Chapter 19 - The Volunteer with Two Names
Nora ignored Elise’s demand and brought Leah and Detective Harris to the cemetery.
They watched from separate vehicles while Nora approached Ada’s grave.
Elise stepped from behind a stone monument. She looked exhausted and frightened, not like the confident volunteer Nora remembered.
“You brought the police,” Elise said.
“You entered my house under a false identity.”
“My father forced me.”
“Elias Voss?”
Elise laughed bitterly.
“Elias tells people he is my father. Benjamin says he is. Celeste says neither of them is.”
She handed Nora a flash drive.
It contained copies of Marrowgate communications, payment records, and photographs of officials accepting envelopes from Voss’s associates.
Elise admitted that she placed the blue folder inside Hale House. She wanted Nora to reopen Ada’s investigation before Voss transferred the remaining trust funds.
“Why not go directly to the police?”
“Because Voss has people inside the department, the courthouse, and the bank.”
“What did Celeste take?”
“The accounts were moved into a temporary holding company. Celeste said she was protecting the money before Voss reached it.”
“And you believed her?”
“I believed she hated him.”
Nora asked about Benjamin.
Elise’s eyes lowered.
“He helped me escape Marrowgate. Then Celeste found us.”
“Where is he now?”
“I don’t know. But he gave me something for you.”
Elise removed a small cassette tape from her coat.
The label was written in Ada’s handwriting:
FOR NORA, WHEN CELESTE COMES HOME.
A sound came from the road.
Detective Harris shouted a warning as a black vehicle accelerated toward the cemetery entrance. Elise pushed Nora behind a stone wall.
The vehicle stopped only long enough for someone to throw a burning envelope onto the path.
Then it sped away.
Harris extinguished the flames.
Most of the contents were destroyed, but one photograph survived.
It showed Benjamin sitting in a locked room beside a newspaper printed that morning.
Behind him, someone had written a deadline.
MIDNIGHT TOMORROW.
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Below it was a demand:
BRING ADA’S RECORDING.
