Chapter 5 - The Recording)
Leo's recording lasted forty-three seconds.
It changed everything.
Sebastian listened to it three times.
Elisa listened once.
Thomas listened while taking notes.
Leo sat on the couch, arms folded, waiting for someone to tell him he had done something wrong.
Nobody did.
The clearest part came at the end.
Lucinda's voice.
What if Anna left more than the transfer record?
Then Preston.
Then we make sure Sebastian never finds it.
Sebastian lowered the phone.
"Why were you outside Lucinda's room?"
Leo looked down.
"I wanted to know if she was lying."
"You shouldn't spy on people."
"I know."
"You also shouldn't put yourself near people we don't trust."
Leo looked up.
"You didn't trust me when I told you the first time."
The room became quiet.
Sebastian felt the words more sharply than the accusation deserved.
Because Leo was right.
Sebastian had listened.
But not immediately believed.
He sat beside his son.
"I should have."
Leo shrugged, pretending it did not matter.
Sebastian continued.
"I spent a long time thinking protecting you meant keeping ugly things away from you."
Leo stared at his hands.
"It doesn't work."
"No."
Sebastian looked toward Anna's photograph on the mantel.
"Your mother understood that better than I did."
Leo asked, "Did Mom know Preston was stealing?"
"We don't know yet."
"But you think so."
"Yes."
Elisa brought the conversation back to the key.
"417 has to open something."
Thomas had spent the morning checking banks, storage facilities, private vaults, law offices, and safe deposit registries connected to the family.
Nothing.
Then he found an old reimbursement entry in Anna's personal accounting records.
Harbor Union Storage.
Unit 417.
The facility had closed four years earlier.
Its contents had been transferred to a warehouse in Cambridge.
Sebastian stood.
"Call them."
Thomas did.
Fifteen minutes later, he returned.
"The storage company says Unit 417 was registered under an alias."
"What alias?"
"Elena Bell."
Sebastian frowned.
Elisa asked, "Does that name mean anything?"
Leo raised his hand slightly.
"Bell was Mom's middle name."
The warehouse agreed to verify the key the following morning.
Sebastian wanted to go immediately.
Elisa stopped him.
"It's almost midnight."
"I don't care."
"I do."
He looked at her.
She stepped closer.
"If Preston is monitoring you, rushing out tonight tells him we found something."
Sebastian hated that she was right.
"We wait until morning?"
"We behave like people planning a wedding."
Leo groaned.
"That's scarier than the mystery."
The next day, the mansion filled with florists.
White roses arrived by the truckload.
Tables were assembled.
Crystal glasses were unpacked.
The antique vase was moved from the north gallery to the ballroom.
Lucinda watched the entire transport.
So did Sebastian.
When the vase reached the stone pedestal, Lucinda touched the edge of the base.
Only for a second.
Elisa saw it.
"Careful," Elisa said.
Lucinda withdrew her hand.
"I know how to handle it."
"I'm sure you do."
Their eyes met.
Lucinda walked away.
At noon, Sebastian, Elisa, Leo, and Thomas left through the service entrance.
The Cambridge warehouse smelled of dust and cold concrete.
A manager led them down a corridor.
Unit 417 was a steel cabinet no larger than a refrigerator.
Sebastian inserted Anna's key.
It turned.
Inside sat a single black document box.
Leo stopped breathing.
Sebastian carried it to a table.
The lock required a four-digit code.
Leo smiled.
"I know this."
Sebastian looked at him.
"How?"
"Mom's favorite number."
He entered 0912.
The box opened.
Inside were financial statements.
Photocopies.
Handwritten notes.
A flash drive.
A sealed letter.
And a photograph of Preston Hale standing beside a man Sebastian recognized immediately.
Martin Vale.
The former chief financial officer of Caradonna Holdings.
A man who had disappeared after allegedly stealing twelve million dollars from the company nine years earlier.
Sebastian stared at the photograph.
"Martin died in Portugal."
Thomas looked at him.
"That's what the family was told."
The photograph had a date printed in the corner.
It had been taken eighteen months after Martin Vale's supposed death.
On the back, Anna had written one sentence.
Preston paid him to disappear.
Leo whispered, "Why?"
Sebastian opened Anna's sealed letter.
My love,
If you are reading this, then I ran out of time.
Sebastian stopped.
His hands began to shake.
Elisa touched his shoulder.
He continued.
May you like
I need you to understand one thing before anything else. I did not hide this because I stopped trusting you.
I hid it because you trusted them.
