Chapter 9 - The Piece Margaret Kept)
Elena called Margaret immediately.
Her mother answered on the second ring.
"Are you all right?"
"Mom, when the vase broke, did you take anything?"
"What?"
"The blue vase."
A pause.
"I picked up a piece."
Elena looked at Brandon.
"Why?"
Margaret sounded embarrassed.
"Because it was Grandma's."
"Where is it?"
"In my purse."
Elena ended the call and turned toward Claire.
They drove back to the hotel.
Brandon was not allowed to accompany them.
He protested.
Claire threatened to end all communication.
He finally agreed to wait.
Margaret placed the ceramic fragment on the table.
It was curved and surprisingly large.
Elena examined the underside.
Nothing.
Claire turned it over.
Near the broken base was a dark strip.
Adhesive.
Something had been attached there.
But it was gone.
Margaret frowned.
"I didn't remove anything."
Elena called Brandon.
"There's nothing attached."
Brandon swore.
"Then Serena has it."
"How?"
"She was in the house after you left."
"The security camera showed her with Mom's folder."
"Then she must have searched the vase."
"Why leave the pieces?"
"Because she didn't care."
Claire asked through the speaker, "What exactly was on the drive?"
"I told you."
"Not enough."
Brandon hesitated.
"Original client identity lists. Correspondence. Deal files."
"Anything implicating you?"
"Yes."
"Serena?"
"Yes."
"Warren Pierce?"
Long silence.
Claire repeated his name.
Brandon answered.
"Yes."
Elena asked, "Why hide it instead of turning it over?"
"Because I needed leverage."
"You needed insurance."
"Call it whatever you want."
Claire asked, "Was there a copy?"
"One."
"Where?"
"Nathan had it."
"Nathan says he doesn't."
"He had it."
"When?"
"Two months ago."
The timeline shifted again.
Nathan gave Brandon one drive.
Kept another.
Then disappeared into the townhouse.
Elena asked, "Did Serena know there were two?"
"I don't know."
"Does Nathan?"
"He should."
Claire hung up and contacted the investigator working with Nathan.
Two hours later they were back in an interview room.
Nathan looked confused when Claire mentioned the second drive.
"There wasn't a second drive."
"Brandon says there was."
"He's lying."
"Why?"
"Because he wants you searching for something that doesn't exist."
Elena studied Nathan.
"Did you give him the drive?"
"Yes."
"Did you make a copy?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because the files were encrypted and I didn't have time."
Claire asked, "Then why did Brandon tell us you kept one?"
Nathan shook his head.
"I don't know."
Elena felt anger rising.
Every answer created two new questions.
"Who am I supposed to believe?"
Nathan looked at her.
"No one."
The simplicity of the answer stopped her.
"Not me. Not Brandon. Not Claire. Not anyone based only on what they say."
Claire raised an eyebrow.
"Thank you."
Nathan continued.
"Follow records."
Elena leaned back.
"Fine. Records say Serena used my identity. Records say Brandon knew. Records say you were living in a house tied to my name."
Nathan nodded.
"Then what record am I missing?"
He looked toward his attorney.
"The one Serena is trying to find."
Claire asked, "The drive?"
Nathan shook his head.
"A ledger."
"What ledger?"
"Not digital."
Elena stared.
"Paper?"
"Yes."
"Who has it?"
Nathan said nothing.
Claire leaned forward.
"Who?"
Nathan looked directly at Elena.
"Your father did."
Elena's entire body went cold.
"My father died seven years ago."
"I know."
"Then how did he have anything connected to Serena?"
Nathan looked genuinely surprised.
"You don't know?"
"Know what?"
"Your father worked for Northbridge."
"No."
"He did."
"He was an accountant for a manufacturing company."
"Before that."
Elena tried to remember.
Her father, Tomas Ruiz, had changed jobs when she was young.
She remembered boxes.
A new office.
Nothing more.
Nathan continued.
"Northbridge wasn't always a bank. It started as a private lending group. Your father reviewed transactions."
"When?"
"Almost twenty years ago."
Claire asked, "How do you know?"
"His name is in the old files."
Elena shook her head.
"Serena would have been in her twenties."
"Her father ran it then."
The room went silent.
Nathan continued.
"Victor Vale."
Claire searched the name.
An obituary appeared.
Victor Vale.
Financier.
Founder of Vale Northbridge Capital.
Died twelve years earlier.
Elena stared at the photograph.
She had seen him before.
Not in newspapers.
Not online.
In her parents' house.
A Christmas photograph.
Victor Vale standing beside her father.
Claire noticed Elena's expression.
"What?"
"I know him."
Nathan whispered, "Then your father knew exactly what Northbridge was."
Elena barely heard him.
She remembered the garage after her father's death.
Margaret refusing to throw away boxes.
Old files.
Tax papers.
Family photographs.
Elena had spent weeks sorting everything.
Except one locked metal case.
Her father had left instructions that it remain unopened unless Margaret ever needed it.
Elena turned to Claire.
"The case."
"What case?"
"My father had a metal document case."
"Where?"
Elena stood.
"Mom's attic."
Forty minutes later, they arrived at Margaret's house with police present.
The attic ladder unfolded.
Dust drifted through the beam of Elena's flashlight.
She crawled past Christmas decorations and old suitcases.
The metal case sat where she remembered.
Black.
Heavy.
Locked.
She carried it downstairs.
Margaret stared at it.
"Your father told me never to open that."
"Did he say why?"
"No."
"Do you have the key?"
Margaret thought.
Then walked toward the bedroom.
She returned with a small brass key from the bottom of her jewelry box.
The lock opened.
Inside were letters.
Financial statements.
A photograph.
And a handwritten ledger wrapped in a yellowed cloth.
Elena reached for it.
Claire stopped her.
"Photograph before touching."
They documented everything.
Then Elena opened the ledger.
Names.
Dates.
Amounts.
Companies.
The entries went back twenty-two years.
Near the final pages was a name Elena recognized.
Victor Vale.
Below it was another.
Serena Vale.
May you like
And beside Serena's name, written in her father's handwriting, were six words.
DO NOT TRUST HER. SHE KNOWS ABOUT ELENA.
