Chapter 13 - THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
Thomas was gone.
So was the truth.
For three days, Adrian searched every database he controlled.
No trace.
No financial records.
No passport.
Nothing.
Meanwhile, Claire became increasingly distant.
She wasn't angry with Adrian.
That was worse.
She was afraid of what their history meant.
One evening, Adrian found her sitting alone on the back porch.
“Lily's asleep.”
“I know.”
He sat beside her.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Finally Claire said, “Do you remember me?”
Adrian looked at her.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
She swallowed.
“I remember you too.”
Adrian's heart tightened.
“You remembered?”
“Not at first.”
She stared into the garden.
“When I saw you at the estate, something felt familiar. The way you looked at Lily. The way you lowered yourself when she talked to you.”
Adrian smiled faintly.
“I learned that trick.”
“I remembered a boy who did that.”
“What boy?”
“You.”
He looked at her.
Claire continued.
“You were the only person who ever treated me like I belonged there.”
Adrian reached for her hand.
She allowed him to take it.
Then a phone rang.
Daniel.
Adrian answered.
“Boss, we found Thomas.”
“Where?”
“St. Michael's cemetery.”
Adrian stood.
Twenty minutes later, they arrived.
Thomas was sitting inside a parked car.
Alive.
Barely.
Someone had shot him.
Adrian opened the door.
“Who did this?”
Thomas coughed.
“Your uncle.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“Name.”
“Vincent.”
Claire froze.
“Vincent Moretti.”
Adrian shook his head.
“My uncle Vincent died in 2014.”
Thomas laughed weakly.
“No.”
He pulled a photograph from his coat.
It showed Vincent standing outside a hospital.
Taken last month.
Alive.
Adrian stared.
“Why?”
Thomas whispered, “Because your father left something behind.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“The one everyone thought disappeared.”
Thomas nodded.
“Your father kept records of every illegal transaction. Every bribe. Every betrayal.”
“Where is it?”
Thomas looked at Claire.
“Her mother knew.”
Claire stepped closer.
“My mother?”
“She hid the ledger before she died.”
“Where?”
Thomas's eyes closed.
“Inside the one place Vincent would never search.”
Then he died.
Daniel looked at Adrian.
“What does that mean?”
Adrian already knew.
He turned toward Claire.
“Your mother's house.”
Claire shook her head.
“There hasn't been a house for twenty years.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Then we find where she kept it.”
They returned to the estate.
Lily was awake.
She was sitting in the library drawing.
When Adrian entered, she held up her picture.
It showed Adrian, Claire, Lily, and a fourth person.
An older woman.
Claire stared at it.
“Lily, who is that?”
“Grandma.”
Claire's face drained of color.
“My mother?”
Lily nodded.
“She came to my dream.”
Claire knelt.
“What did she say?”
Lily pointed to the drawing.
“She said Mommy should look under the blue floor.”
Adrian looked at Claire.
“What blue floor?”
Claire suddenly remembered.
Her mother's old house had a small blue-tiled kitchen.
They drove there immediately.
The property had been empty for years.
Inside, they found the kitchen.
The floor was covered in faded brown tiles.
Except for one.
Blue.
Adrian pried it loose.
Beneath it was a metal container.
Inside was a ledger.
And one cassette tape.
Adrian found an old player in the basement.
The tape began with static.
Then Margaret Bennett's voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, I'm probably dead.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Margaret continued.
“Adrian's father was not the worst man in the Moretti family.”
A pause.
“The worst man was the one everyone trusted.”
Adrian looked at Claire.
The tape continued.
“His name is Vincent.”
Claire's eyes widened.
Then Margaret said the sentence that changed everything.
“Vincent didn't kill me because of the ledger.”
The recording crackled.
“He killed me because I knew what he did to Adrian.”
May you like
Adrian stopped breathing.
The tape ended.
