Chapter 10 - A Mother's BargainEvelyn sat at a small kitchen table inside the Blue Ridge safe house.
Without the beige suit, pearls, and penthouse surroundings, she looked ordinary.
She wore borrowed jeans and a gray sweater.
Her silver-blonde hair had lost its careful shape.
Sarah entered with Agent Brooks.
Colonel Thomas Avery stood near the back door.
He gave Sarah a tired smile.
"You look like your father when you're angry."
Sarah did not return the smile.
"You accessed my personnel file?"
Avery's expression changed.
"No."
"Your credentials did."
"Then somebody stole them."
Brooks stepped in.
"We'll deal with that separately."
Sarah looked at Evelyn.
"You asked for immunity for Daniel."
Evelyn nodded.
Sarah took the chair across from her.
"Why?"
"Because he can give you Kessler."
Sarah's gaze hardened.
"And what does he get?"
"A chance."
"At what?"
"Surviving."
Sarah leaned back.
"Daniel forged my father's signature."
"Yes."
"He participated in financial fraud."
"Yes."
"He helped create false immigration records."
Evelyn closed her eyes.
"Yes."
"He spent seventeen years hiding evidence."
"Yes."
Sarah's voice became colder.
"And you want immunity."
Evelyn looked at her.
"I want proportional justice."
Sarah almost laughed.
"You don't get to negotiate with me."
"I know."
"Then why am I here?"
"Because Daniel won't trust anyone else."
Sarah stared.
"He hates me."
"No."
Evelyn shook her head.
"He fears you."
"There's a difference?"
"To Daniel, yes."
Sarah waited.
Evelyn folded her hands.
"When your father discovered the Northstar transfers, Daniel had already moved millions."
"For Kessler."
"Yes."
"Did Daniel know where the money came from?"
"At first, no."
Sarah remained skeptical.
Evelyn continued.
"Kessler told him the companies were part of legal international consulting."
"And Daniel believed that?"
"He wanted to."
Sarah understood.
Wanting to believe something was often more powerful than evidence.
"When did he learn the truth?"
"About six months before James died."
"And he kept doing it."
Evelyn looked ashamed.
"Yes."
"Then he wasn't trapped."
"He was both."
Sarah's eyes narrowed.
Evelyn continued.
"By then, Kessler had Daniel's signatures on everything."
"He could expose him."
"Exactly."
"So Daniel became useful."
"Yes."
Sarah remembered Evelyn's letter.
Victim or partner.
Perhaps he had been both.
Brooks sat beside Sarah.
"Where is Daniel now?"
Evelyn shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Then how are you negotiating for him?"
"Because he'll contact Sarah."
Sarah frowned.
"Why?"
"Because he wants the final ledger."
Sarah leaned forward.
"Where is it?"
Evelyn looked at Avery.
Then at Sarah.
"I know where James hid it."
Sarah's heartbeat changed.
"Where?"
"In a house."
"What house?"
"Your childhood home."
Sarah stared.
That house had been sold after James died.
A family had lived there for more than a decade.
Evelyn continued.
"James renovated the basement himself."
Sarah remembered.
He had spent an entire summer doing it.
She had complained because the drilling woke her every weekend.
"Where in the basement?"
"Behind the fireplace."
Sarah closed her eyes briefly.
Of course.
James had once joked that the safest place to hide something was behind the thing everyone stared at.
Brooks stood.
"We need a warrant and permission from the current owner."
Avery nodded.
"I can have security there in ten minutes."
Sarah looked at Evelyn.
"If you knew this, why wait seventeen years?"
Evelyn's eyes filled.
"Because I was afraid of what was inside."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I have."
Sarah stood.
Evelyn reached toward her.
"Sarah."
Sarah stopped.
"There's something else."
Sarah waited.
Evelyn looked down.
"Daniel didn't follow your father that morning to stop him."
"What?"
"He followed him to protect him."
Sarah stared.
"From whom?"
"Kessler."
"How do you know?"
"Daniel called me from the road."
Evelyn's voice shook.
"He said Kessler's men were following James."
Sarah felt the room become very quiet.
"What did you tell him?"
"To bring James home."
"And?"
"Daniel said he would."
Evelyn began crying.
"Twenty minutes later, Daniel called again."
Sarah's heart pounded.
"What did he say?"
Evelyn looked directly at her.
"He said he lost your father."
Sarah waited.
"He said the black SUV passed him."
Sarah felt cold.
"What happened after that?"
"Daniel reached the crash site six minutes after it happened."
Sarah froze.
"The police report says a truck driver found my father."
Evelyn nodded slowly.
"Daniel left before police arrived."
"Why?"
"Because he saw the SUV."
Sarah's voice dropped.
"At the crash?"
"Yes."
"Who was inside?"
Evelyn swallowed.
"He never told me."
Sarah stepped closer.
"Never?"
"He told your father."
Sarah frowned.
"James was alive?"
Evelyn began shaking.
"For a few minutes."
Sarah stared at her.
"Daniel spoke to him?"
"Yes."
"What did James say?"
Evelyn wiped her face.
"Daniel never told me all of it."
"All of what?"
"He said James gave him something."
Sarah's breath caught.
"The ledger?"
Evelyn shook her head.
"No."
"What?"
"A key."
Sarah remembered the antique key from the penthouse desk.
But that key had been hidden with James's letter.
Evelyn continued.
"Not a metal key."
Sarah frowned.
"What kind?"
"A word."
Sarah stared.
"A password?"
Evelyn nodded.
"Daniel said James whispered one word before he died."
Sarah leaned closer.
"What word?"
Evelyn looked terrified.
"I don't know."
"You just said Daniel told you."
"He told me there was a word."
"But not the word."
"No."
Sarah turned away.
Her phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
One photograph.
It showed the brick fireplace in Sarah's childhood basement.
The image had been taken recently.
Very recently.
Beneath it was a message.
TOO LATE.
Sarah showed Brooks.
Brooks immediately called the tactical unit.
Sarah stared at the photograph.
May you like
Someone was already inside her childhood home.
And whoever had sent the message knew exactly where the ledger was supposed to be.
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