Chapter 8 - The Daughter of the Accountant
Erica returned the following morning.
Samuel locked the front door before customers arrived.
Grace stood beside him.
Noah and Lily were upstairs.
At least, that was what the adults believed.
Noah sat silently halfway down the staircase.
Samuel placed the forged transfer document on the counter.
“Did you take records from my office?”
Erica looked at the paper.
“No.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
Her face changed.
“I was trying to protect my father.”
“From what?”
“From you.”
Samuel stared.
Erica’s voice became unsteady.
“My father spent the last years of his life telling people you blamed him for everything.”
“I never blamed Walter.”
“You ruined him.”
“He remained my accountant for eight more years.”
“Because you wanted him where you could watch him.”
Grace stepped forward.
“Erica, did your father steal that deposit?”
Erica’s eyes filled with anger.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know.”
Samuel slid another document across the counter.
“What is this?”
Erica looked down.
The color disappeared from her face.
“I’ve never seen that.”
“You were eighteen when you signed as a witness.”
“My father told me it was insurance paperwork.”
Samuel stared at her.
“You knew Daniel Carter.”
Erica’s expression cracked.
Noah stopped breathing.
Grace whispered.
“What?”
Erica sat down slowly.
“He came to our house once.”
“When?”
“The night before his crash.”
Grace gripped the counter.
“What did he want?”
“He was shouting at my father.”
“About the money?”
Erica nodded.
“He said he had proof.”
“What proof?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happened?”
“My father told me to go upstairs.”
Erica’s voice became smaller.
“I heard something break.”
“Then Daniel left.”
Samuel leaned forward.
“With what?”
Erica closed her eyes.
“A red ledger.”
Grace stared at Samuel.
Samuel shook his head.
“We never had a red ledger.”
Erica looked at him.
“My father did.”
The silence that followed was enormous.
Noah slowly stepped down another stair.
A floorboard creaked.
Everyone turned.
Grace’s face tightened.
“Noah.”
“I’m sorry.”
Erica stood abruptly.
“This is exactly why they shouldn’t be here.”
Samuel’s gaze sharpened.
“They are here because I invited them.”
“You’re trusting strangers over me.”
“No.”
Samuel looked at the forged document.
“I’m trusting questions over secrets.”
Erica grabbed her purse.
Before leaving, she stopped beside Noah.
“Your father found the red ledger.”
Noah looked up at her.
“And after he found it, he almost died.”
Then she walked out.
That night, someone slipped a note under the bakery door.
May you like
There were only five words on it.
STOP LOOKING FOR THE LEDGER.
