Chapter 4 - The Blue LedgerGraham sat down as if nothing had happened.
“Coffee,” he said.
Sophia did not move.
Adrian watched him.
“Interesting morning.”
Graham smiled.
“I could say the same.”
“You knew I’d be here?”
“I know your habits.”
“So does everyone.”
Graham looked toward the kitchen.
“Where’s the little girl?”
“Asleep.”
“Such a shame.”
Adrian noticed the subtle pause.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Graham lifted his cup.
“You seem tense.”
“Payroll is missing money.”
Graham’s expression remained perfectly neutral.
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“I’ll investigate.”
“I already did.”
Graham looked at him.
“And?”
Adrian smiled.
“And I found something.”
“What?”
“A name.”
Graham waited.
“Yours.”
The room fell silent.
Graham slowly placed his cup down.
“You always liked dramatic openings.”
“You always liked clean books.”
“They are clean.”
“Four hundred and eighty thousand says otherwise.”
Graham leaned back.
“I assume you have evidence.”
Adrian stared at him.
“No.”
“Then why are you accusing me?”
“I’m not.”
Graham’s smile returned.
“Good.”
Adrian leaned closer.
“I’m watching you.”
Graham stood.
“You should watch everyone.”
“I do.”
Graham walked toward the door.
Before leaving, he turned.
“Adrian?”
“Yes?”
“Your payroll problem began long before you started drinking coffee here.”
Adrian narrowed his eyes.
Graham left.
Sophia exhaled.
“You shouldn’t have told him.”
“He already knew.”
“How?”
“Because he was too calm.”
Sophia stared at him.
“You sound like Daniel.”
Adrian froze.
“Did Daniel ever mention me?”
“Often.”
“What did he say?”
“That you trusted people too easily.”
Adrian almost laughed.
“Daniel knew me for eight months.”
“He knew you better than you think.”
Adrian glanced at the kitchen.
“Where is the blue ledger?”
“I told you. I don’t know.”
“Did Daniel hide anything here?”
Sophia hesitated.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“He left a key.”
“Where?”
She reached beneath the register and pulled out a small brass key.
Adrian looked at it.
“What does it open?”
“I don’t know.”
“Daniel never told you?”
“He said I would know when the right person asked.”
Adrian took the key.
“Did he ever say where?”
Sophia nodded slowly.
“He said it was somewhere people looked every day.”
Adrian scanned the diner.
Tables.
Counter.
Kitchen.
Cash register.
Then Emma’s coloring box.
He stopped.
“What?”
Sophia frowned.
Adrian walked toward the child’s booth.
Inside the box were crayons, stickers, folded paper.
And one small blue notebook.
Sophia gasped.
“I’ve never seen that.”
Adrian picked it up.
The cover was old.
Worn.
Blue.
His pulse quickened.
He opened the first page.
Nothing.
Second page.
Nothing.
Third.
Numbers.
Hundreds of names.
Dates.
Payments.
Initials.
At the bottom of the page was a note.
If Adrian ever finds this, ask him one question.
Adrian turned the page.
The question was written in Daniel’s handwriting.
Which of your men were you paying before you met them?
Adrian stared.
Sophia whispered:
“What does that mean?”
He did not answer.
Because he suddenly remembered something.
Graham had not been hired by him.
Graham had been introduced by Adrian’s father.
Twenty-one years ago.
And Adrian’s father had died six months later.
Adrian turned another page.
A list of names filled the paper.
At the top:
Original Payroll.
Below it were eleven names.
Graham Bell.
Three dead men.
Two missing men.
Five still working for Adrian.
And one name Adrian recognized immediately.
Lucas Reed.
His driver.
His friend.
The man who had been beside him for fifteen years.
Adrian’s fingers tightened around the notebook.
Sophia watched his face.
“What does it say?”
Adrian closed the ledger.
“Trouble.”
Then the diner’s lights went out.
A gunshot cracked outside.
May you like
Emma screamed from the bedroom.
And Adrian realized somebody had just tried to kill the one person who had returned ten thousand dollars.
