Chapter 8 - Box 317
The bank required a court order.
Rebecca obtained one.
Detective Hayes accompanied them.
Daniel waited outside.
Sarah stood in the vault staring at box 317.
Fourteen years of secrets were behind a thin metal door.
The bank manager inserted one key.
Sarah held the replacement access key authorized by the court.
Both turned simultaneously.
The box slid out.
It was heavier than Sarah expected.
Inside were three objects.
A photograph.
A cassette tape.
And an envelope.
The photograph showed Thomas Whitmore standing beside Victor Hale.
They were younger.
They were smiling.
Sarah's father had his arm around Hale's shoulder.
On the back, handwriting read:
Partners until the truth costs too much.
Sarah stared at it.
"I don't understand."
Detective Hayes picked up the cassette.
"Do you have anything that plays this?"
The bank found an old recorder in storage.
The tape crackled.
Then Sarah heard her father's voice for the first time in thirteen years.
"Sarah, if you're hearing this, something has gone wrong."
She covered her mouth.
Rebecca reached for her hand.
Thomas continued.
"I need you to understand that Victor Hale was once my friend."
Sarah closed her eyes.
"We built something together before either of us understood what it would become."
The tape hissed.
"Hale found a way to move money through distressed properties. At first it was legal. Then investors wanted more. Politicians wanted more. Banks wanted more."
Sarah listened in horror.
"I tried to leave."
A long pause.
"He wouldn't let me."
Then her father's voice changed.
"If I die unexpectedly, do not believe the first explanation."
Sarah looked at Detective Hayes.
The tape continued.
"There is a ledger. It contains every payment, every property, every name."
Sarah whispered, "Brenda."
Thomas said, "I separated the key from the location. Richard Collins has the key. Sarah has the location."
Sarah stared at the recorder.
"I don't."
Then Thomas spoke again.
"Sarah, remember where I took you every Sunday after your mother died."
The tape ended.
Sarah knew immediately.
"Lake Avery."
Rebecca looked at her.
"What?"
"My father had a cabin."
Detective Hayes stood.
"Where?"
"Lake Avery."
The cabin had been sold after Thomas died.
Daniel searched property records.
The buyer had been a corporation.
That corporation still owned it.
Bennett Residential Holdings.
Sarah stared at the screen.
May you like
Mark had bought her father's cabin.
Using Sarah's identity.
