Chapter 6 - THE BOOK WITH THE BROKEN SPINE
Claire did not know whether to slap Roman or demand that he explain himself.
“You had the ledger all these years?”
“I believed it was the only thing that could prove Evelyn had been telling the truth.”
“Then why didn't you use it?”
“Because it wasn't complete. Several pages were missing, and the copies I had could be dismissed as altered records. I needed the original transaction pages to connect the fraudulent debt to the people who authorized it.”
“You could have told me.”
“Yes.”
“You could have told the police.”
“Yes.”
“You could have told Elena.”
Roman looked down.
“Yes.”
Claire let out a short, disbelieving laugh.
“Is there anyone you haven't lied to?”
“I didn't lie to you about what I did. I withheld it.”
“That distinction probably sounds very important to a man who controls everything.”
He accepted the blow without flinching.
“I won't ask you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
Claire took the brass key and the note. She had no intention of letting Roman keep the only pieces of evidence her grandmother had left behind.
“Where's the ledger now?”
“In a secure archive.”
“Take me to it.”
Roman hesitated.
“Anthony has people inside the company. If we move the ledger without knowing who is watching, we could lose it.”
“Then stop treating me like a problem you need to manage. It's my grandmother's evidence.”
After a long moment, he nodded.
“I'll arrange access. You choose the attorney, and we'll make copies under independent supervision.”
It was the first time Claire had heard him offer control without trying to keep some for himself.
They contacted an attorney named Rebecca Shaw, recommended by Daniel Mercer. Rebecca was a former federal prosecutor who now handled financial fraud cases. She agreed to supervise the examination of the records, provided every document was logged and photographed.
By noon, the three of them were in a secure records room beneath one of Roman's commercial offices.
The original ledger lay inside a locked case.
Its leather cover was cracked, and the spine had split near the middle. Roman had preserved it carefully, but the pages were stained from age and water damage.
Claire touched the cover.
“Grandma used to repair books with linen tape,” she murmured. “She said a broken spine didn't mean the story was finished.”
She opened the ledger.
Most of the entries appeared ordinary: rental payments, maintenance costs, legal expenses, and property transfers. But several transactions repeated in a pattern. Money moved from one company to another, then returned under a different description. Each transfer carried the initials A.V.
Anthony Vale.
Rebecca photographed the pages and compared them with the copies Roman had kept. The missing sections corresponded to transactions recorded on the day the bookstore's debt had been created.
“This is promising,” Rebecca said. “But we need the original supporting documents.”
Claire remembered the note.
“The book with the broken spine. Not the one they expect.”
She searched the shelves in the archive, where boxes of old company records had been stored for years. Most were labeled with dates and property names.
Then she noticed a small carton marked PERSONAL EFFECTS — EVELYN DAWSON.
Roman stared at it.
“I've never seen that box.”
“Convenient,” Claire replied.
He accepted the accusation.
Rebecca opened the carton. Inside were a pair of reading glasses, a fountain pen, a photograph of Claire as a child, and a paperback mystery novel with a badly repaired spine.
Claire recognized it immediately.
Her grandmother had read that novel so often that the cover had nearly detached.
She opened the book carefully. The pages seemed ordinary until she reached the center. Someone had cut a narrow compartment into the binding.
Inside lay a tiny memory card and a folded sheet of paper.
Rebecca put on gloves and examined both items.
The paper contained a handwritten list of dates and amounts. Several entries were marked with a red star.
The memory card was more delicate.
“Don't insert this into an ordinary computer,” Rebecca warned. “We'll make a forensic copy.”
While Rebecca arranged the equipment, Claire examined the list. One entry carried a date that matched the night Evelyn died.
Beside it were three initials.
A.V. — R.D. — V.H.
Anthony Vale.
Roman De Luca.
Victor Hale.
Claire's stomach tightened.
“Your initials are here.”
Roman leaned over the table.
“I see them.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“That's becoming your favorite answer.”
Before he could reply, Rebecca's technician announced that the memory card contained an audio file and several scanned documents.
They listened to the audio together.
Evelyn's voice emerged through static.
“If you're hearing this, the original records may be gone. Anthony has been moving money through false debts. Victor created the accounts. Someone higher up approved the transfers.”
A pause followed.
Then Evelyn continued.
“Roman came tonight. He believes he can still stop this. But he doesn't understand how far it goes.”
Claire looked at Roman.
The recording continued.
“If anything happens to me, do not trust the people who tell you it was an accident.”
A door slammed somewhere in the background.
Evelyn's breathing quickened.
“Someone's here.”
The recording ended.
For a long moment, nobody spoke.
Then Rebecca examined the scanned documents.
One showed an authorization for the fraudulent debt against Dawson Books & Coffee. The signature at the bottom appeared to belong to Roman.
Claire looked at him.
“You signed it.”
Roman's face drained of color.
“I've never seen that document.”
“It's your signature.”
“Yes.”
“Then either you signed it, or someone forged it.”
Rebecca enlarged the image.
“The signature may be genuine, but we can't establish authenticity from a scan alone.”
Claire could barely hear her.
Roman looked as shocked as she felt.
“I didn't authorize the seizure of Evelyn's shop.”
“Then prove it,” Claire said.
Before he could answer, the door to the records room opened.
A man in a charcoal suit stood in the doorway.
Anthony Vale.
He looked at the ledger, the open novel, and the memory card on the table.
Then he smiled.
“Roman,” he said. “I was wondering when you'd finally bring the Dawson girl here.”
Rebecca reached for her phone.
Anthony's smile disappeared.
“Don't bother. The authorities are already on their way.”
May you like
He looked directly at Claire.
“And if I were you, I'd ask your mother why she kept the second copy of that signature.”
