Chapter 4 - The Voice in the RabbitNobody breathed.
The recording continued.
"Salvatore, listen carefully."
Adelaide stared at the rabbit as if it had become a bomb.
The voice coming from it was unmistakably hers.
"If Nolan tells you I am confused, don't believe him."
Nolan's name silenced the room again.
"If Hattie says I hurt myself, don't believe her."
Salvatore glanced toward the doorway.
Hattie was gone.
His men had already begun searching the estate.
The recording continued.
"Five days ago, they started asking me about your father's final account."
Salvatore's stomach tightened.
"Your father left something behind. It isn't money."
The recording crackled.
"It is a list."
A pause.
Then Adelaide's recorded voice became quieter.
"A list of everyone who betrayed him."
Salvatore looked at the ledger.
His fingers tightened.
The voice continued.
"I never told you because I believed the list was destroyed."
Static.
"Then I found out it wasn't."
Salvatore looked at his mother.
She was trembling.
"Mom."
The recording continued.
"They think I know where the original is."
A longer pause.
"They are wrong."
Salvatore frowned.
The voice whispered.
"Because I moved it."
He stared at Adelaide.
The recording ended.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Salvatore asked, "Where?"
Adelaide looked at him.
"I can't tell you."
He almost laughed.
"After everything today, you still want to protect me?"
"I am trying to keep you alive."
"My life is already in danger."
"Not like this."
She walked toward the fireplace.
"The people in that ledger aren't ordinary enemies. Some sit above judges. Some command police departments. Some can make bodies disappear from hospitals."
Salvatore said nothing.
She continued.
"Your father wasn't killed because of the businesses."
His eyes lifted.
"What?"
Adelaide looked directly at him.
"He was killed because he refused to give them something."
"What?"
"The name of the person who had access to the family vault."
Salvatore looked at the ledger.
"Who?"
Adelaide's eyes moved to the rabbit.
"The person was never caught."
Ella suddenly began crying.
Salvatore turned.
"What is it?"
Ella whispered.
"Mommy heard them talking."
"Who?"
"My mommy."
Salvatore froze.
Nolan's daughter.
Her mother had died three years earlier.
"She heard who?"
"Ella!" Hattie's voice screamed from the corridor.
The girl panicked.
Salvatore pulled her closer.
A shot struck the wall outside.
His men returned fire.
"Get her down!"
Everyone ducked.
Salvatore covered Ella with his body.
Adelaide was pulled behind a stone column.
Another gunshot.
Then silence.
One of Salvatore's men shouted.
"Nothing."
They entered the corridor.
A window was open.
Someone had escaped through the garden.
Salvatore looked at the broken glass.
Then at the security system panel.
The screen was black.
"Who disabled the cameras?"
Nobody answered.
He walked to the control room.
Every camera feed was gone.
Except one.
Camera 17.
A small image of the basement.
Something moved.
Salvatore stared.
A woman.
Walking slowly.
Toward the old furnace.
He recognized the dress.
Hattie's.
"She's still here."
He grabbed a weapon.
Adelaide stepped forward.
"Don't go alone."
"I'm not."
She shook her head.
"That isn't Hattie."
Salvatore looked at the screen again.
The woman turned toward the camera.
Her face came into view.
It wasn't Hattie.
It was a woman Adelaide had never seen before.
But Salvatore recognized her.
She had been standing beside the banquet table.
One of the guests.
The woman smiled directly into the camera.
Then she held up one finger.
And mouthed three words.
I FOUND HIM.
The screen went black.
Ella began screaming.
"Uncle Salvatore!"
He turned.
"Grandma lied!"
Everyone froze.
Ella pointed at Adelaide.
"She knows who did it."
Adelaide closed her eyes.
"Yes."
Salvatore stared at his mother.
"Who?"
Adelaide whispered one name.
May you like
And Salvatore felt the floor disappear beneath him.
"Your father."
