Chapter 13 - THE PARTY THEY DECIDED NOT TO CANCEL
The police wanted the birthday party canceled.
Emily wanted Noah alive.
Those two goals were not necessarily compatible.
Detective Maria Alvarez arrived before sunrise.
She specialized in child abduction.
By 6:00 a.m., she had reviewed the evidence.
By 6:20, she asked the question nobody wanted.
“Who would benefit from the party continuing?”
Daniel answered.
“The kidnapper.”
Alvarez nodded.
“Then we let them believe it is.”
Robert stared.
“You’re suggesting we have a birthday party while Noah is missing?”
“No.”
Alvarez looked at him.
“I’m suggesting we create the appearance of one.”
Plainclothes officers would be positioned nearby.
Guests would be quietly reduced.
Only close family would attend.
No one would be told about the abduction until police controlled the scene.
Emily hated every part of it.
But the message had been explicit.
Bring the drive to the party.
So they would.
What the kidnapper didn’t know was that the drive Emily had copied contained only camera footage.
The potential ledger remained elsewhere.
At 7:15 a.m., Daniel and Emily drove to her apartment with an officer.
Emily’s old photography equipment was stored in a closet.
She found the leather camera case beneath two lighting bags.
Her hands trembled as she opened it.
Camera straps.
Old batteries.
Memory cards.
Nothing else.
Daniel stared.
“It has to be here.”
Emily ran her fingers along the interior.
Then she noticed the lining.
One section had been sewn by hand.
She cut the thread with scissors.
Inside was a thin plastic pouch.
Daniel stopped breathing.
Emily pulled it out.
An old microcassette.
Three sheets of paper.
And a small brass key.
No ledger.
The first paper was in Susan Carter’s handwriting.
Emily,
If you are reading this, then either I misjudged the danger or the danger waited longer than I expected.
Do not trust the person who tells you this secret belongs to the past.
Emily looked at Daniel.
He read over her shoulder.
The second page contained a series of numbers.
Account numbers.
Dates.
Initials.
The third page had one sentence.
THE ORIGINAL LEDGER IS WHERE ROBERT WILL NEVER LOOK BECAUSE GUILT HAS MADE HIM BLIND.
Daniel whispered, “What does that mean?”
Emily didn’t know.
Then they played the microcassette.
Susan’s voice filled the room.
Thin.
Familiar.
Painful.
“If Daniel hears this, I’m sorry.”
Daniel covered his mouth.
Susan continued.
“If Emily hears it, then you finally found what I hoped you never needed.”
Static.
“Steven is not the beginning of this.”
Emily looked at Daniel.
“He thinks he is. Robert thinks he is. They’re both wrong.”
More static.
“The money did not begin with Vincent Hale.”
Daniel frowned.
Susan’s voice dropped.
“It began inside our family.”
The recording stopped.
Emily stared at the cassette player.
“That’s it?”
Daniel turned it over.
Nothing.
Emily felt frustrated.
“Inside our family.”
Daniel whispered, “Dad.”
“No.”
“What?”
“She said Robert thinks Steven is the beginning. If Dad were the beginning, she wouldn’t phrase it that way.”
Daniel understood.
“Someone older.”
Emily thought of grandparents.
Uncles.
Aunts.
People long dead.
Then her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Alvarez signaled her to answer.
Emily put it on speaker.
A distorted male voice.
“Do you have the drive?”
“Yes.”
“Party begins at four.”
“Where’s Noah?”
“You’ll see him.”
“I want proof.”
Silence.
Emily continued.
“I want to hear him.”
A pause.
Then a small voice came through.
“Aunt Emily?”
Emily nearly collapsed.
“Noah.”
“I’m okay.”
She fought tears.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
A man interrupted.
“Enough.”
Emily shouted, “Noah, listen to me—”
The line returned to distortion.
“Four o’clock.”
Emily forced herself to stay calm.
“Who are you?”
The voice laughed.
“Ask Robert who paid for your mother’s treatment.”
The call ended.
Daniel stared at Emily.
“What?”
Emily felt cold.
Their mother’s cancer treatment had been expensive.
Robert always said insurance covered most of it.
Apparently, that might have been another family lie.
When they returned to Robert’s house, Rachel was waiting on the porch.
She looked exhausted.
Mascara smeared.
Hair unwashed.
Daniel stopped walking.
Rachel looked at him.
“Daniel.”
He said nothing.
She started crying.
“I didn’t take him.”
Daniel’s expression didn’t change.
“You hurt him.”
“I made mistakes.”
“You locked him in a dark room.”
“I was overwhelmed.”
“You withheld food.”
“He was stealing!”
Daniel’s face twisted.
“He was seven!”
Rachel sobbed.
“I never meant—”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Did you give Steven money?”
Rachel froze.
“Daniel.”
“Answer.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
Rachel looked at Robert.
Daniel shouted, “Don’t look at him!”
Rachel flinched.
“Thirty-five thousand.”
“And the two hundred thousand?”
Her face changed.
“That wasn’t mine.”
“Whose was it?”
“Steven’s.”
“Where did it come from?”
“I don’t know.”
“You knew Michael Hale.”
Rachel looked terrified.
Daniel whispered, “There it is.”
Rachel started crying harder.
“He said he could protect us.”
“From what?”
Rachel looked at Robert.
Then Emily.
“From the debt Daniel inherited.”
Daniel froze.
“What debt?”
Rachel stared at him.
“You really don’t know.”
Daniel’s voice became dangerous.
“Know what?”
Rachel swallowed.
“Your mother borrowed money before she died.”
Robert shouted, “That’s a lie!”
Rachel looked at him.
“No.”
She reached into her purse.
Pulled out a photocopy.
And handed it to Daniel.
A loan agreement.
Susan Carter.
Amount: $680,000.
Daniel looked at Robert.
Robert looked like he had been punched.
Rachel whispered:
May you like
“Your mother wasn’t only hiding a ledger.”
“She was part of it.”
