Bell stood beyond the reach of the dock lights.
Two men remained near his vehicle.
Neither moved.
Morales kept his weapon trained on him.
“Stay exactly where you are.”
Bell smiled faintly.
“You still believe this is about arresting me.”
“It is.”
“No.”
He looked at the case in my hands.
“This is about understanding what your father discovered.”
I tightened my grip.
“What did he discover?”
Bell's expression became almost weary.
“That the people who claimed to protect the evidence were selling it.”
Morales didn't lower his weapon.
“Convenient story.”
“Ask Daniel.”
Everyone looked at Vale.
Bell smiled.
“He knows.”
Vale remained silent.
I turned toward him.
“Is it true?”
He looked at the case.
“Some of it.”
My stomach dropped.
“Some?”
Bell laughed softly.
“Your father spent years believing there was a clean line between the people investigating the corruption and the people committing it.”
He took one step forward.
“There wasn't.”
Morales ordered him back.
Bell stopped.
“Your father discovered a compromised investigation.”
Vale spoke quietly.
“And he believed you were responsible.”
Bell shook his head.
“He believed everyone was responsible.”
I looked at Vale.
“Why did my father keep you close?”
“Because he needed someone he could trust.”
Bell interrupted.
“Until he stopped trusting him.”
Silence.
I looked at Vale.
“Did my father suspect you?”
“Yes.”
The answer stunned me.
“You never told me.”
“He asked me not to.”
“Why?”
“Because he wanted to see what I would do.”
Bell nodded.
“That was your father.”
I looked at the waterproof case.
“Then what's inside?”
Bell answered.
“Names.”
“Whose names?”
“Everyone who touched the money.”
Morales said, “That doesn't explain the surveillance.”
“No.”
Bell looked at Jessica.
“Your husband can.”
Jessica shook her head.
“I don't know anything.”
Bell's expression softened.
“You know more than you think.”
She stepped forward.
“Where is Ryan?”
Bell's eyes changed.
“He's alive.”
She exhaled.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I haven't lied about him.”
“Then why did you bring us here?”
“I didn't.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
Bell pointed toward the house.
“Someone else did.”
A chill moved through me.
The cameras.
The messages.
The remote access.
The person watching us.
Bell hadn't been controlling everything.
Someone else had.
Morales asked, “Who?”
Bell looked toward the house.
“Elliot.”
I turned.
“Elliot is working for you.”
“He was.”
“Was?”
“He betrayed me.”
Vale's expression hardened.
“That makes two of us.”
Bell looked at him.
“You never understood the arrangement.”
“I understood enough.”
“No. You understood your part.”
Morales ordered both men to remain where they were.
Bell ignored the command.
“Open the case.”
I didn't.
“Why?”
“Because your father left something for you.”
“What?”
Bell's eyes stayed on mine.
“A letter.”
I looked at Vale.
He shook his head.
“I didn't know.”
Bell said, “Because it wasn't in the case when it was taken.”
My heart beat faster.
“Where is it?”
“Inside the ledger.”
Morales stepped forward.
“Emily, don't.”
I knew what he meant.
Don't trust Bell.
I didn't.
But I needed answers.
We moved inside the house.
Bell remained under guard.
Vale followed.
Jessica stayed beside me.
Morales secured the doors.
The waterproof case sat on the dining table.
Its seal had never been broken.
I opened it.
Inside was a thick ledger wrapped in oilcloth.
Underneath was a smaller envelope.
My name was written on it.
Emily.
I looked at Vale.
“My father.”
He nodded.
I opened it.
The letter was short.
Emily,
If you're reading this, then the case was taken and returned, which means the people I feared were still looking.
You may be tempted to decide who is guilty before you know why they acted.
Don't.
Look at the records.
Follow the money.
Then decide who deserves your trust.
I read it twice.
There was another line beneath it.
And don't let anyone convince you the person who appears guilty is necessarily the person who started this.
I looked toward Bell.
He was watching me.
“Your father was careful.”
“He was.”
“Open the ledger.”
I did.
The first pages contained company names.
Then accounts.
Then payments.
Then initials.
The same names appeared repeatedly.
Ryan.
Elliot.
Bell.
Several others.
And then a name I knew.
Daniel Vale.
I stopped breathing.
Vale closed his eyes.
Jessica whispered, “No.”
Morales stared at him.
“Explain.”
Vale didn't answer immediately.
Bell did.
“He wasn't taking money.”
“Then why is his name here?”
“Because he was receiving reports.”
Morales looked at the ledger.
“That's not what the column says.”
Vale stepped closer.
“Look at the dates.”
I did.
The payments beside his name were marked as transfers to an evidence account.
Not personal funds.
Morales checked.
“They're government transfers.”
Vale nodded.
“Exactly.”
Bell looked almost disappointed.
“You still don't see it.”
I turned the page.
The names were grouped by code.
A red mark beside certain entries.
A black mark beside others.
My father's handwriting appeared in the margin.
Red means compromised.
Black means protected.
Vale's name was black.
Bell's was red.
Ryan's was red.
Elliot's was red.
Jessica's name was absent.
Mine was absent.
Then I reached the final page.
There was one name.
No payment.
No code.
No explanation.
Arthur Carter.
My father.
I stared at it.
Bell stepped closer.
“He put his own name there.”
“Why?”
Vale answered.
“Because he knew he had become part of the evidence.”
Morales frowned.
“How?”
Bell looked at me.
“Your father wasn't only investigating the network.”
He paused.
“He had infiltrated it.”
The room went silent.
My father.
The man who taught me to follow rules.
The man who hated shortcuts.
Had spent years pretending to cooperate with criminals in order to expose them.
I felt suddenly unsteady.
“Then why did he die?”
Bell's face changed.
“Because someone found out.”
“Who?”
He looked toward Vale.
Vale shook his head.
“Don't.”
Bell ignored him.
“Your father believed the leak came from inside the investigation.”
Morales asked, “Who?”
Bell looked at the ledger.
“Elliot.”
I looked at the name.
“But Elliot worked for Ryan.”
“Ryan worked for Elliot.”
The distinction mattered.
Bell continued.
“Elliot had been feeding information to both sides. He sold your father's movements to the people who wanted him silenced.”
Jessica covered her mouth.
“And Ryan?”
“Ryan discovered it.”
“Then why did he help take the case?”
“Because Elliot threatened him.”
I thought of Ryan's fear.
The phone calls.
The missing truck.
The message.
He hadn't simply been greedy.
He had been trapped.
That did not erase what he had done.
It explained it.
Morales asked Bell, “Where is Elliot now?”
Bell's answer was immediate.
“Heading back to the house.”
The lights went out.
Again.
A crash came from upstairs.
Jessica screamed.
Morales moved toward the staircase.
Vale grabbed my arm.
“Stay here.”
I heard footsteps overhead.
Then a door slammed.
Morales shouted, “Police!”
A figure ran across the second-floor landing.
Dark jacket.
Baseball cap.
Elliot.
He disappeared down the back stairs.
Morales chased him.
Vale followed.
I remained with Jessica and Bell.
Bell looked at me.
“Now you understand why I needed the ledger.”
“You could have told me.”
“You wouldn't have believed me.”
“Maybe.”
He looked toward the stairs.
“Your father would have.”
Jessica whispered, “Where is Ryan?”
Bell looked at her.
“Find Elliot.”
“Why?”
“Because Ryan is with him.”
My sister stared at him.
Then we heard a car engine outside.
Headlights swept across the windows.
A vehicle sped away.
Morales returned minutes later.
He was breathing hard.
“They're gone.”
I looked at Bell.
“You knew this would happen.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you stop him?”
“Because I needed him to run.”
“Why?”
Bell pointed toward the ledger.
“Because he will lead you to the final account.”
“What account?”
“The one your father spent his last year trying to find.”
Vale returned from the back door.
He looked at Bell with open suspicion.
“What are you hiding?”
Bell smiled.
“Nothing.”
Then he looked at me.
“Your father hid the truth in plain sight.”
I looked down at the ledger.
The final page contained a handwritten line beneath his name.
Follow the person who profits when everyone else is afraid.
I read it again.
Then I realized there was only one person whose name had not appeared in the ledger.
Elliot's.
Not once.
Not under payments.
Not under transfers.
Not under warnings.
Nothing.
He had been the man moving between every side of the operation without appearing in the records.
Which meant my father hadn't missed him.
He had been deliberately left out.
And somewhere outside the house, Elliot was driving away with Ryan.
Click here to continue reading: PART 9: Elliot Had Vanished From Every Record, Which Meant My Father Had Been Saving His Most Dangerous Discovery for the End
The Family Reunion Ended Before Dinner, and the Locked Cabinet Explained Why Everyone Suddenly Wanted Me Gone
Part 8 of 12
