Chapter 10 - The Night the Records Burned|
Rachel traced the photograph to an old newspaper archive. The vehicle had been found near a ravine outside Milwaukee twenty-five years earlier. Investigators had identified the driver as Elena Calloway, but the body had never been recovered.
The official report stated that the car had caught fire after leaving the road.
A second document, never included in the public record, described evidence of another vehicle near the scene.
Anna read the report in Rachel's office.
“Someone followed her.”
“That's one possibility,” Rachel said. “The report doesn't establish who was driving.”
“But it establishes that the original investigation was incomplete.”
“Yes.”
Anna called Elena.
Her mother listened as she described the photograph and the hidden report.
When Anna finished, Elena was silent for a long time.
“I remember the crash,” she said. “Not every detail. I remember headlights behind me, and then the road bending sharply. I woke up in a hospital several days later.”
“Who brought you there?”
“I never knew. Margaret said a truck driver found me. By the time I could speak, I had been moved to another clinic.”
“Why didn't you tell the police?”
“Because the first officer who visited me worked for Victor. He asked where the ledger was. When I refused to answer, he said you would be next.”
Anna closed her eyes.
“So you disappeared to protect me.”
“Yes.”
“And then you stayed away because you thought I was safer.”
“Yes.”
The answers were painful, but they were honest.
“I don't know how to forgive all of this,” Anna said.
“You don't have to do it today.”
Elena's voice trembled.
“I spent so many years believing that if I could keep you alive, the rest of my choices would somehow become right. I know now that I also denied you the chance to know me.”
Anna swallowed.
“We can't change what happened.”
“No. But we can decide what happens next.”
That afternoon, Rachel received a call from the forensic specialist who had examined the cassette recorder. The device contained a damaged recording, but enough of the audio could be recovered to identify two voices.
One belonged to Thomas Calloway.
The other was believed to belong to Victor Hale.
They arranged to hear the recording in a secure office with a forensic technician present.
Static filled the room.
Then Thomas's voice emerged.
“She's alive. I saw her. You told me the hospital was safe.”
Victor answered.
“The hospital was safe until you started asking questions.”
“What did you do?”
“I did what was necessary to prevent a disaster.”
“You tried to kill her.”
“I tried to protect the family.”
A pause followed.
Then Thomas said, “If anything happens to Anna, I'll make sure everyone knows what you did.”
The recording ended with a sharp click.
Anna sat motionless.
It was not enough to prove every allegation, but it established that Thomas had confronted Victor about an attempt on Elena's life.
The technician explained that the recording's date could not be independently verified from the audio alone.
Rachel nodded.
“We'll preserve it and submit it with the other evidence. Investigators will determine how it can be used.”
Anna stared at the blank screen.
“Why would Victor send this to me?”
“Perhaps he wanted to frighten you,” Rachel said. “Perhaps he wanted to turn you against Edward. Or perhaps someone else is sending the messages.”
That final possibility lingered.
A second message arrived while they were leaving the office.
Victor isn't the only one who wants the ledger.
This time, the attachment was a photograph of a warehouse on the Chicago River.
Anna recognized it from the ledger. One of the companies listed in the records had operated from that address.
Daniel called immediately after she forwarded the message.
“Don't go there.”
“Why?”
“Because the warehouse was used to store records before they were moved.”
“Moved where?”
“I don't know.”
“Daniel, I am not going to stop investigating because you tell me to be careful.”
“I know. That's why I'm asking you to let professionals handle it.”
She considered his words.
For once, he wasn't ordering her to obey. He was acknowledging that the decision belonged to her.
“Then give Rachel every record you have about the warehouse.”
“I will.”
“And no private investigators following me.”
“Agreed.”
She ended the call and looked at Rachel.
“We won't go to the warehouse. We'll give the information to the investigators.”
Rachel nodded.
“Good.”
Anna had spent too much of her life believing courage meant walking straight into danger.
Now she was learning that courage could also mean refusing to let a dangerous man dictate the shape of her choices.
That evening, however, the next message changed everything.
May you like
It contained a single line.
Your husband was at the warehouse the night your father died.
