Chapter 6
The abandoned Harbor Point office sat two hundred miles away.
I wanted to leave immediately.
Marcus refused.
“You walk into that building, you give Vale exactly what he wants.”
“My mother is there.”
“Maybe.”
“Melissa gave me the address.”
“That doesn’t prove Margaret is inside.”
“So we do nothing?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“It sounds like it.”
Marcus placed the red ledger on the kitchen table.
“Vale wants this.”
“And?”
“That gives us leverage.”
“You think a ledger is leverage against a man who kidnapped my mother?”
“It’s evidence that could destroy him.”
“Unless he destroys us first.”
Caitlyn appeared in the doorway.
We both stopped.
She rubbed her eyes.
“Mommy?”
I went to her.
“Why are you awake?”
“I heard yelling.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Is Grandma okay?”
I didn’t know how to answer.
Marcus crouched.
“We’re trying to make sure she is.”
Caitlyn looked at the ledger.
“Is that Grandpa’s book?”
“Yes.”
“Can I see?”
Normally, I would have said no.
Instead, something in her voice stopped me.
“Why?”
“I saw Aunt Melissa looking for it before.”
Marcus and I exchanged glances.
“When?”
“The day Grandpa died.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“She was in his office.”
“Caitlyn, Grandpa died three months ago.”
“I know.”
“You never told me Melissa was here that day.”
“She told me not to.”
The floor seemed to move.
“What did she say?”
“That it was a surprise.”
“What surprise?”
“She said she was making something for Grandpa.”
“Did you see what she was doing?”
Caitlyn nodded.
“She took a picture of his papers.”
“With her phone?”
“Yes.”
Marcus moved closer.
“What papers?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Grandpa see her?”
Caitlyn thought.
“He came home.”
My breathing stopped.
“Dad came home while Melissa was here?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“They yelled.”
Dad died less than three hours later.
I felt suddenly sick.
“What did they say?”
Caitlyn frowned, trying to remember.
“Grandpa said, ‘You promised me.’”
I gripped the back of a chair.
“What did Melissa say?”
“She said, ‘I don’t have a choice.’”
Marcus was writing everything down.
“Anything else?”
“Grandpa said he was going to tell.”
“Tell who?”
“She didn’t say.”
I closed my eyes.
Dad hadn’t simply believed someone was following him before his death.
Melissa had been in his house the same day.
Searching his office.
Photographing his documents.
Arguing with him.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Caitlyn’s face crumpled.
“I thought I would get Aunt Melissa in trouble.”
I hugged her tightly.
“You are never responsible for protecting adults from their own choices.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You did nothing wrong.”
The sentence mattered.
Because too many adults in my family had spent years blaming other people for their decisions.
Dad blamed secrecy on protection.
Mom blamed loyalty on family.
Melissa blamed cruelty on trauma.
I wasn’t going to teach Caitlyn the same lesson.
“You did nothing wrong,” I repeated.
Marcus waited until Rosa took Caitlyn upstairs.
Then he spoke.
“Your sister may know more about your father’s death than she admitted.”
“I know.”
“We need proof.”
“The ledger?”
“Maybe.”
We searched every page.
Near the back, several pages had been cut out.
Not torn.
Cut cleanly.
“What was there?” I asked.
“No idea.”
Then I noticed something inside the binding.
A small bulge.
I ran my finger along the leather.
Marcus used a pocketknife to lift the seam.
A microSD card dropped onto the table.
We stared at it.
“Dad,” I whispered.
Marcus found an adapter in the farm office.
The card contained six files.
Four spreadsheets.
One audio recording.
One video.
We played the audio first.
Dad’s voice filled the room.
“I’m recording this because I no longer trust verbal promises.”
Then Melissa.
Angry.
“You said you’d destroy everything.”
“I said I would protect you if you told the truth.”
“I did.”
“No. You told me half the truth.”
“What difference does it make now?”
“Three men are dead, Melissa.”
“I didn’t kill them.”
“You helped Vale hide the warnings.”
“I was scared.”
“You took his money.”
“I needed to leave.”
“You took another payment six months ago.”
My blood went cold.
Six months ago.
Not fourteen years.
Dad continued.
“You are still working for him.”
Melissa started crying.
“He found me.”
“No. You went back.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain it.”
“He knows about Caitlyn.”
The room seemed to freeze.
Dad’s voice became deadly calm.
“What does my granddaughter have to do with this?”
“Nothing. I’m saying he knows everything about us.”
“What does he want?”
“The original Harbor Point reports.”
“He’s never getting them.”
“Then people are going to get hurt.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“No.”
“You walked into my house and told me Vale knows where my granddaughter goes to school.”
“I’m warning you!”
“You are carrying his threat for him.”
The recording ended.
I couldn’t breathe.
Marcus stared at the screen.
“Date?”
I checked.
Two days before Dad died.
“He knew Caitlyn was being threatened.”
“He may have been trying to protect her.”
“By not telling me?”
My anger at Dad surprised me.
He was dead.
I loved him.
I missed him every day.
But he had hidden danger from me.
And secrecy had not protected Caitlyn.
It had placed her directly in the middle of it.
“Play the video,” I said.
The video showed Dad’s office.
Security camera footage.
The date was the day he died.
Melissa entered.
Exactly as Caitlyn described.
She searched drawers.
Photographed papers.
Then Dad walked in.
There was no audio.
They argued.
Melissa pointed at him.
Dad pointed toward the door.
Then something unexpected happened.
A man entered behind Dad.
Thomas Vale.
Older than the photograph in the ledger.
Silver hair.
Expensive coat.
Even without audio, his identity was unmistakable.
Marcus leaned toward the screen.
“Jesus.”
Vale closed the office door.
Dad stepped between him and Melissa.
They argued.
Then Vale placed something on Dad’s desk.
A photograph.
Dad looked at it.
His face changed.
The security footage caught enough of the photograph for us to zoom in.
Caitlyn.
Outside her school.
My hands went numb.
Vale had threatened my daughter.
Dad shoved the photograph back.
Melissa began crying.
Vale said something.
Dad shook his head.
Then Vale smiled.
He left.
Melissa stayed.
Dad turned toward her.
And slapped the desk.
Melissa shouted something.
Then she left too.
Dad was alone.
He picked up his phone.
Made a call.
Twenty minutes later, he drove away.
Three hours after that, he was dead.
Marcus leaned back.
“This is enough to reopen his death investigation.”
“Is it enough to arrest Vale?”
“For threatening Caitlyn? Maybe not without audio.”
“What about conspiracy?”
“We need more.”
I stared at the screen.
“Then we get more.”
Marcus looked at me.
“How?”
“Melissa.”
“She’s working with him.”
“She’s also terrified of him.”
“That doesn’t make her trustworthy.”
“No.”
I looked at the red ledger.
“But it makes her vulnerable.”
I called the number she had used.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
On the third attempt, she answered.
“What?”
“I saw the video.”
Silence.
“What video?”
“Dad’s office. The day he died.”
Melissa inhaled sharply.
“You have that?”
“Yes.”
“You need to delete it.”
“No.”
“Emma—”
“Did Vale kill Dad?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you help him?”
“No!”
Her answer came instantly.
“Did you know Vale was going to meet Dad?”
“Yes.”
“Why was he there?”
“To get the reports.”
“Did Dad give them to him?”
“No.”
“Then what happened after you left?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where did Vale go?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
Her voice broke.
“I left.”
“To where?”
“A bar.”
“Which one?”
She hesitated.
“Melissa.”
“The King Street Tavern.”
Marcus wrote it down.
“What time?”
“About four.”
Dad’s crash happened at 5:42.
“Did Vale call you?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After five.”
“What did he say?”
Melissa began breathing rapidly.
“He said the problem had been handled.”
My stomach turned.
“What problem?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“Why not?”
“Because I knew.”
The words were almost inaudible.
“You knew Dad was dead?”
“I knew something had happened.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I was scared!”
“For three months?”
“I’m still scared!”
I closed my eyes.
“Where is Mom?”
“She’s alive.”
“Let me hear her.”
“I can’t.”
“Then I don’t believe you.”
Melissa whispered.
“Vale doesn’t trust me anymore.”
“Why?”
“Because I told you where Mom is.”
A noise sounded behind her.
A door.
Then a man’s voice.
Melissa gasped.
“Emma, I have to go.”
“Wait.”
“Don’t come to Harbor Point.”
“You told me to.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Why?”
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“Because Mom isn’t the hostage.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She brought you here.”
The call went dead.
Marcus and I stared at each other.
Then my phone rang again.
This time the number wasn’t blocked.
It was my mother.
I answered.
“Mom?”
Her voice was calm.
Far too calm.
“Hello, Emma.”
“Are you safe?”
“Yes.”
“Melissa said you were kidnapped.”
“No.”
“Where are you?”
“At Harbor Point.”
“Why?”
“Because your sister finally told me you found the ledger.”
My blood went cold.
May you like
“Mom…”
“I need you to bring it to me.”
