Chapter 18 - THE TRUTH THAT COULD BURN THEM ALL|
Margaret worked through the cipher until sunrise, comparing the numbers from the astronomy book with the original trust records. Lena checked each calculation, following the pattern her father had taught her when she was too young to understand why adults hid things from one another.
By morning, they had uncovered the full ledger.
It contained no magical secret, no single document that could topple an empire by itself. It was something more dangerous: a connected record of payments, forged authorizations, false shipping declarations, and the people who had been paid to make the evidence disappear.
The names included officials, attorneys, contractors, and senior members of the Reeve organization.
Several had died.
Others were still in positions of influence.
And one name appeared repeatedly beside the original transfer records.
Dominic Reeve.
Lena stared at the pages.
“What is this?”
Dominic stood across the table, his face pale.
“I told you I authorized payments without understanding their final destination.”
“These records show that your office approved them.”
“My office approved thousands of transfers.”
“And some of those transfers funded Solin.”
“Yes.”
She closed the ledger.
“You need to step away from the investigation.”
Dominic did not argue.
“If my records are part of the evidence, then an independent investigator should handle them.”
“Your people will try to protect you.”
“Then we give the evidence to people who don’t work for me.”
Margaret looked up.
“I know a federal prosecutor who investigated the waterfront companies years ago. He was removed from the case after refusing to accept a sealed settlement.”
“Can he be trusted?” Lena asked.
“No one should be trusted without verification.”
For once, Lena almost smiled.
They prepared copies of the ledger, preserving the original in a secure location. The prosecutor agreed to meet them at a neutral office and review the evidence. He warned that the process would take time and that several people might attempt to interfere.
They accepted.
Then Sophie received a message from an unknown number.
Tell Lena to check the original death certificate.
She opened the family records Margaret had recovered. The certificate listed David Voss’s time of death as 9:10 p.m. The police report placed the crash at 9:42 p.m.
The time discrepancy was not an error.
It was proof that the official report had been prepared before the accident was recorded.
Lena sat very still.
“My father was declared dead before the car went over the slope.”
Margaret nodded.
“They knew the plan in advance.”
“Who signed the certificate?”
“An attending physician at a private clinic.”
Lena examined the name.
Dr. Peter Harlan.
The same doctor who had treated Adrian after the boating accident.
Dominic immediately contacted the prosecutor. The doctor’s old records revealed a chain of payments from Northstar Meridian, including one made just three weeks earlier.
“He’s alive,” Dominic said. “And he knows where the remaining records are.”
They found Harlan at a retirement property outside Albany. He refused to speak until Lena placed the photograph of her father on the table.
The doctor’s composure collapsed.
“I was told your father had already been killed,” he said. “I was instructed to prepare the paperwork in advance.”
“By whom?”
“Edward Reeve.”
“And the child?”
Harlan looked toward Dominic.
“Adrian was alive after the boating accident. Edward ordered me to keep him sedated until a transfer could be arranged. I believed it was for his protection.”
“Did you know he was being held against his will?”
“I suspected.”
“You signed the papers anyway.”
The doctor began to cry.
“I was afraid.”
Lena felt no satisfaction. Fear had been the currency of the entire operation. Every person who surrendered to it had made the next betrayal easier.
Harlan provided the name of the facility where Adrian had been held and identified the man who had arranged the transfer.
Elias Shaw.
But the prosecutor’s office called before they could leave.
Elias had been found dead in his apartment.
Beside him was a note addressed to Dominic.
The family has paid its debt.
May you like
And beneath it, in handwriting Lena had never seen before:
Now pay yours.
