Chapter 9
Thomas frowned.
“The fireplace?”
Daniel walked toward it.
“Not the fireplace.”
He knelt.
“The stone beneath it.”
Rebecca stared.
“How would you know?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Sarah and I came here once after she left.”
Thomas’s face hardened.
“You came into my house?”
“You were in New York.”
Rebecca almost laughed.
“Sarah knew Dad’s travel schedule better than his assistant.”
Daniel ran his hand along the floor.
“She wanted childhood photographs.”
Thomas’s anger faded.
Daniel continued.
“She showed me a loose stone.”
He pressed near the edge of the hearth.
Nothing.
Then another.
A click.
Rebecca whispered, “No way.”
Daniel pulled.
A rectangular stone shifted.
Behind it was a narrow metal box.
My heart pounded.
Thomas knelt beside him.
Daniel looked at him.
“Want to do the honors?”
Thomas shook his head.
“Maya.”
Everyone looked at me.
I knelt.
The box was dusty.
Old.
I lifted it out.
There was a tiny lock.
Rebecca searched the desk.
“No key.”
Daniel stared at my locket.
“The chain.”
“What?”
“Sarah used to keep tiny keys on necklace chains.”
I examined it.
Nothing.
Thomas took the locket gently.
He twisted the small metal piece beneath the clasp.
A miniature key slid out.
I stared.
“My mother was insane.”
Rebecca laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
I inserted the key.
The box opened.
Inside were three folders.
A stack of original bank documents.
A cassette tape.
And a sealed letter.
On the envelope:
FOR MAYA.
My hands started shaking.
Thomas stepped back.
So did everyone else.
They understood.
That letter was mine.
I put it aside.
Daniel grabbed the first folder.
Thomas stopped him.
“Evidence first. Sentiment later?”
Daniel gave him a look.
“You really haven’t changed.”
Thomas released the folder.
“I’m trying.”
Mark checked the clock.
“Forty-two minutes.”
Kevin.
We focused.
The first folder contained original vendor invoices.
The second contained correspondence between Alan Price and Mark.
Mark went pale.
“What?”
Rebecca took one.
Her face hardened.
“Emails.”
Mark shook his head.
“These aren’t—”
“They have your name.”
“I know. I mean these copies weren’t in Sarah’s box.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You recognize them.”
“Yes.”
Thomas read over Rebecca’s shoulder.
The messages were short.
ALAN: Carter saw the discrepancy.
MARK: I can redirect.
ALAN: Rebecca Collins can be useful.
MARK: Leave her out of this.
ALAN: You don’t get sentimental now.
Rebecca looked at Mark.
“You tried to keep me out of it.”
He nodded.
“I told you.”
She gave a bitter laugh.
“You targeted me but wanted credit for not destroying me too?”
“No.”
“Good.”
The next email was worse.
MARK: Sarah contacted me.
ALAN: Address?
MARK: I don’t have it.
ALAN: Find it.
MARK: No.
ALAN: You owe me.
Mark closed his eyes.
Thomas looked furious.
“You knew he was dangerous.”
“Yes.”
“And you still told him Sarah had evidence.”
“Yes.”
Mark’s voice broke.
“I was afraid.”
Rebecca stared.
“Everyone was always afraid.”
No one answered.
The third folder contained photographs.
Alan with company executives.
Alan with Mark.
Alan with Kevin.
Then Alan with another man.
Thomas froze.
“Who is that?” I asked.
Thomas stared.
“My brother.”
Rebecca’s head snapped around.
“Uncle Henry?”
Thomas nodded.
I knew nothing about an Uncle Henry.
“Your brother?”
Thomas looked sick.
“Henry died ten years ago.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Does anyone in this family actually die when they’re supposed to?”
Rebecca gave him a look.
“Not helping.”
Thomas turned the photo over.
There was a date.
Sixteen years ago.
Four years after Sarah left.
Thomas whispered, “Henry was paying Alan.”
Mark looked over his shoulder.
“That makes sense.”
“How?”
“Alan never had the money to disappear.”
Thomas looked at him.
“My brother did.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“Why would Uncle Henry steal from the company?”
Thomas sat down.
“Because he believed it should have been his.”
“What?”
“Our father left me controlling interest.”
Rebecca stared.
“You never told us that.”
“It never mattered.”
“It seems to matter now.”
Thomas rubbed his face.
“Henry and I started Collins Hospitality together. But I ran operations. He handled properties. When our father died, I received fifty-one percent.”
“And Henry?”
“Forty-nine.”
Daniel whistled.
“There’s your motive.”
Thomas looked devastated.
“He spent his entire life resenting me.”
Mark picked up another paper.
“And Alan moved stolen funds through property vendors.”
Thomas looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Henry controlled properties.”
Silence.
It all connected.
Alan wasn’t the mastermind.
Maybe he had never been.
Henry was.
But Henry was dead.
At least supposedly.
A phone rang.
Not mine.
Daniel’s.
Unknown number.
He answered on speaker.
Alan Price spoke.
No distortion this time.
“Congratulations.”
Thomas stood.
“Alan.”
“Hello, Tom.”
Thomas’s fists clenched.
“Where is Kevin?”
“Safe for another thirty-four minutes.”
“What do you want?”
“The box.”
Thomas looked at me.
Alan continued.
“You found it. I know you did.”
Daniel looked around the room.
Cameras.
There had to be cameras.
Police began searching.
Thomas said, “Why Kevin?”
“Because Kevin stole from me.”
Daniel frowned.
“Kevin worked for you.”
“He worked for Mark first. Then Sarah.”
I froze.
“What?”
Alan laughed.
“You didn’t know?”
Mark looked shocked too.
“Kevin never met Sarah.”
“Yes, he did.”
The room went silent.
“When?” I asked.
Alan seemed pleased.
“Two days before she died.”
My blood ran cold.
Mark whispered, “No.”
Alan continued.
“Kevin was the person Sarah trusted with the originals.”
I stared at the metal box.
“Then why are they here?”
“Because he returned them.”
“Why?”
“Because he got scared.”
Thomas stepped closer to the phone.
“If Kevin was involved, why hire him at my restaurant company?”
Alan laughed.
“Because you don’t know your own people, Tom.”
That hit exactly where he wanted it to.
“He wanted to watch Maya.”
I looked at Mark.
He shook his head.
“I hired Kevin before Sarah died.”
Alan chuckled.
“Yes. But Sarah convinced him to switch sides.”
Mark looked stunned.
“She knew?”
“She knew he was watching her.”
I thought about my mother.
Of course she knew.
“She confronted him,” Alan said. “Instead of calling police, she made him coffee.”
Rebecca laughed through tears.
“That sounds like Sarah.”
“Yes.”
Alan’s voice became colder.
“And Kevin began helping her.”
“What happened the day she died?” I asked.
Silence.
“Alan.”
He sighed.
“Sarah was supposed to give everything to Thomas.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“She was coming home.”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill her?”
The room became still.
Alan answered calmly.
“No.”
I didn’t know whether to believe him.
“She died from an aneurysm.”
“I know.”
“Did someone cause it?”
“No.”
“Were you there?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Thomas shouted, “What?”
Alan continued.
“I went to scare her.”
Rebecca covered her mouth.
“She refused to give me the evidence.”
I could barely breathe.
“She told me she had made copies.”
My hands were shaking.
“She told me if anything happened to her, everything would go to Thomas.”
Thomas cried silently.
“I left.”
“And the next day she died.”
“Yes.”
“Convenient.”
“For me? Not really. I still didn’t know where the originals were.”
Thomas asked, “What about Henry?”
Alan went silent.
“Your brother wanted the evidence destroyed.”
“He was alive then.”
“Yes.”
“Is he alive now?”
Alan laughed.
“No.”
“Truth?”
“For once.”
“What happened to him?”
“He died ten years ago, exactly as reported.”
“So why are you still hiding?”
“Because Henry left me with accounts, debts, and enemies.”
Mark said, “And because you committed fraud.”
“That too.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Where is Kevin?”
Alan gave an address.
An abandoned warehouse in South Boston.
Police officers immediately moved.
Thomas said, “We’re going.”
Alan laughed.
“If police enter, Kevin dies.”
One officer shook his head at Thomas.
Standard threat.
Could be bluff.
Could be real.
Alan continued.
“Bring the box.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because those originals are the only documents that connect me to Henry.”
Thomas said, “We can copy them.”
“I know.”
“Then destroying them changes nothing.”
“No.”
Alan’s voice sharpened.
“But I want Sarah’s letter.”
My heart stopped.
“The letter to me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she wrote something in it that should stay buried.”
I stared at the sealed envelope.
Thomas looked at me.
Alan said, “Open it.”
“No.”
“If you want Kevin alive, open it.”
I hated him.
I hated everyone who kept using fear to control decisions.
I picked up the envelope.
Rebecca whispered, “Maya, you don’t have to.”
“Yes, I do.”
I tore it open.
Inside were six handwritten pages.
My mother’s handwriting.
I recognized it immediately.
I scanned the first page.
Then the second.
I stopped.
My chest went tight.
Thomas noticed.
“What?”
I looked at Daniel.
Then Mark.
Then Thomas.
My mother had written one sentence that changed everything.
Daniel Carter is not Maya’s biological father.
Daniel went completely still.
Thomas whispered, “What?”
I kept reading.
And then I learned the name of the man who was.
May you like
Mark Holloway.
Rebecca’s husband.
