Chapter 9 - THE LEDGER EVERYONE WOULD KILL FOR
Dad had kept two ledgers.
The first documented stolen company money.
The second contained names.
Judges.
Police officers.
Politicians.
Doctors.
Business owners.
People who had received illegal payments through Bellweather.
Dad had hidden it before he died.
Mom knew where.
That was why she had been kept alive long enough to face trial.
They wanted her to reveal it.
When she refused, they decided death row would solve the problem permanently.
“Where is it?”
I asked.
Mom stared at me.
“I’m not telling you.”
“Mom.”
“No.”
“They’re trying to find it.”
“And if you know where it is, they’ll kill you.”
“They’re already trying.”
Her face broke.
“I lost six years with you because of that ledger.”
“I won’t lose you too.”
Rachel arranged for Mom to be transferred to a federal protective facility.
The transfer route was secret.
It didn’t matter.
Someone knew.
A truck struck the prison transport van on the highway.
Masked men emerged.
They opened fire.
The escort returned fire.
Mom was dragged from the van.
By the time federal backup arrived, she was gone.
My mother had survived death row.
Then somebody kidnapped her less than two weeks later.
I nearly collapsed.
Rachel grabbed me.
“We’ll find her.”
“They knew the route.”
“Yes.”
“That means someone inside the government leaked it.”
Rachel didn’t deny it.
Hours passed.
Then my phone rang.
Reed.
I recognized his voice from television.
“Sophie Hayes.”
“Where is my mother?”
“Alive.”
“If you hurt her—”
“I don’t want Caroline.”
“I want the ledger.”
“I don’t know where it is.”
“Then figure it out.”
Mom was put on the phone.
“Sophie.”
“Mom!”
“I’m okay.”
A slap sounded.
I screamed.
Reed returned.
“Twelve hours.”
The call ended.
Ethan had heard everything.
He stood in the doorway.
“Mom hid it at Grandma’s.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“She told me.”
“When?”
“A long time ago.”
“Why would she tell a child?”
“She made it a game.”
Ethan walked toward the bookshelf.
He pulled out an old copy of Treasure Island Mom had given him.
Inside the cover she had written:
WHEN EVERYTHING IS LOST, GO WHERE THE FAMILY BEGAN.
Grandma’s farmhouse.
The abandoned Hayes property outside town.
Rachel assembled a tactical team.
I insisted on going.
She refused.
I went anyway.
The farmhouse had been empty for years.
We searched.
Nothing.
Then Ethan remembered Mom’s childhood stories.
She used to hide things inside the old well.
Agents lowered a camera.
At the bottom was a waterproof container.
Inside was the ledger.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Millions of dollars.
Enough evidence to destroy dozens of careers.
Then Rachel turned to the final page.
Her face changed.
“What?”
I asked.
She handed it to me.
One name had been circled by Dad.
JONATHAN BENNETT.
I looked at Rachel.
Her last name was Bennett.
“Who is Jonathan?”
May you like
Rachel looked sick.
“My father.”
