Chapter 9 - THE NAME IN THE LEDGERDaniel sat in the library under police guard.
He looked older than Michael remembered from photographs.
But his eyes were sharp.
Michael placed Rachel's journal on the table.
“Tell me everything.”
Daniel folded his hands.
“Rachel discovered a transfer from your company.”
“To Victoria?”
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Victoria was paid to manipulate you.”
“By whom?”
Daniel looked at Thomas.
“Show him.”
Thomas placed a ledger on the table.
The cover was black.
No title.
Inside were names.
Payments.
Dates.
Political donations.
Private security contracts.
Judicial retainers.
Michael turned pages.
Then stopped.
One name appeared again and again.
Elliot Ward.
Michael recognized him.
The man had been on the Hayes Holdings board for eighteen years.
Chief financial officer.
Family friend.
One of the men Michael trusted most.
“No.”
Daniel nodded.
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
“How long?”
“Three years.”
Michael suddenly remembered.
Elliot had resigned two days after Rachel died.
He claimed he couldn't continue working under the emotional strain.
Michael had accepted it.
Daniel said:
“He was the real architect.”
Victoria looked down.
Michael turned toward her.
“You worked for him.”
“I had no choice.”
“You threatened my children.”
Victoria's voice cracked.
“He threatened me too.”
“How?”
“He knew about my brother.”
Silence.
Michael frowned.
“What brother?”
Victoria looked at Emily.
“Peter.”
Emily's eyes widened.
“The security driver?”
Victoria nodded.
“Peter had seen Elliot with Rachel.”
Daniel spoke quietly.
“Peter was killed six months after Rachel.”
Michael stared.
“Another accident?”
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Shot.”
Michael stood.
“Why wasn't this in the records?”
Thomas answered:
“Because the same detective handled it.”
Harold Kane.
Michael's phone rang.
It was Kane.
Michael answered.
Kane's voice shook.
“I need to meet you.”
“Where?”
“Church basement on Madison.”
“Why?”
“I found Elliot Ward.”
Michael froze.
“Where?”
“He called me tonight.”
“And?”
Kane lowered his voice.
“He wants to surrender.”
Michael looked at Thomas.
“Why now?”
Kane answered:
“Because he says Victoria wasn't supposed to survive.”
The call ended.
Michael and Thomas arrived at the church forty minutes later.
Kane was waiting.
But Elliot wasn't.
Only blood.
A chair.
A broken watch.
And a note taped to the wall.
YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO FIND HER.
Michael turned around.
The basement door slammed shut.
Three armed men stepped from the shadows.
Thomas grabbed Michael.
“DOWN!”
Gunfire erupted.
Michael dove behind a stone column.
Kane fired back.
Emily screamed from the corridor.
A bullet struck the wall beside Michael's head.
Then one of the gunmen shouted:
“Take the boy!”
Michael looked up.
Lucas was not in the room.
He had been home.
But Sophie was.
May you like
And she was standing in the doorway.
Holding the silver key.
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