I did not open the folder.<\/p>\n
Vale watched my hand rest beside it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou expect me to believe that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI expect you to verify it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He spoke differently without a badge on his belt.<\/p>\n
Less authority.<\/p>\n
More fatigue.<\/p>\n
The marina office smelled of algae and rotting wood. Somewhere beneath the floor, water slapped against pilings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did you get the binder?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cReagan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe gave it to you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe needed it out of the house before Carter found what was inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were standing beside Carter an hour ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou helped frame me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou helped fake Dad\u2019s death.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now you want me to believe you\u2019re helping Reagan protect my mother\u2019s records from Carter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale leaned back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI stopped expecting this to sound reasonable years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt least we agree on something.\u201d<\/p>\n
I opened the binder.<\/p>\n
Mom\u2019s handwriting covered the first page.<\/p>\n
Not copies.<\/p>\n
Original notes.<\/p>\n
I knew the way she crossed her sevens and made capital R\u2019s too large.<\/p>\n
The date was sixteen years earlier.<\/p>\n
Kestrel contains three vulnerabilities Camden refuses to address.<\/p>\n
Beneath that were names.<\/p>\n
Corporations.<\/p>\n
Account numbers.<\/p>\n
Several were familiar from Dad\u2019s flash drive.<\/p>\n
Mom had mapped the same network years before Carter ever joined the company.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was she doing?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cBuilding a way to prove the corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDad said she wanted Kestrel shut down.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he refused.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe delayed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds kinder.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not defending him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale stood and walked toward the window.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire believed some of Dennis Industrial\u2019s overseas partners were paying officials through companies connected to Kestrel. Camden wanted time to separate legitimate business from criminal activity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Mom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe thought delay made him complicit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds like her.\u201d<\/p>\n
A faint smile touched Vale\u2019s face.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I noticed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow close were you?\u201d<\/p>\n
His expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe worked together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were a detective.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was an investigator attached to a financial-crimes unit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMom contacted you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew me before that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe grew up in the same neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad had never mentioned it.<\/p>\n
Mom had never mentioned it.<\/p>\n
I turned another page.<\/p>\n
There were references to transfers into Claire Holdings.<\/p>\n
Four million dollars total.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was the money?\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale returned to the desk.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney is evidence?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it\u2019s marked.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
He tapped one entry.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire diverted funds moving through Kestrel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe stole it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
That answer was unexpectedly direct.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe committed theft.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo force everyone involved to expose themselves trying to recover it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at the page.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe baited the network.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cExactly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The idea sounded reckless.<\/p>\n
It also sounded like Mom.<\/p>\n
She once caught a raccoon stealing birdseed from our porch and moved the food progressively closer to an animal-control cage until the raccoon trapped itself.<\/p>\n
Dad called it stubborn.<\/p>\n
Mom called it geometry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did the money go?\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent three years in prison with eighty-seven dollars waiting at the gate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot directly.\u201d<\/p>\n
He turned to the back of the binder.<\/p>\n
A trust document was clipped beneath several pages.<\/p>\n
Beneficiary: Finnley Camden Dennis.<\/p>\n
I read it again.<\/p>\n
\u201cFour million dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInitially.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInitially?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was invested.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnknown. Possibly considerably more.\u201d<\/p>\n
My first reaction was not excitement.<\/p>\n
It was suspicion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t I know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Claire designed conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat conditions?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had to reach thirty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thirty-two.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOr Camden had to die.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe supposedly did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich triggered notice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trustee.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale looked almost apologetic.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stepped away from the desk.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFinnley.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were trustee of money my mother stole.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo preserve evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you arrested me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you use my trust?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Dad know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou expect me to believe Mom trusted you more than her husband?\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale looked at the binder.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe did by then.\u201d<\/p>\n
That hurt on Dad\u2019s behalf even though I was furious with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Camden kept choosing the company.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale said it without cruelty.<\/p>\n
That made it worse.<\/p>\n
I flipped through more pages.<\/p>\n
Mom had written instructions in the margins.<\/p>\n
If Camden cooperates, disclose everything.<\/p>\n
If Camden refuses, protect Finnley from the business.<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
She had been planning around me sixteen years earlier.<\/p>\n
Different parent.<\/p>\n
Same habit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened when she got sick?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire accelerated the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe four million vanished three days before hospitalization.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe moved it into the trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she know she was dying?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot when she began.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe contacted me because she believed somebody was monitoring her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe never proved it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCarter wasn\u2019t involved then.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cReagan?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wasn\u2019t married to Camden yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho else knew Kestrel?\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale answered quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople above Carter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The phrase Dad had used.<\/p>\n
The same hidden level.<\/p>\n
I closed the binder.<\/p>\n
\u201cNames.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what the original ledger contains.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKestrel ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire hid it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDad believes Carter hid it in his study.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCamden is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Claire showed me the hiding place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everything in me sharpened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale looked toward the K-17 strip.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeventeen wasn\u2019t an entity number.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDad found Claire Holdings listed seventeenth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe arranged it that way later.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo make Camden interpret K-17 incorrectly if he ever found it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom had built a clue specifically to mislead Dad.<\/p>\n
I almost admired it.<\/p>\n
Almost.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does K-17 really mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale turned the paper over.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
He reached for a pencil and shaded lightly across the back.<\/p>\n
Indented writing appeared.<\/p>\n
A second code.<\/p>\n
SL-17.<\/p>\n
\u201cSilver Lake?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSeventeen what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire numbered structural spaces in the original house during renovation.\u201d<\/p>\n
A memory struck me.<\/p>\n
Mom standing in unfinished rooms with a clipboard.<\/p>\n
I had assumed she was helping Dad choose fixtures.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpace seventeen?\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe old foundation cellar.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no cellar.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad had built a hidden passage.<\/p>\n
Mom had built a hidden cellar.<\/p>\n
Apparently my childhood home was less a residence than an argument conducted through architecture.<\/p>\n
Vale continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire hid the ledger there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSixteen years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s still there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was when Camden bought the second property survey.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter Claire died, he expanded the house. The new foundation covered the cellar entrance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the ledger is sealed under Silver Lake.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Carter\u2019s been searching the wrong room.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The magnitude of it hit me.<\/p>\n
Carter had destroyed our lives chasing something beneath his feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy tell me now?\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale\u2019s face hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Carter no longer needs the ledger for money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does he need it for?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo destroy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the network is preparing to disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought of the accounts on Dad\u2019s flash drive.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCompanies dissolving. Assets moving. People retiring. If the ledger survives, somebody can connect thirty years of transactions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if it doesn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey walk.\u201d<\/p>\n
I studied him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said you prevented Carter from killing me inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale looked away.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire asked me to protect you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019d been dead for thirteen years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI made a promise.\u201d<\/p>\n
The simplicity irritated me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou still framed me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI believed the alternative was your death.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDad said the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were surrounded by people who thought they knew what was best for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat might be the first completely truthful thing anyone has said.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI deserve whatever judgment you make.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds convenient.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
I held up the binder.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did Reagan give you this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe didn\u2019t know what it contained. Claire sealed it before her death and gave Reagan instructions years later through an attorney.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMom knew Reagan?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen how could she\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe attorney was instructed to deliver the binder if Camden remarried.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stopped.<\/p>\n
Mom had anticipated Dad might marry again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBackup.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Camden died or became compromised, his spouse was supposed to contact me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Reagan?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo years before your arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n
That changed everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cReagan knew about you before I went to prison.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew about Kestrel?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPieces.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she know Carter was involved?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe suspected.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t she tell Dad?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe didn\u2019t trust him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed bitterly.<\/p>\n
\u201cApparently nobody in this family trusted anybody except me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale looked at me carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not true.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire trusted you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe built a secret fortune in my name without telling me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe trusted what you would do once you had the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wanted to dismiss that.<\/p>\n
Couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
The marina lights flickered.<\/p>\n
Vale\u2019s head turned.<\/p>\n
He walked to the window.<\/p>\n
A vehicle had stopped outside.<\/p>\n
Headlights off.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many people knew we were meeting?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou and Reagan?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen one of you was followed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale drew a pistol.<\/p>\n
I stepped back.<\/p>\n
\u201cFantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRear door.\u201d<\/p>\n
I grabbed the binder.<\/p>\n
The front window shattered.<\/p>\n
Vale pulled me down.<\/p>\n
A suppressed shot punched into the wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cMove!\u201d<\/p>\n
We crawled behind the desk.<\/p>\n
Another shot.<\/p>\n
Wood splintered.<\/p>\n
I reached the rear door.<\/p>\n
Locked from outside.<\/p>\n
Vale fired once through the window.<\/p>\n
Someone shouted.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you swim?\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the black water beneath the dock.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot be serious.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another bullet tore through the wall.<\/p>\n
Vale kicked open a floor panel near the storage shelves.<\/p>\n
Cold water showed below.<\/p>\n
\u201cA hatch?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOld bait access.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone in my life has secret doors.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFinnley.\u201d<\/p>\n
I climbed down.<\/p>\n
Water struck my chest like ice.<\/p>\n
Vale followed.<\/p>\n
We moved beneath the dock between pilings.<\/p>\n
Above us, footsteps entered the office.<\/p>\n
Someone overturned the desk.<\/p>\n
A voice said, \u201cFind the binder.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not Carter.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t recognize it.<\/p>\n
Vale whispered, \u201cThat\u2019s bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
He answered so quietly I almost missed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone who shouldn\u2019t know Claire\u2019s records still exist.\u201d<\/p>\n
We swam toward the next dock.<\/p>\n
Halfway there, a flashlight cut across the water.<\/p>\n
Vale pushed me underwater.<\/p>\n
I held my breath.<\/p>\n
A shot struck nearby.<\/p>\n
The sound was strangely dull beneath the surface.<\/p>\n
We surfaced behind an old pontoon.<\/p>\n
Vale pointed toward shore.<\/p>\n
I climbed onto mud and weeds.<\/p>\n
Then a figure stepped from behind the boathouse.<\/p>\n
I raised my hands.<\/p>\n
Dad.<\/p>\n
He held an old revolver.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou locked me in a shed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis feels like an inappropriate time for parenting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale climbed out behind me.<\/p>\n
Dad aimed the revolver at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHoward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCamden.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither looked surprised to see the other.<\/p>\n
Of course.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou two want to tell me how many years you\u2019ve been lying to each other?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad\u2019s eyes moved to the red binder.<\/p>\n
His face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire\u2019s file.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vale nodded.<\/p>\n
Dad lowered the gun.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did Reagan get it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire arranged it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad touched the binder as if it might burn him.<\/p>\n
Then headlights appeared along the marina road.<\/p>\n
Three vehicles.<\/p>\n
Vale looked toward them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to move.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad turned toward the woods.<\/p>\n
I followed, clutching the binder beneath my jacket.<\/p>\n
Behind us, men spread across the marina.<\/p>\n
One called into a radio.<\/p>\n
\u201cVale\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about Dennis?\u201d<\/p>\n
Which Dennis?<\/p>\n
Dad or me?<\/p>\n
Then came the reply.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth.\u201d<\/p>\n
I did not open the folder. Vale watched my hand rest beside it. \u201cYou expect me to believe that.\u201d \u201cNo.\u201d \u201cGood.\u201d \u201cI expect you to verify it.\u201d He spoke differently … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11322"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11342,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11322\/revisions\/11342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}