Chapter 17 - THE LAST COPY|
The message arrived at 8:16 on a Sunday evening.
Norah read it once, then again.
Her father's records had already been handed to investigators. Victor was awaiting trial. Arthur had begun cooperating with prosecutors. The principal financial accounts had been frozen.
What other evidence could still exist?
She called Roman.
He answered immediately.
“Norah?”
“I received a message.”
She read it aloud.
Roman was silent for a moment.
“Send me a screenshot.”
“I'm sending it now.”
He studied the image.
“Don't respond to the number.”
“Do you know what it means?”
“Not yet.”
“Roman, I don't want you making decisions for me.”
“I won't. But I do want you to know that the person who sent this may be trying to frighten you.”
“Or warn me.”
“Yes.”
She appreciated that he had not dismissed the possibility.
“I'm going to investigate,” she said.
“Then let's do it properly. We can give the message to the authorities and ask them to trace the number.”
“Together?”
“If that's what you want.”
Norah hesitated.
“I want answers. I don't want to return to the estate.”
“You don't have to.”
The response reassured her more than any promise of protection could have.
The next day, they met at the office of the attorney handling her father's case. An investigator examined the message and confirmed that it had been sent through a temporary number.
The sender had used a public wireless network near Queens.
The location meant little by itself.
But the investigator found something else.
“Your father maintained a storage locker under a different name,” he explained. “The account was closed shortly after his death, but there is a record of one final payment.”
Norah leaned forward.
“Where?”
“An old storage facility near the waterfront.”
Roman's expression hardened.
“That area is connected to several companies in the ledger.”
The investigator nodded.
“We'll search the facility under a warrant.”
Norah looked at Roman.
“Could the evidence still be there?”
“It's possible.”
They waited two days for authorization.
During that time, Norah continued working and Roman continued cooperating with the authorities. They spoke occasionally, usually about the case. Their conversations were calmer now, free of the old imbalance.
Roman no longer expected her to answer immediately.
Norah no longer felt obligated to reassure him.
On Wednesday morning, the investigator called.
The storage unit had been found.
Inside were boxes of accounting records, photographs, and an old tape recorder. Most of the papers were damaged by moisture, but several documents remained readable.
One photograph showed Anthony Costa meeting with two men outside a warehouse.
Another showed Arthur Voss handing a folder to Victor.
The final item was a cassette tape labeled in Daniel Bennett's handwriting.
If anything happens to me.
Norah's hands trembled as the investigator placed the tape recorder on the table.
“Do you want to hear it?” he asked.
She nodded.
The recording began with static.
Then her father's voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, I've run out of time.”
Norah closed her eyes.
Her father sounded tired, frightened, and painfully familiar.
“I discovered the payments were connected to a shipment that disappeared from the port. The money was being used to conceal what happened to the people who were on it.”
Roman's face changed.
The investigator leaned forward.
Daniel continued.
“Anthony Costa ordered the cover-up. Arthur Voss arranged the financial transfers. But the person who gave them the final information about my location was someone I trusted.”
A pause.
Then a name.
“Eleanor Costa.”
Roman went completely still.
Norah opened her eyes.
The recording continued.
“She didn't order my death. But she told them where I was hiding. She believed they only wanted the records.”
The tape clicked.
Silence filled the room.
Roman stared at the recorder as though it had become a weapon pointed at his family.
Norah whispered, “Your mother knew.”
He didn't answer.
For years, Eleanor had claimed that fear had kept her silent. Now the evidence suggested she had done more than remain silent.
May you like
She had helped the people who killed Norah's father find him.
And the investigators were already preparing to question her.
