Chapter 7 - The FatherGraham was gone by the time Adrian opened the door.
Outside, only rain.
Adrian stood under the gray sky.
Lucas looked at him.
“You believe him?”
“No.”
“But?”
“I believe he wanted me to believe him.”
They returned to the safe house.
Sophia was sitting beside Emma.
She looked exhausted.
Adrian placed the photograph in front of her.
“Who is he?”
Sophia stared.
Then she whispered:
“Daniel's father.”
Adrian frowned.
“Daniel's father?”
“He worked for your father.”
“When?”
“Before Daniel was born.”
“What did he do?”
Sophia swallowed.
“He kept records.”
Adrian looked at the photograph again.
“The original payroll?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
Sophia hesitated.
“I thought he died.”
“You thought?”
She lowered her eyes.
“Daniel told me he was alive.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because the last time someone asked me that question, Daniel disappeared.”
Emma suddenly spoke.
“Mom.”
Sophia looked over.
“What?”
“That's not the man Daddy meant.”
Everyone went silent.
Adrian turned.
“What man?”
Emma pointed to the photograph.
“He said the bad man wasn't the one in the picture.”
Sophia stared.
“What are you talking about?”
Emma looked at Adrian.
“Daddy said the bad man was the one who smiled when everyone was crying.”
Adrian's mind raced.
Who had smiled?
At his father's funeral.
At Daniel's funeral?
At the diner.
At every meeting.
Graham.
But also someone else.
Adrian remembered.
His father's lawyer.
Vincent Hale.
A man who had remained in Adrian's orbit for twenty-one years.
A man who had always handled legal transfers.
A man who had never once been questioned.
Adrian called Lucas.
“Find Vincent Hale.”
Lucas went pale.
“He's at the courthouse.”
“Doing what?”
“Arguing a civil case.”
Adrian stared at the ledger.
“What case?”
Lucas checked.
“A property dispute.”
“Whose property?”
Lucas looked up.
“Rose’s Diner.”
Adrian's blood ran cold.
They raced back to the diner.
The front door was open.
Tables overturned.
Coffee cups shattered.
Sophia ran inside.
“Emma!”
No answer.
Adrian's heart stopped.
He searched the diner.
Kitchen.
Storage room.
Bathroom.
Nothing.
Then he heard crying.
Behind the refrigerator.
He pulled it aside.
Emma was hiding there.
Sophia grabbed her.
“What happened?”
Emma pointed outside.
“Men came.”
“What men?”
“They wanted the blue book.”
“Where is it?”
Emma looked at Adrian.
“I gave it to them.”
Adrian froze.
Then she smiled weakly.
“But not the real one.”
Sophia stared.
“What?”
Emma opened her hand.
Inside was the blue notebook.
Adrian slowly understood.
The notebook taken from the storage unit had been a decoy.
Daniel had hidden the real ledger somewhere else.
And his six-year-old daughter knew where.
Adrian crouched.
“Emma.”
“Yes?”
“Where is the real book?”
She whispered:
“Daddy said it was inside the place where Mommy sleeps when she cries.”
Sophia's face crumpled.
Adrian looked at the diner.
There was only one place she could mean.
The old apartment upstairs.
May you like
The bedroom.
The bed.
