Chapter 6 - THE BLUE LEDGER
We reached the Whitmore property from the back road.
Rebecca drove.
I sat beside her.
Elena stayed with Lily.
The boathouse stood half a mile from the mansion beside a frozen lake.
No lights.
One car.
Victor Dane’s black Mercedes.
“He’s here,” Rebecca whispered.
I called the police.
Not 911.
A detective I knew from a charity board.
I told him there might be theft involving trust property and that someone was unlawfully entering a private structure.
Then Rebecca and I approached.
The side door was open.
Inside, a flashlight moved.
Victor was tearing through cabinets.
“Looking for something?”
He spun.
“Daniel.”
Victor was sixty, silver-haired, expensive, and always looked like he had just walked out of a private bank.
Tonight, he looked terrified.
“You can’t be here,” he said.
I almost laughed.
“I own it.”
His face twitched.
Rebecca moved beside me.
“What are you looking for?”
“Old account records.”
“At midnight?”
“I was instructed—”
“By Margaret?”
He stopped.
I stepped closer.
“Where is the blue ledger?”
Victor smiled.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Behind him was the rusted anchor.
I stared at it.
Arthur’s words echoed.
The Anchor will know where to look.
I walked toward the wall.
Victor moved quickly.
Too quickly.
“Daniel, don’t.”
I stopped.
Then looked at him.
There.
Fear.
I lifted the anchor plaque.
Behind it was a shallow metal compartment.
Empty.
Victor exhaled.
Rebecca whispered, “Someone already took it.”
Then I noticed a fresh scrape along the shelf beneath the compartment.
And one torn blue paper corner.
I held it up.
Victor went pale.
“What was in that ledger?”
“Nothing.”
“Try again.”
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Victor looked toward the door.
Then he made a mistake.
He ran.
Rebecca screamed as he shoved past her.
I grabbed his coat.
We crashed into a workbench.
Tools hit the floor.
Victor swung at me.
I ducked.
He slipped on melted snow and went down hard.
By the time officers entered, I had his wrist pinned behind him.
Detective Aaron Hale took one look at Victor.
“Interesting Christmas.”
“Very.”
Victor was detained for trespassing until ownership could be verified.
While Hale spoke with Rebecca, I searched the floor.
Then I saw something under the workbench.
A torn page.
Blue.
I pulled it free.
Four columns.
Dates.
Amounts.
Account numbers.
Initials.
M.W.
B.W.
V.D.
And one more set of initials.
T.W.
My father.
I stared at them.
“No.”
Rebecca saw my face.
“What?”
I showed her.
She covered her mouth.
“Dad?”
Hale came over.
“Don’t touch anything else.”
Too late.
A shadow moved outside.
I looked through the window.
Someone stood near the trees.
Watching us.
Then the figure turned and disappeared.
I ran outside.
“Hey!”
Nothing.
Only snow.
Then my phone buzzed.
One photograph had been sent from an unknown number.
It showed Lily standing near the window of our house.
The message beneath it said:
May you like
STOP LOOKING FOR THE LEDGER.
OR NEXT TIME WE WON’T TAKE A PICTURE.
