Chapter 4 - The Photograph Behind the WallThe roll of paper contained no explanation.
Only names.
Dates.
Bank account numbers.
And one location.
A warehouse near the river.
Carmine spent the night reading every line.
At four in the morning, he found the pattern.
The payments began twenty-nine years ago.
Small amounts.
Then larger.
Every seven years, the numbers spiked.
The final payment had been made three months before the bakery fire.
And every payment passed through one shell company.
Calder Holdings.
Benny recognized it immediately.
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“It went bankrupt twelve years ago.”
Carmine stared at the figures.
“No.”
He turned a page.
“Someone wanted it to look bankrupt.”
At sunrise, he went to Nell's room.
She was already awake.
He found her sitting on the edge of the bed with the photograph from the envelope.
“You knew.”
She looked up.
“Knew what?”
“Your father was connected to the ledger.”
Nell lowered her eyes.
“He told me never to trust people who wanted answers too quickly.”
“He knew about the payments.”
“I think so.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because every person who asked about the ledger disappeared.”
Carmine sat opposite her.
“Who else?”
“Thomas Vale.”
“Anyone else?”
“My mother's brother.”
“Name?”
“Daniel Fontaine.”
“What happened to him?”
“He vanished before the fire.”
Carmine studied her.
“Your entire family disappeared.”
“My mother was killed when I was sixteen.”
“How?”
“Car accident.”
Carmine felt something inside him tighten.
Another accident.
Too many accidents.
“Did your father believe your mother's death was connected?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He found a note in her things.”
“What note?”
Nell reached into a drawer.
She handed him a folded piece of paper.
Carmine opened it.
Only six words.
They are buying the city one name at a time.
Underneath was a symbol.
A black crown with three points.
Carmine recognized it.
“Where did you get this?”
“My father.”
“Why show me now?”
“Because last night, someone entered my room.”
Carmine stood.
“What?”
“He didn't take anything.”
“What did he do?”
“He moved my bed.”
Carmine's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“He wanted me to see something.”
She pointed toward the floor.
A loose wooden panel.
Carmine removed it.
Inside was a shallow cavity.
And inside the cavity was a metal box.
They carried it to his office.
The lock was old.
Nell touched it.
“That's my father's.”
Carmine opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
A key.
And a cassette tape.
No label.
He inserted it into an old player.
Static filled the room.
Then a man's voice.
Emmett Fontaine.
Weak.
Breathing heavily.
“If you are hearing this, Eleanor, I'm probably dead.”
Nell covered her mouth.
Her knees nearly gave out.
Carmine caught her shoulder.
Her father's recorded voice continued.
“I lied to you.”
Nell began crying silently.
“The fire wasn't meant to destroy the bakery.”
Static.
“It was meant to destroy the ledger.”
A pause.
“They thought I knew where it was.”
The tape crackled.
“I moved it years ago.”
Carmine looked at Nell.
“Where?”
Her father's voice whispered:
“Inside the one place they would never dare search.”
The tape stopped.
Nell stared at the machine.
“That can't be all.”
Carmine rewound it.
The final sentence repeated.
Inside the one place they would never dare search.
Benny frowned.
“What place?”
Carmine looked down at the old photograph.
It showed Emmett standing in front of the bakery.
Behind him was a stained-glass church window.
Carmine suddenly remembered.
“The church.”
Nell shook her head.
“We already searched.”
“Not the basement.”
“What then?”
“The bakery's original oven.”
Nell looked confused.
“The oven?”
“Your father was a baker.”
Carmine held up the photograph.
“He trusted fire because he understood fire.”
They went to the abandoned bakery before noon.
The building had been untouched since the investigation.
The old oven still stood against the wall.
Nell stepped closer.
Her hands trembled.
“My father built this himself.”
Carmine examined the metal frame.
Then he saw something.
A seam.
He pressed it.
A section of brick moved.
Behind it was a narrow steel compartment.
Nell gasped.
Inside was a ledger.
Black leather.
Water-damaged.
Covered in ash.
Carmine lifted it.
Before he could open it, the front windows exploded.
Glass filled the room.
Nell screamed.
Benny shoved them behind a counter.
Gunfire ripped through the walls.
Carmine grabbed the ledger.
“Back exit!”
Nell froze.
“The rear door.”
Carmine looked at her.
“You said it was chained.”
“It was.”
“Then we don't use it.”
More shots.
The roof began to crack.
Smoke poured through the ceiling.
Someone had set the building on fire again.
Nell stared at the flames.
The past had returned.
And this time, Carmine was standing beside her.
He seized her hand.
“Move.”
They ran.
Just before they escaped through the side wall, Nell looked back.
On the far side of the room, behind the smoke, a man stood watching them.
Silver hair.
Black coat.
Silver cane.
May you like
He raised one hand.
And smiled.
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