Chapter 9 - Nathan read the letter again.Every sentence made his childhood feel less real.
His mother's death certificate had always been locked in a family safe.
He remembered the funeral.
The flowers.
The priest.
The coffin.
But he had never seen her body.
He had been fourteen.
Grief had filled every empty space.
Now he wondered whether that grief had been manufactured.
Maggie sat beside him.
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
“You said she was alive.”
“The letter says someone can prove everything.”
Nathan showed her the last paragraph.
Maggie read it.
Then her face changed.
“She wasn't talking about herself.”
Nathan looked at the line.
Find the woman who remembers the night the harbor burned.
“Who remembers?”
Maggie whispered,
“Someone who was there.”
Nathan immediately thought of the photograph.
His mother.
Thomas.
Marcus.
Arthur.
“Someone else was there.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Maggie hesitated.
“Your father's driver.”
“Marcus's driver?”
“Yes.”
“What was his name?”
“Samuel Pike.”
Nathan searched his phone.
There was no record.
“I've never heard of him.”
“Because Arthur erased him.”
They returned to the city before sunrise.
Maggie took Nathan to a small apartment building in Queens.
An elderly man opened the door.
He stared at Nathan.
Then his face went white.
“You're alive.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“You know me?”
Samuel nodded.
“I knew your father.”
“Marcus?”
Samuel shook his head.
“Thomas.”
Nathan swallowed.
“You knew Thomas.”
“I drove him to Pier Nine that night.”
Maggie stepped inside.
Samuel closed the door.
“You need to leave.”
“Why?”
“Because they found me last week.”
Nathan looked around.
The apartment had no furniture except a table and two chairs.
“What happened?”
“They asked about the harbor.”
“What did you tell them?”
“That I remembered nothing.”
“Was that a lie?”
Samuel looked at him.
“Yes.”
Nathan sat down.
“Tell me what happened.”
Samuel poured water into a glass.
His hand shook.
“Thomas didn't die in an accident.”
“I know.”
“He was shot.”
Nathan's jaw tightened.
“Who shot him?”
Samuel stared at the floor.
“Owen.”
Nathan froze.
“Owen Briggs?”
Samuel nodded.
“He brought two men to the warehouse.”
“Why?”
“Thomas had the book.”
“Where was my father?”
“Marcus arrived ten minutes later.”
“And Arthur?”
Samuel looked at him.
“Arthur was already there.”
Nathan leaned forward.
“Then why did Marcus disappear?”
Samuel didn't answer.
Maggie stepped closer.
“Tell him.”
Samuel closed his eyes.
“Marcus was going to kill Arthur.”
Nathan stared.
Samuel continued.
“But he couldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because Arthur had someone.”
“Who?”
Samuel looked at Nathan.
“Your mother.”
Nathan's blood turned cold.
“Was she alive?”
“She was.”
“What happened?”
Samuel whispered,
“Arthur told Marcus that if he killed him, she would die.”
Nathan stood.
“So Marcus surrendered.”
“He gave Arthur the book.”
“And?”
“Arthur burned it.”
Nathan looked confused.
“Then what are we looking for?”
Samuel looked toward the window.
“The original wasn't burned.”
Maggie stiffened.
“Where is it?”
Samuel smiled sadly.
“Your mother knows.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“Where is she?”
Samuel didn't answer.
Instead, the front door exploded inward.
Gunfire filled the apartment.
Samuel was thrown backward.
Nathan hit the floor.
Maggie returned fire.
Three men entered.
Nathan crawled toward Samuel.
“Samuel!”
The old man was bleeding.
His lips moved.
Nathan leaned close.
“Where is she?”
Samuel whispered one word.
“Monastery.”
Then he died.
Maggie dragged Nathan through the kitchen.
They escaped down the fire stairs.
Outside, rain began falling.
Nathan stared at the blood on his hands.
Maggie touched his shoulder.
“The monastery.”
“Which one?”
She shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Nathan looked at Samuel's dead body through the window.
Then he noticed something in his hand.
A torn piece of paper.
Nathan opened it.
There was an address.
And beneath it:
SISTER ELENA.
Maggie stared at the address.
Then she whispered,
“That can't be.”
“Why?”
“Because Sister Elena was the woman who attended your mother's funeral.”
Nathan looked at her.
“If she attended the funeral…”
May you like
Maggie finished the sentence.
“Then she knows exactly who was inside that coffin.”
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