Chapter 5
I could barely breathe.
“You told me Grandma died alone.”
“That’s what the police believed.”
“What did you see?”
Ethan lowered his voice.
“I came here after she called me. The front door was open. Grandma was on the bedroom floor, and Derek was kneeling beside her.”
“Why wasn’t that in the report?”
“He said he heard her fall while visiting. He claimed he tried to save her.”
“And you believed him?”
“No. But Grandma was still conscious for a few seconds.”
Ethan’s eyes filled with guilt.
“She grabbed my hand and said, ‘Protect Claire. Say nothing until you find the ledger.’”
“You kept this from me for six years.”
“I thought silence was protecting you.”
“Everyone keeps saying that while destroying my life.”
I walked away from him.
The alley spun around me.
Derek had entered my life three weeks after Grandma died.
But he had already been inside her home.
He had already watched her take her final breath.
My phone rang again.
Derek.
I answered immediately.
“Were you with my grandmother when she died?”
His breath caught.
“Ethan told you.”
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill her?”
“No.”
“Why were you here?”
“My father sent me to find the ledger.”
The confession came without hesitation.
Maybe he had finally realized lying was useless.
“I searched the bedroom,” he continued. “Evelyn caught me. We argued. She reached for her medication, but the bottle fell.”
“And you didn’t help her.”
“I froze.”
“You watched her die.”
“I called emergency services.”
“After searching the room?”
Silence.
Rage burned through me.
“You killed her as surely as if you had pushed her.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Claire, my mother took Evelyn’s letter. She’ll bring it to Robert.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s a note written in invisible ink along the edge.”
I looked at the water-damaged copy pages scattered around us.
“How do you know?”
“I saw Evelyn writing it the night she died.”
“What does it say?”
“I couldn’t read all of it. I saw one sentence under an ultraviolet lamp.”
“What sentence?”
“The real ledger is alive.”
I glanced at Ethan.
He had heard everything.
Derek continued.
“My father believes it means a person knows the account codes.”
“Who?”
“I thought it was you.”
“And now?”
“Now I think it’s Ethan.”
My brother stiffened.
“That’s a lie,” he said loudly.
Derek heard him.
“Ask Ethan what Grandma made him memorize when he was sixteen.”
I stared at my brother.
He shook his head.
“She gave me a string of numbers. I didn’t know what they meant.”
“You never told me.”
“They disappeared from my memory years ago.”
Derek said, “Robert won’t believe that.”
A guard announced that the call was ending.
Derek spoke quickly.
“Get out of the city. Take Ethan with you.”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“My mother can’t be released yet. The person who attacked Ethan wasn’t her.”
The line disconnected.
I turned toward Ethan.
We both understood at the same time.
The woman who entered my apartment had looked exactly like Margaret.
But the lights had been low.
Her voice had sounded rough.
And Margaret was still being held.
Someone had disguised herself.
A message arrived from Margaret’s stolen phone backup, which had synchronized with mine before the police took it.
It contained a photograph.
Margaret sat tied to a chair in a dark room.
A woman stood behind her.
The woman had removed a gray wig.
She was younger than Margaret, with sharp eyes and dark hair.
I recognized her from my wedding photographs.
Derek’s older sister, Vanessa.
Below the picture was a message.
I HAVE THE LETTER.
BRING ETHAN TO THE OLD HALE WAREHOUSE BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
COME ALONE, OR MARGARET DIES.
Ethan stared at the image.
“This could be a trap.”
“It is a trap.”
“Then we call the police.”
I looked at the broken recorder in my hand.
“The police can arrest whoever is holding Margaret.”
“And Robert?”
“He’ll disappear again.”
“What are you planning?”
I removed the memory card and slipped it into my pocket.
“They want the living ledger.”
Ethan’s face hardened.
“I’m not letting you trade yourself for them.”
“I’m not trading anyone.”
May you like
I looked back at the apartment that had become a battlefield.
“I’m going to make this family turn against itself.”
