Chapter 15 - The Final Echo
The toddler squirmed out of Julianna’s arms with a joyful giggle, toddling over to the edge of the courthouse steps where Elena stood. With a bright, mischievous grin in his big blue eyes, the child reached into the pocket of his miniature denim jacket and pulled out a second, identical heavy silver collector's coin. Without a word of hesitation, the boy dropped it directly into Elena’s dented metal bowl.
The sharp, resonant metallic chime rang out clear and crisp against the morning air, echoing off the stone pillars of the federal courthouse just as it had on the sidewalk days ago.
Julianna gasped, covering her mouth with her hand in utter shock, while the federal investigator stared down at the bowl with raised eyebrows.
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"Where on earth did you get that one?" Julianna whispered, staring wide-eyed at her son.
The toddler simply giggled, tilting his head with absolute, disarming innocence, and pointed directly behind the investigator toward a sleek black town car pulling up slowly to the curb. The rear door opened, and a towering figure stepped out—a man wearing an identical charcoal-gray suit, holding an identical leather briefcase, and wearing an identical, chilling smile that matched Vance’s down to the very last detail.
