Chapter 11 - One Last Thing
Police arrived within minutes.
Mark did not.
For three hours, David waited.
Nothing.
Detective Martinez eventually arrived herself.
“What could he want?”
David walked through the office.
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“Everything important has been removed.”
“Documents?”
“Gone.”
“Devices?”
“Gone.”
“Cash?”
“I don’t keep cash here.”
“Jewelry?”
“No.”
Maya stood in the doorway.
Then she said,
“The safe.”
David turned.
“What safe?”
“Your father’s.”
David stared at her.
He had forgotten.
When his father died, David inherited a small fireproof safe.
It sat inside the back of a closet.
He had not opened it in years.
David led Martinez to the bedroom closet.
Behind old luggage sat the safe.
“What’s inside?” she asked.
“I honestly don’t remember.”
David entered the code.
His father’s birthday.
The safe opened.
Inside were old family documents.
A watch.
Several photographs.
A sealed envelope.
And a small ledger.
David picked it up.
He recognized his father’s handwriting immediately.
Martinez watched him.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know.”
He opened the ledger.
Dates.
Amounts.
Names.
Loans.
Payments.
David turned several pages.
Then he found Mark.
$12,000.
$7,500.
$18,000.
$9,000.
The dates stretched back almost five years.
Maya whispered,
“Your father was giving him money?”
David shook his head.
“Mark told me Dad never trusted him.”
Martinez looked over his shoulder.
“Maybe that was why.”
Then David found a note written beside one transaction.
MARK AGAIN.
ELEANOR ASKED ME NOT TO TELL DAVID.
FINAL TIME.
David felt something inside him collapse.
His father had known.
Eleanor had known.
Long before David ever transferred fourteen thousand dollars.
Long before Maya gave birth.
Long before Miami.
His mother had been covering Mark’s financial disasters for years.
“Why would Mark want this?” Maya asked.
David looked at the ledger.
“Because it proves this wasn’t new.”
Martinez took photographs.
Then the building camera sent an alert.
Motion at the rear service entrance.
Everyone froze.
A uniformed officer checked his radio.
Another officer moved toward the hall.
David looked at his phone.
A hooded man had entered the building.
Maya whispered,
“Mark.”
Martinez immediately turned.
“Maya, take the baby into the bathroom and lock the door.”
David started forward.
Martinez stopped him.
“You stay here.”
“That’s my family.”
“And we’re here to protect them.”
Footsteps sounded outside.
Then a knock.
Three times.
Slow.
“David.”
Mark’s voice.
Maya disappeared into the bathroom with Liam.
David’s entire body tightened.
Mark knocked again.
“David, open the door.”
No one moved.
“I know you’re in there.”
Detective Martinez positioned herself beside the entrance.
“Mark Reynolds.”
Silence.
“Police.”
Footsteps immediately moved away.
“Stop!”
The hallway erupted with movement.
David heard running.
A crash.
Then shouting.
Thirty seconds later, silence returned.
Martinez’s radio crackled.
“Suspect detained.”
David closed his eyes.
Maya opened the bathroom door.
Liam was crying.
David went straight to them.
Outside the apartment, Mark was being handcuffed.
He looked through the doorway and saw David.
“You destroyed my life!”
David stared at him.
“No.”
Mark struggled against the officers.
“You think you’re better than us?”
David didn’t answer.
Mark shouted again.
“You gave us everything!”
David finally spoke.
“I gave you help.”
His voice was calm.
“You mistook it for ownership.”
Mark was taken away.
But as officers searched his coat, they found a folded piece of paper.
A handwritten list.
Bank accounts.
Passwords.
Security questions.
And beside David’s name were three words.
MOTHER CAN CONFIRM.
May you like
Detective Martinez looked at David.
The case against Mark had just reached Eleanor again.
