Chapter 5 - Behind the Basement Wall
Elijah insisted on going alone.
Camille refused.
"You don't get to decide that."
"I absolutely do."
"It's my house too."
"You left it."
The words landed hard.
Camille accepted them.
Then she said, "Nia lived there. If something dangerous is hidden inside that house, I need to know."
Mara sided with Camille.
That irritated Elijah even more.
At 11:20 p.m., two security vehicles stopped outside 412 Maple Street.
The house looked painfully ordinary.
Peeling trim.
Sagging gutter.
A plastic pumpkin Nia had insisted on placing beside the steps.
Sixty-eight billion dollars hadn't changed any of it.
Elijah unlocked the door.
In the basement, he moved a metal shelf away from the wall.
He found the patch he'd repaired years earlier.
"Stand back."
With a pry bar, he removed the drywall.
Behind it was older brick.
One brick had no mortar.
Elijah pulled it free.
Inside was a steel lever.
He stared.
"You have got to be kidding me."
He pulled.
A section of shelving shifted.
Camille whispered, "Oh my God."
Behind it was a narrow concrete room.
No treasure.
No gold.
Just filing cabinets and a desk.
Elijah switched on the light.
A photograph sat on the desk.
Solomon.
Elijah's mother, Danielle.
And baby Elijah.
He picked it up.
On the back:
THE ONLY FORTUNE I EVER TRUSTED.
Elijah closed his eyes.
For years he'd believed his father valued business more than family.
Now every discovery complicated that belief.
Mara opened the first cabinet.
Corporate records.
The second contained property deeds.
The third was locked.
Elijah found a key taped beneath the photograph.
Inside were dozens of notebooks.
Solomon's handwriting filled them.
Elijah opened one.
Malcolm wants expansion too quickly. He doesn't understand debt. Danielle says I should walk away before friendship becomes obligation.
Another.
Cole forged my signature. I covered the loss because his children would have paid for his mistake.
Another.
Adrien was twelve when he heard Malcolm blame me for their bankruptcy. Children remember the story that protects their parents.
Elijah looked toward the doorway.
Malcolm hadn't lied.
Then Camille found a folder labeled ELIJAH.
Inside were photographs.
Elijah's high-school graduation.
His first maintenance job.
His wedding.
Nia's birth.
Camille touched one photograph.
"Your father was there."
Elijah stared.
In the background of their wedding photo, barely visible near the church entrance, stood Solomon.
"He told me he couldn't come."
Camille looked at him.
"Why?"
Elijah found another letter.
Son,
If I stay close to you, people will eventually understand you're my heir.
So I chose to let you hate me rather than let them use you.
Perhaps that was cowardice.
Perhaps fathers can make the wrong choice for the right reason.
If Nia ever reads this, tell her Grandpa knew about the dinosaur phase.
Elijah laughed once.
Then covered his eyes.
Camille had seen him angry.
Tired.
Happy.
Frustrated.
She had almost never seen him cry.
She approached but stopped before touching him.
That mattered.
He noticed.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For not pretending we're still married."
Camille nodded.
Then Mara called from the desk.
"You need to see this."
A ledger listed political donations, shell companies, and acquisition payments.
One name appeared repeatedly.
ADRIEN COLE.
Beside several transactions was another:
CAMILLE BROOKS.
Camille stared.
"I never received this money."
Mara examined the records.
"No. Someone created accounts using your identity."
Camille's face drained.
"What does that mean?"
"It means Adrien intended to make it appear you were paid for confidential information."
Elijah understood immediately.
"He was setting her up."
Mara nodded.
"If his plan failed, Camille would take the fall."
Camille sank into the chair.
"He was going to send me to prison."
A sound came from upstairs.
Footsteps.
Security had been stationed outside.
Elijah switched off the basement light.
Mara reached inside her jacket.
Another step.
Then a man's voice.
"Elijah?"
He recognized it.
Adrien.
Elijah climbed the stairs.
Adrien stood in the kitchen.
Wet hair.
No cashmere coat.
No arrogance.
A bruise marked his jaw.
Two security guards followed him.
"He surrendered at the gate," one explained.
Elijah stared.
"What do you want?"
Adrien looked at Camille.
Then Elijah.
"My father lied to you."
"Which part?"
"All of it."
Adrien placed a phone on the table.
"Someone has been using Cole Development accounts."
Mara examined it.
Adrien continued.
"I thought my father was behind the plan against you."
"And now?"
"Now I know he wasn't."
Elijah folded his arms.
"Convenient."
Adrien unlocked the phone.
A photograph appeared.
Malcolm Cole meeting a woman outside a Washington hotel.
Camille leaned closer.
She recognized the woman.
"No."
Elijah looked at her.
"Who is she?"
Camille whispered, "My mother."
The room went silent.
Camille's mother, Evelyn Carter, had supposedly died when Camille was seventeen.
Yet the photograph had been taken six days ago.
Adrien looked directly at her.
"Your mother isn't dead, Camille."
May you like
He swallowed.
"And she's the person who hired me to destroy your marriage."
