Chapter 8 - The Widow's SecretMargaret Vale vanished before Carmine's men could find her.
Her house was empty.
The eighty thousand dollars were gone.
So was the old bank account.
But Benny found something inside the kitchen wall.
A hidden envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Thomas Vale stood beside Emmett Fontaine.
Behind them was a third man.
Carmine's father.
On the photograph's back:
THE THREE MEN WHO KNEW.
Nell stared at the image.
“What did they know?”
Carmine shook his head.
“Maybe the location of the original list.”
A note slipped from the envelope.
Carmine opened it.
The list was copied twice. One copy burned. One copy survived. One copy was stolen by the person you trusted most.
Nell looked at Palmira.
Palmira closed her eyes.
Carmine realized the answer before she spoke.
“Your mother.”
Nell shook her head.
“She was dead.”
Palmira said quietly:
“No.”
“She survived the accident.”
“She did.”
“Then where was she?”
“Protecting you.”
“For three years?”
Palmira nodded.
“She believed the people hunting the ledger would use you to reach her.”
Nell's tears fell.
“Then why didn't she come for me?”
“Because she was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Of what would happen if they knew you had the ledger.”
Nell stared at her.
“I didn't have it.”
“No.”
Palmira looked at Carmine.
“But your house did.”
Carmine's face hardened.
“What?”
“Your mother hid one copy here.”
“Where?”
Palmira whispered:
“In the nursery.”
Carmine stared.
The nursery had been locked for twenty years.
His younger sister had died there as a child.
Nobody entered.
He opened the door himself.
Dust covered the furniture.
The room smelled like cedar.
Nell followed.
Carmine walked to an old wooden cradle.
Underneath it was a faded carving.
A black crown.
The same symbol.
He pressed it.
The floorboard opened.
Inside was a metal tube.
Carmine pulled it out.
It contained a list.
Not names.
Photographs.
One photograph stopped him.
His father.
Silas Reed.
Thomas Vale.
Emmett Fontaine.
And a fifth man.
Carmine stared.
“I know him.”
Nell looked.
“Who?”
Carmine's voice was barely audible.
“Judge Adrian Bell.”
“He's the chairman of Bellweather.”
Carmine nodded.
The photograph was thirty years old.
The judge looked twenty-five years younger.
On the back:
THE MAN WHO OWNS THE CITY DOESN'T NEED TO OWN THE CITY. HE ONLY NEEDS TO OWN THE PEOPLE WHO RUN IT.
Suddenly footsteps came from the hallway.
Carmine reached for his gun.
Nell whispered:
“Someone's here.”
The door opened.
Margaret Vale stood there.
Her face was wet with tears.
“Don't shoot.”
Benny entered behind her.
“She's clean.”
Margaret looked at Nell.
“Your mother is alive.”
Nell froze.
“Where?”
“She wanted me to bring you.”
“Why?”
“She knows they found the ledger.”
Carmine stepped forward.
“Where is she?”
Margaret looked at him.
“She is in a place you swore never to return to.”
“Where?”
“Your father's grave.”
Carmine said nothing.
Margaret continued.
“There is a tunnel beneath it.”
Benny frowned.
“A tunnel?”
“Built before your father died.”
Carmine looked at Nell.
“You're coming with me.”
Nell nodded.
They reached the cemetery after midnight.
The family crypt stood beneath ancient trees.
Carmine opened the iron door.
Inside, a stone panel had been moved.
A staircase descended into darkness.
They walked down.
At the bottom was a room.
A table.
Two chairs.
A lamp.
And a woman standing beside the wall.
Nell stopped.
Her face shattered.
“Mom?”
The woman turned.
She was older.
Scar beneath her eyebrow.
The same eyes.
The same hands.
Marianne Fontaine stepped toward her daughter.
Nell collapsed into her arms.
Carmine stood silent.
Then Marianne looked at him.
“You finally found the ledger.”
Carmine held it up.
“No.”
He looked into her eyes.
“You found me.”
She smiled sadly.
“That's what your father wanted.”
Before she could say more, a gunshot echoed through the tunnel.
Marianne staggered.
Blood spread across her dress.
Nell screamed.
Carmine caught her.
At the far end of the tunnel, a figure disappeared into darkness.
May you like
A silver cane struck the stone floor once.
Then silence.
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