Chapter 4 - THE PHOTOGRAPH UNDER THE FLOORBOARD|
Tabitha couldn't stop staring at the photograph.
The hotel manager's name had been Richard Bell.
He had hired her when she was eighteen, given her extra shifts when her mother became ill, and later dismissed her after an argument about missing security footage.
She had never imagined he had connections to Graham Costa.
"Do you know him?" Graham asked.
Tabitha nodded slowly.
"His name was Richard Bell. He used to manage the hotel where I worked."
Anthony studied her.
"You never mentioned that."
"Nobody asked."
Graham took the photograph.
"Why was he dismissed?"
"Because he disappeared after a fire in the hotel's basement. The police said he was dead."
Anthony exchanged a glance with Graham.
"That fire was investigated by one of our companies."
Tabitha felt cold.
"What does that mean?"
"It means your former employer wasn't an ordinary hotel manager," Graham said.
Anthony opened the folder.
"Bell handled financial transfers for several of our legitimate businesses. Three months ago, he disappeared with a substantial amount of money."
"Why would he attack you?"
"Because he wasn't working alone."
Graham turned another page.
There were bank records, photographs, and a list of names.
One name was circled.
Anthony Russo.
Tabitha looked up.
Anthony was watching her.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing."
But Graham had noticed.
"Leave us."
Anthony frowned.
"Boss, we need to discuss—"
"Get out."
The security chief closed the folder and left.
Graham looked at Tabitha.
"What did you see?"
"His name."
"Whose?"
"Mr. Russo's."
Graham went still.
"Why?"
"Because it was circled."
He examined the page.
Then he looked toward the closed door.
"Interesting."
That evening, Graham asked Tabitha to accompany him to the old family library.
It was a room she had never entered.
Dust covered the shelves, and the curtains had remained closed for years. On the desk sat a photograph of a beautiful woman with dark hair.
"My mother," Graham said.
Tabitha approached the photograph.
"She was beautiful."
"She was the only person who could make my father smile."
He opened a drawer and removed an old wooden box.
Inside were letters, a silver necklace, and a small photograph of Graham as a boy.
Tabitha smiled.
"You look happy."
"I was."
He took out a letter.
"My mother wrote this shortly before she died. I never understood why she asked my father to protect a little girl named Elizabeth."
Tabitha's smile disappeared.
"What was her surname?"
"Hayes."
The room seemed to tilt.
Tabitha stepped closer.
"Could I see that?"
Graham handed her the letter.
She read the name again.
Elizabeth Hayes.
Her mother's full name.
Her fingers began trembling.
"Where did you get this?"
"From my father's belongings."
Tabitha turned the letter over.
A sentence had been written at the bottom in blue ink.
If anything happens to me, find the child. Her mother knows what really happened that night.
Tabitha's eyes filled with tears.
"My mother never told me anything about your family."
Graham studied her.
"Did she ever mention my father?"
"No."
"Did she give you anything before she died?"
Tabitha hesitated.
Then she remembered the small silver locket her mother had placed around her neck on her final hospital visit.
She had never opened it.
She pulled it from beneath her blouse.
Graham stared at the necklace.
His expression changed completely.
"Where did you get that?"
"My mother gave it to me."
He reached toward it, then stopped himself.
"Open it."
Tabitha pressed the tiny clasp.
Inside was a faded photograph of a woman standing beside a little boy.
Graham took one look.
His face turned pale.
The woman was his mother.
The boy was him.
But the little girl standing between them was Tabitha.
May you like
And written across the back were four words that made Graham's blood run cold.
OUR DAUGHTERS MUST BE PROTECTED.
