Chapter 18 - THE FINAL PAGE|
Mercer did not raise a weapon.
He did not need to.
The men behind him had already surrounded the ferry landing.
Gideon stood between Camille and the approaching vehicles. Tobias moved toward the nearest cover, keeping his eyes on the men near the road.
Étienne gripped Camille's hand.
“Don't let them take the final page.”
“Where is it?” she asked.
“In the only place they never thought to search.”
Mercer walked closer.
“Étienne, this can end without anyone else getting hurt.”
“You've been saying that for sixteen years.”
“I gave you a chance to disappear.”
“You gave me a prison.”
Mercer sighed.
“You were supposed to hand over the records.”
“And you were supposed to protect my daughter.”
Camille looked at him.
“You knew who I was?”
“Of course,” Mercer replied. “I arranged for you to be watched after your father disappeared.”
“Watched?”
“To ensure you were safe.”
“You sent someone to photograph my apartment?”
He did not answer.
Gideon took a step forward.
“You worked for my family.”
“I worked for your mother. Then for you.”
“You gave Sloane access to our records.”
“I gave him what he needed to keep the peace.”
Gideon's expression hardened.
“You helped kill Matteo.”
Mercer looked almost offended.
“I did not pull the trigger.”
“But you knew what was going to happen.”
“I believed Carlo would frighten him into silence. I never expected—”
“You never expected a man to die because you helped arrange it?”
Mercer looked away.
For a moment, the rain was the only sound.
Then he held out his hand.
“Give me the final page.”
Étienne shook his head.
“You'll never have it.”
Mercer nodded toward the men behind him.
One of them moved.
Tobias fired a warning shot into the ground.
“Stop!”
The man froze.
Gideon used the distraction to pull Camille and Étienne toward the shelter's rear exit. They ran through a narrow passage leading to the old ferry platform.
A second vehicle blocked the path.
Camille stopped.
“There's nowhere to go.”
Étienne pointed toward the water.
“Under the platform.”
They crouched beneath the wooden structure as the men spread out above them. The river slapped against the pilings. Camille could hear her own breathing.
Her father reached into his coat and removed a small brass object.
It was a key.
“The final page is not a page,” he whispered. “It's a plate.”
“What plate?”
“A printing plate. The original names were engraved into it. I hid it inside the base of the lighthouse lamp.”
Camille stared at him.
“The lighthouse?”
“Your father taught you to look at the reverse side of everything. The plate is inside the metal base. It can prove who authorized the transfers.”
Gideon looked toward the shore.
“Can we reach it?”
Étienne nodded.
“There's a service tunnel beneath the landing. It leads to the old road.”
They crawled through the narrow passage and emerged behind a line of trees. Tobias found them there, bleeding from a cut above his eyebrow but still standing.
“Mr. Ferraro, the police are on their way.”
“Real police?” Gideon asked.
Tobias nodded.
“State investigators. The ones I contacted before we left.”
Camille looked back toward the landing.
Mercer and his men were gone.
They reached the lighthouse shortly before dawn. Its door was rusted shut, but Étienne knew where the maintenance key was hidden.
Inside, the lamp room smelled of dust and cold metal.
Camille knelt beside the base and examined the bolts.
“There,” she whispered.
A narrow panel had been fitted beneath the lamp mechanism. The brass key opened it.
Inside was a thin metal plate wrapped in oilcloth.
Camille lifted it carefully.
Names and dates covered its surface. Beside each name was a code corresponding to a shipping manifest.
Gideon read the first line.
Then he went still.
At the bottom of the plate was the name of the man who had ordered Matteo's death.
CARLO FERRARO.
Beneath it was a second signature.
HAROLD MERCER.
But the final line contained a name none of them expected.
GIDEON FERRARO.
Camille looked at him.
He stared at the engraving.
“I never signed this.”
Étienne's face had gone pale.
“I know,” he said.
“Then who did?”
May you like
Her father looked toward the window.
“Someone who wanted you to inherit the crime.”
