Chapter 6: The Shadowing Detective

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This entry is part 6 of 19 in the series The Blood Clock's Toll: A Boston Watchmaker's Deadly Survival War Against His Own Brother

The Blood Clock's Toll: A Boston Watchmaker's Deadly Survival War Against His Own Brother

Chapter 2: The Acoustic Cylinder

Chapter 4: The Horologist’s Confession

Chapter 5: The Smear Campaign Escalates

Chapter 6: The Shadowing Detective

Chapter 7: The Precinct Betrayal

Chapter 8: The Acoustic Grooves

Chapter 10: The Clock Tower Assembly

Chapter 11: The Thread of Messages

Chapter 12: The Solitary Ambush

Chapter 13: The Digital Key Reveal

Chapter 14: The False Surrender

Chapter 15: The Private Confrontation (Build-Up)

Chapter 16: The Decoy Cylinder Swap (Climax – Part 1)

Chapter 17: The Mechanical Feedback Loop (Climax – Part 2)

Chapter 18: Reconstructed Silence (Immediate Aftermath)

Chapter 19: Twenty-Two Years Later (Epilogue)

👉 Previous Decision: Silas intensified his smear campaign, framing you for murder, and your memories continued to vanish.

The smell of stale fish and seawater clung to the air behind Quincy Market. I’d risked a brief foray for supplies, the collar of my coat pulled high.

A shadow detached itself from the brick wall. Retired Detective Roy Kincaid, the original investigator of the 2012 vault heist, stepped into the narrow alley. His face was a roadmap of cynicism, his eyes sharp and unwavering.

“Finch,” he grunted, his voice gravelly. “Thought I’d lost you.”

I tensed, ready to bolt. This was it, the arrest.

But Kincaid didn’t draw a weapon. Instead, he produced a slim, manila file. He held it out.

“Your old man,” he said, pushing the file into my hand. “My confidential informant.”

My eyes widened as I opened it. Photos of my father, code names, dates. Reports implicating Silas in my father’s suspicious death twelve years ago, a death that had been ruled an accidental overdose.

Twist 7. Kincaid wasn’t hunting me for the heist. He was protecting me. Or trying to.

“Silas was always the primary suspect in his death,” Kincaid continued, his gaze piercing. “But the evidence never stuck.”

He paused, then motioned towards the street. “I can help you bypass the checkpoints, get you clear of the city. For a price.”

My grip tightened on the file. “The watch,” I said, my voice low.

Kincaid’s eyes gleamed for a fraction of a second. “That’s what your father had, isn’t it? The key to the $8.5 million. He was going to use it to bring Silas down.”

My mind raced. Was Kincaid truly offering help, or was he merely using me as bait to recover the bearer bonds, to finally solve his cold case? Could I trust a cop with my sanity and my daughter’s future? Or was he just another player in Silas’s deadly game, looking for his cut?

Choose your next action

Trust Detective Kincaid and share the location of Harlan’s hideout to gain police assistance. — Read CHAPTER 7 to continue

Refuse Kincaid’s offer, slip away into the subway system, and contact his daughter Maya directly. — Read CHAPTER 8 to continue