Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
I ran.
I didn't think.
I didn't call for security.
I ran toward Lily's voice.
Anna was already there.
She was holding her daughter against her chest.
Evelyn stood several feet away.
Her face was expressionless.
“Where is everyone?” I demanded.
“Power failure,” she said.
“You knew this would happen.”
“No.”
I didn't believe her.
Marcus Hale arrived with two guards.
“Basement,” he ordered.
They disappeared.
Seconds later, one returned.
“Nothing.”
Then Lily whispered.
“Behind Mommy.”
We turned.
A shadow moved across the hallway.
Someone had been hiding inside the service corridor.
The guard chased him.
We heard footsteps.
A door slammed.
Then silence.
Marcus returned.
“He's gone.”
I looked at Evelyn.
She looked frightened now.
But not surprised.
“Tell me everything.”
“I don't know anything.”
“You're lying.”
She started crying.
“I was protecting my job.”
“From whom?”
She shook her head.
“From people who would kill me.”
“Who?”
She finally whispered:
“Your father.”
I stared at her.
“My father has been dead fourteen years.”
“I know.”
“Then explain.”
Evelyn wiped her face.
“Your father built this house differently than you think.”
She explained that Room 214 had once been used for private meetings.
Not criminal meetings.
Business meetings.
My father had hosted doctors, engineers, contractors, politicians, and financial advisers there.
After his death, he left instructions that the room remain sealed.
Evelyn had been ordered to maintain the secrecy.
“But Daniel discovered it.”
“Yes.”
“What did he find?”
“A ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“The one everyone has been looking for.”
Marcus Hale stiffened.
“What does it contain?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Payments.”
“To whom?”
“People inside the city government.”
Police.
Inspectors.
Judges.
But that wasn't the worst part.
There were payments to hospitals.
Insurance companies.
Rehabilitation centers.
And one private medical clinic.
The clinic that had treated Lily.
I felt sick.
“Why?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I was told to move paperwork. That's all.”
“By whom?”
She hesitated.
Then said:
“Daniel.”
That stopped me.
“My brother?”
“He found the ledger.”
“Why would he ask you to hide it?”
“Because he believed someone inside your family was involved.”
I stepped closer.
“Who?”
Evelyn looked toward Lily.
“I never knew.”
Lily suddenly spoke.
“Mommy knows.”
Anna's face changed.
“Lily.”
The little girl pointed at Evelyn.
“She told the man.”
Everyone froze.
Evelyn whispered:
“She's confused.”
Lily shook her head.
“He came at night.”
I crouched.
“Who came?”
“The man with the silver watch.”
I looked at Evelyn.
She stared at Lily.
Then at her own wrist.
A silver watch.
I pulled it from her hand.
Behind the watch was a tiny engraving.
D.M.
Daniel Moretti.
My brother's initials.
Evelyn started crying.
“He gave it to me.”
“When?”
“The night he died.”
I couldn't speak.
Marcus Hale took the watch.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“Mr. Moretti.”
“What?”
“We found something in the basement.”
“What?”
“An old safe.”
“Open it.”
“We did.”
“What was inside?”
Marcus looked at Evelyn.
Then at me.
“A video.”
“Of Daniel?”
“No.”
He swallowed.
“Of you.”
I stared at him.
“When?”
“Four years ago.”
“That’s impossible.”
Marcus shook his head.
“You're standing in the video.”
He handed me the phone.
The recording showed me entering Room 214.
I was carrying Lily.
Except Lily was an infant.
And I had never remembered being there.
Then someone entered behind me.
I recognized the face.
My father.
Impossible.
He was dead.
But the video had been recorded after his death.
My father looked directly into the camera.
Then he said:
“Anthony, if you're seeing this, I've already failed.”
The screen went black.
May you like
And beneath the video appeared a timestamp.
RECORDED THREE MONTHS AFTER HIS DEATH.
