Chapter 4: The Name in the Blue Ledger
For a moment, nobody moved.
Captain Victor Hayes stared at the blue ledger in Samuel Brooks's hand as though he were looking at a loaded weapon.
“Put that down, Samuel,” Hayes ordered.
Samuel gave a short laugh.
“Still giving orders, Captain? After all these years?””
“That's an official investigation document.””
“No. It's evidence you hoped would stay buried.””
Investigator Bennett stepped forward, one hand resting near the identification badge clipped to her belt.
“Mr. Brooks, I'm Special Investigator Laura Bennett. I need you to put the ledger on the ground and step away from it.””
Samuel glanced at her badge, then at the two officers standing behind her.
“Of course. Everyone wants the ledger now.””
He carefully placed it on the hood of his sedan.
Then he looked at me.
“Nia, you deserve to know what happened to your father. But you need to understand something first. Daniel wasn't the innocent man your captain wants you to believe he was.””
My throat tightened.
“You told me he abandoned us.””
“I told you what I was instructed to tell you.””
“By whom?””
Samuel's eyes shifted toward my mother, who had appeared at the end of the driveway.
Denise stood beside her car, clutching her purse against her chest. She looked smaller than I had ever seen her.
“Samuel,” she whispered.
“Don't.””
He turned toward her.
“You had twenty years to tell her.””
My mother took a step backward.
Captain Hayes moved between them.
“This is enough. The ledger will be secured, and both of you will answer questions.””
Samuel smiled bitterly.
“You still think you're the hero here, don't you, Victor?””
Hayes's jaw tightened.
“I know what I did.””
“No,” Samuel replied.
“You know what you signed.””
I looked from one man to the other.
“What did you sign?””
Neither answered.
The wind swept through the pine trees, carrying the smell of damp earth and gasoline from Samuel's car. Somewhere beyond the road, a dog barked.
I stepped toward the ledger.
“I'm tired of being the only person in this family who doesn't know what happened.””
Investigator Bennett raised a hand.
“Nia, let us handle the evidence.””
“I don't want to handle the evidence. I want answers.””
Samuel opened the ledger again.
“Then read the first page.””
Bennett moved quickly, but Samuel had already turned the book toward me.
There were columns of dates, shipment numbers, and handwritten initials. Several entries were marked with red lines. Beside one entry, dated the night my father disappeared, someone had written:
Pier Seven. 23:40. Cargo transferred. Authorization disputed.
Underneath were four names.
Daniel Carter.
Denise Carter.
Victor Hayes.
And Samuel Brooks.
I stared at the page.
“My mother wasn't in the Navy. Why is her name here?””
Samuel looked at Denise.
“Tell her.””
My mother shook her head.
“I didn't know what the shipment contained.””
“What shipment?”” I demanded.
Samuel tapped the entry.
“Equipment was delivered to Pier Seven that night. Daniel discovered the cargo manifest didn't match what had actually arrived.””
“What was missing?””
“Several sealed containers.””
“Containing what?””
“I don't know.””
He said it too quickly.
Captain Hayes stepped forward.
“That's enough. You have no authority to question her.””
Samuel's eyes flashed.
“And you have no authority to pretend you weren't there.””
The words landed like a slap.
I turned toward Captain Hayes.
“Were you at Pier Seven that night?””
He held my gaze for several seconds.
“Yes.””
“Did you see my father?””
“Yes.””
“Then why did you let everyone believe he deserted?””
Hayes looked down at the ledger.
“Because the evidence presented to me suggested he had taken classified material and fled.””
“And you believed it?””
“I believed what I was shown.””
“That isn't the same thing.””
“No,” he said quietly.
“It isn't.””
The admission hurt more than a denial would have.
Samuel leaned against his car.
“Your father was an honorable man, Nia. But he found something he shouldn't have found. Someone made sure the evidence pointed toward him.””
“Who?””
Samuel closed the ledger.
“That is what the blue book was supposed to prove.””
“Then prove it.””
He looked at me with something resembling pity.
“The original pages are missing.””
Investigator Bennett immediately took the ledger from the hood.
“Who removed them?””
Samuel's gaze settled on my mother.
Denise began to cry.
Not loudly. Not dramatically.
She pressed a tissue to her mouth, her shoulders shaking.
“I never wanted this,” she whispered.
I stared at her.
“You knew Dad was alive.””
She shook her head.
“I didn't know he was alive until recently.””
“But you knew he hadn't abandoned us.””
Her silence answered me.
My chest ached.
“Twenty years, Mom. You let me believe he didn't love me.””
“I was trying to protect you.””
“From what?””
She looked at Samuel.
He gave a humorless laugh.
“That's the question she should have asked twenty years ago.””
Bennett ordered an officer to escort Samuel away from the ledger while another secured the book in an evidence bag. Samuel didn't resist. Before getting into the government vehicle, he turned toward me.
“Your father kept a second copy of the shipment records. If it still exists, it will tell you who arranged the transfer.””
“Where is it?””
He hesitated.
“Ask your mother about the blue suitcase.””
My mother made a strangled sound.
“Samuel, please!””
He ignored her.
“Whatever you think you know about that night, Nia, remember this: your father didn't disappear because he wanted to leave you. He disappeared because someone made staying impossible.””
The officers closed the vehicle door.
I turned to my mother.
“What blue suitcase?””
She wiped her cheeks with the tissue.
“Please, sweetheart. Not here.””
“You don't get to call me sweetheart and then hide another secret.””
Her face crumpled.
For the first time, I saw the woman beneath the carefully maintained appearance of a devoted mother.
She was terrified.
“Your father left something with me before he disappeared,” she admitted.
“Something that could destroy people who are still alive.””
“What was it?””
She looked past me toward Captain Hayes.
“Ask him what happened to the original report.””
Hayes went rigid.
My mother took a shaky breath.
“Because if you want to know why Daniel never came home, Nia, you need to understand that the lie didn't begin with me.””
May you like
She pointed at the captain.
“It began with him.””
