Chapter 23 - THE SECOND KEY
They did not immediately remove the consent ledger.
That was Brooks's idea.
Daniel hated it.
Which probably meant it was good.
If Vale believed the ledger remained inside the Hale Foundation headquarters, he might expose himself trying to recover it.
Federal agents prepared surveillance.
Meanwhile, technicians examined the black master index again.
Winnie sat nearby.
Daniel had told her to stay away from evidence.
She looked at the binder.
"That page is thicker."
Brooks looked at her.
"What?"
Winnie pointed.
The back cover.
A technician examined it.
There was a false layer.
Inside was a microSD card.
Daniel stared at Winnie.
"You have got to stop finding things."
"I am good at it."
"That is the problem."
The card was encrypted.
The password clue appeared on a text file.
THREE KNOCKS.
Eleanor immediately understood.
"Rebecca's warning system."
Winnie frowned.
"But three knocks means danger."
Daniel looked at the card.
"Maybe the password is what you do after three knocks."
"Listen," Winnie said.
The password was LISTEN.
The drive opened.
Rebecca's files filled the screen.
Photographs.
Financial records.
Recorded calls.
A copy of Thomas's early Haven proposal.
And a video addressed to Daniel.
He did not play it immediately.
He was afraid.
That surprised him.
He had faced Vale's threats.
Rebecca's murder evidence.
His father's confession.
But his dead wife's face on a frozen screen frightened him more.
Winnie touched his arm.
"You do not have to watch it today."
Daniel looked at her.
"Yes, I do."
He sent Winnie upstairs with Eleanor.
Then he pressed play.
Rebecca appeared in the hidden room beneath the dining room.
Seven years younger.
Alive.
Tired.
"Daniel."
He stopped breathing.
"If you are watching this, I failed to tell you myself."
Rebecca explained Haven.
Her adoption.
Helen.
Sarah.
Thomas.
Then she said what Daniel feared most.
"I found you before you found me."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"I knew your name from the project files. I went to the fundraiser because I wanted to see you."
A pause.
"I told myself I only needed information."
Rebecca smiled sadly.
"Then you spilled coffee on your shirt before your speech and tried to hide behind a plant."
Daniel laughed.
The sound became a sob.
"I forgot the files for almost an hour."
Rebecca continued.
"I did not marry a research subject."
"I married the man who stayed with me all night when my father died."
"The man who painted the nursery because I said the first yellow was too yellow."
"The man who cried harder than I did when Winnie was born."
Daniel covered his face.
"I should have told you how we met."
"I was ashamed."
"And then Winnie appeared in Haven's records."
Rebecca's expression changed.
"That was when I began investigating again."
She discovered that Project Haven was no longer controlled by Thomas.
Vale had taken it.
Martin helped move money.
Voss handled medical access.
Vale intended to sell the data.
Rebecca tried to copy the consent ledger.
She failed.
"I think Adrian knows I have the index."
She looked directly into the camera.
"If something happens to me, do not protect the Hale name."
"Destroy it if you have to."
"Protect Winnie."
"Protect the families."
"And Daniel—"
Her eyes filled.
"I am sorry I made truth something you had to discover instead of something I trusted you enough to hear."
The video ended.
Daniel sat alone.
For a long time.
Then he returned upstairs.
Winnie stood in the doorway.
"Did Mom love you?"
Daniel nodded.
"Very much."
"Good."
She hugged him.
Brooks entered several minutes later.
"The Foundation building alarm just activated."
Daniel released Winnie.
"What floor?"
May you like
"Board Room B."
Vale had taken the bait.
