Chapter 6 - The Price of Silence
I asked Vincent to leave.
He didn’t argue.
Before he went, he placed the old photograph on the table.
“You should have this.”
I waited until the door closed before I picked it up.
Mom was looking at him in that picture.
I wished she hadn’t been.
Dana Wells called me back before midnight.
“I’ve been trying to find Elena’s daughter,” she said.
“Why didn’t you come to the funeral?”
“Her package didn’t include your address.
The return address was the hospital.
By the time they passed along my message, she was gone.”
I told her about the locker.
She was quiet for several seconds.
“Don’t send anything else to anyone tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because the records your mother sent aren’t just about something that happened twenty-five years ago.”
We met the next morning in her newspaper’s conference room.
Dana brought Detective Luis Ruiz, who worked financial crimes.
I nearly walked out.
“No surprises,” I told her.
“You’re right,” she said.
“He can leave.”
Ruiz stood.
I looked at the evidence bag in his hand, then at the exit.
“Stay.
But you answer my questions too.”
He sat down.
Dana spread copies of Mom’s records beside recent public filings.
Same properties.
Different companies.
The same repair invoices moving through new names.
“The Meridian is being sold,” she said.
“Closing is Friday.
The buyer is another company tied to Adrian.”
“Why sell it to himself?”
“Partly to move money.
Partly to shut the place for renovation.”
Ruiz tapped a floor plan.
“The old accounting archive is in the basement.
Your mother identified box numbers.
If those records still exist, they could connect the old accounts to the current ones.”
“So get them.”
“We need lawful access or a warrant supported by enough evidence.
We’re working on both.”
I hated how reasonable he sounded.
My mother had waited half her life.
Now everybody wanted another day.
My phone buzzed.
An email from the club.
Employment terminated, effective immediately.
Attached was a notice claiming I had stolen cash from the service office.
June called before I finished reading.
“They fired me too.”
“What?”
“And Nora?”
Her voice dropped.
“Someone sent my landlord a picture of us at the station.
He found it taped to his door.”
Across the table, Ruiz reached for his phone.
May you like
But I was staring at Adrian’s newest message.
Now you understand how expensive honesty can be.
