Chapter 6 - THE HOUSE IN PEORIA
We reached Peoria in under two hours.
June’s mother lived in a narrow brick duplex near a church and a tire shop.
The front door was open.
June jumped out before I stopped the car.
“June!”
She ran inside.
I followed.
The living room had been torn apart.
Cushions on the floor.
A lamp broken.
Prescription bottles scattered across the carpet.
“Mom!”
A sound came from the hall.
June rushed toward it.
An older woman lay beside the bathroom door.
Alive.
Barely conscious.
“Mama!”
June dropped to her knees.
I checked the rooms.
Empty.
No children.
No intruders.
I called 911.
June held her mother’s face.
“Where are Lila and Micah?”
Her mother’s eyes fluttered open.
“They took…”
“Who?”
“Two men.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
She grabbed June’s wrist.
“They asked for the book.”
June looked at me.
“What book?”
Her mother’s eyes moved to me.
“Evelyn’s.”
My stomach turned.
“You knew my wife?”
The old woman nodded weakly.
June looked between us.
“What is she talking about?”
Her mother began coughing.
The ambulance arrived.
Paramedics loaded her onto a stretcher.
One of them asked June to ride along.
She refused.
“My kids are gone.”
The paramedic hesitated.
I stepped in.
“I’ll make sure she gets to the hospital.”
June glared at me.
“You don’t decide that.”
“No. But right now your mother needs treatment, and your children need us moving.”
She hated it.
But she knew I was right.
As the ambulance left, I searched the house.
June followed.
“Tell me what that meant.”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I swear.”
“Your dead wife knew my mother?”
“Apparently.”
June punched the wall.
Hard.
“Everybody knows something except me!”
“June—”
“No! Two hours ago, I was a housekeeper worried about groceries. Now somebody shot at me, my kids are missing, and my mother is talking about your wife like they were friends!”
She was shaking.
I let her be angry.
She had earned it.
Then I saw something under the broken coffee table.
A photograph.
I picked it up.
Evelyn.
June’s mother.
Three other women.
All standing outside a community center.
On the back, in Evelyn’s handwriting:
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME, ROSA KNOWS WHERE THE ORIGINAL LEDGER IS.
June read it over my shoulder.
“Rosa.”
“Your mom?”
“Yes.”
I looked toward the front door.
Victor wasn’t after June because of payroll records.
He was after something Evelyn had hidden.
Something June’s mother knew about.
My burner phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A man spoke.
“Mr. Blackwell.”
“Tomas.”
Silence.
Then a quiet laugh.
“You remember my voice.”
“I remember rats.”
“Careful.”
“Where are the children?”
“They’re safe.”
June grabbed the phone.
“Let me talk to them!”
Tomas ignored her.
“You have something we need.”
“The notebook?”
“No.”
“What?”
“The ledger.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Then find it.”
“I want proof the kids are alive.”
A pause.
Then a little girl came on.
“Mom?”
June nearly collapsed.
“Lila!”
“Mom, Micah’s scared.”
“I know, baby. I know. Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Listen to me. Stay with your brother.”
A man took the phone back.
“You have four hours.”
“Where?”
“We’ll call.”
“If you touch them—”
“You don’t make threats anymore, Daniel.”
His voice hardened.
“You take instructions.”
The line went dead.
June looked at me with tears running down her face.
“Four hours.”
I stared at the photograph.
Rosa knows where the original ledger is.
Then I noticed something behind Evelyn in the photo.
A mural painted on the community center wall.
A blue bird over an open book.
I knew that symbol.
Evelyn had one carved into the underside of her desk.
I had thought it was decoration.
It wasn’t.
May you like
It was a map.
And suddenly I knew exactly where she had hidden the ledger.
