Chapter 12 - THE BROTHER IN THE COFFINWe returned to the chapel before dawn.
Everywhere I looked, memories felt like clues I had ignored.
The altar.
The basement.
The hidden corridor.
Rebecca led us beneath the chapel.
At the end of the tunnel stood a stone wall.
Behind it was a small chamber.
Inside was a coffin.
My father's name was carved into it.
I approached slowly.
The lid was already open.
Empty.
Beside the coffin was another grave.
No name.
Only the initials:
T.B.
I stared.
“Thomas Bennett.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Your grandfather's second son.”
“What happened to him?”
“He was declared dead in 1998.”
“Why?”
“Your grandfather knew what he was becoming.”
“And what was he becoming?”
Rebecca handed me a file.
Inside was a photograph of a young Thomas.
He looked almost identical to my father.
But underneath was a note:
Primary architect of the witness operation.
I looked at Sarah.
“So my father was not the mastermind.”
“No.”
“Thomas was.”
She nodded.
“Your father tried to stop him.”
I stared at her.
“Wait.”
Everything changed.
“My father didn't fake his death to steal the trust.”
“No.”
“He faked it because Thomas was hunting him.”
“Yes.”
“Then the man we met tonight…”
“Is Thomas.”
“And my father?”
Sarah looked down.
“Your father was alive when I last saw him.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“Where?”
She whispered:
“Protecting Emily.”
A voice came from behind us.
“Yes.”
We all turned.
An elderly man stepped from the shadows.
Gray hair.
Walking cane.
Tired eyes.
I knew him instantly.
My father.
The real one.
I couldn't speak.
He looked at me.
“I am sorry.”
I wanted to hit him.
I wanted to hug him.
I did both.
For a few seconds, he held me like I was still a child.
Then he whispered:
“Thomas has Emily.”
“Where?”
“He will take her to the red room under the old estate.”
“Why?”
“To force her to remember.”
“Remember what?”
My father looked at Sarah.
Then at me.
“Where the original ledger is hidden.”
I frowned.
“What ledger?”
“The ledger that proves every person Thomas destroyed.”
“Why does Emily know?”
“Because Sarah hid the key inside her memory.”
I looked at my daughter’s old photographs.
“The red room.”
My father nodded.
“When Emily was four, she saw you hide something.”
I stared at Sarah.
“What did I hide?”
Sarah shook her head.
“You did not hide it.”
She looked at my father.
“He did.”
My father nodded.
“I put the ledger where Thomas would never look.”
“Where?”
He smiled sadly.
“In the wedding chapel.”
I stared at the altar.
“The chapel?”
“Yes.”
He pointed toward the ceiling.
“Above the bell.”
I couldn't believe it.
All day, we had been standing beneath the evidence that could destroy Thomas.
But Thomas already knew.
The question was whether he could find it before us.
My father grabbed my arm.
“There is one more problem.”
“What?”
“Thomas knows you found me.”
“How?”
My father looked toward the doorway.
A fresh footprint was visible in the dust.
Someone had been standing there.
Watching us.
My father whispered:
“He wants the ledger.”
“And Emily.”
“Yes.”
Then he looked at Rebecca.
“And he wants her dead.”
Rebecca froze.
“Why me?”
My father answered:
“Because you know who helped Thomas.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“No.”
“Tell them.”
“I can't.”
My father's face hardened.
“Tell them.”
She began crying.
“Your father's closest ally…”
She looked at me.
“…was not Thomas.”
My stomach dropped.
“Then who?”
May you like
Rebecca whispered:
“It was my father.”
