knowledge. I know about the $18 million sitting in the Cayman Islands. I know about those one-way Emirates tickets to Dubai.
And I know which room in the state facility had my name on it for tonight. Ingrid had been working her way in from behind him. She caught enough of it. Whatever composure she'd been holding on to went out like a switch. She reached for the back of a chair to keep herself upright.
You actually know. She barely got the words out. My eyes moved to her face, then dropped to the diamonds at her throat. I know all of it, Ingrid. And so does the judge whose signature is on the freeze order signed at 5:00 this afternoon.
Dubai is finished. Neither of you is leaving this city, Declan lunged for the phone. Hand it over, he said, voice cracking wide open. But something met him before he reached me, a hand firm on his shoulder. The restaurant manager had materialized, and flanking him were two men in dark suits who had come in through the entrance.
Their faces offered nothing at all. "Mr. Dunore," the manager said, measured and quiet. I'm asking you to take a step back. Declan spun on him.
Get your hands off. He's confused. Everything he just said is a lie. The two men in suits moved forward. One of them opened a badge case.
"Declan Dunore," the officer said. "Ingrid Bower, you are both under arrest." It had closed exactly as planned. The entire room was watching and the final act was fully underway. What filled the restaurant then was not ordinary quiet.