Chapter 3 - The Woman in the Photograph
Roman was moving before Morgana understood what was happening.
“Lock this room.”
“No.”
“Morgana.”
“No.”
Hayes appeared beside Roman.
“Boss, perimeter team has Mercer.”
“Alive.”
“Understood.”
Roman looked at Morgana.
“You stay here.”
“My father is outside.”
“Exactly.”
He left.
Morgana watched the monitors.
Security men surrounded Caleb.
Jason collapsed beside the gate.
Nobody fired.
Caleb calmly raised both hands.
Ten minutes later Roman returned with the envelope.
Jason had been taken to a guarded room.
Caleb was elsewhere.
Roman placed the envelope on the desk.
“For you.”
Morgana opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Her mother.
Elena Hale.
Young.
Smiling.
Standing beside Caleb.
And beside them—
Roman Costa.
Morgana stared at him.
“You knew my mother.”
Roman said nothing.
“You knew her.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Roman sat.
“Your mother worked for my father.”
Morgana felt the room tilt.
“Doing what?”
“Accounting.”
“My mother was a bookkeeper?”
“For legitimate companies. And illegitimate ones.”
Roman looked at the photograph.
“She discovered money disappearing.”
“Who took it?”
“We never found out.”
Morgana's anger rose.
“You knew all this last night.”
“I knew your mother's name. I didn't know you were her daughter until Hayes completed the background check.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I needed to verify it.”
Morgana laughed bitterly.
“Everybody keeps deciding what I'm allowed to know.”
Roman absorbed the accusation.
Then nodded.
“Fair.”
He pushed another object toward her.
The necklace Caleb had carried.
Morgana touched it.
Her mother had worn it every day.
“Jason told me she died in a car accident.”
Roman's expression darkened.
“There was an accident.”
“But?”
“No body was recovered.”
Morgana looked up.
“What?”
“The car burned.”
“Jason buried her.”
“He buried an empty coffin.”
Morgana stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
Roman didn't move.
“My father let me cry over an empty coffin?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
She walked out.
Roman followed at a distance.
Jason was downstairs.
His bruised face looked worse under bright light.
Morgana entered.
He stood.
“Morgana.”
She threw the photograph onto the table.
“Tell me.”
Jason stared at it.
His shoulders collapsed.
“I wanted to protect you.”
“Stop saying that.”
“I did.”
“You sold me yesterday.”
Jason closed his eyes.
“Your mother got involved with people she shouldn't have.”
“Roman's father?”
“Worse.”
Morgana waited.
Jason sat.
“Elena discovered a laundering network inside Costa businesses. Someone was moving millions through shipping accounts.”
Roman stood in the doorway.
Jason saw him.
“Your father knew.”
Roman's expression sharpened.
“My father investigated.”
“And somebody killed him.”
Morgana looked between them.
Roman's father had died seventeen years earlier.
Officially a heart attack.
Roman said, “Be careful.”
Jason laughed weakly.
“Still protecting the family mythology?”
Roman stepped closer.
Jason's courage disappeared.
Morgana intervened.
“Finish.”
Jason looked at her.
“Your mother believed the same people who killed Antonio Costa were coming for her.”
“So she ran?”
Jason's eyes filled.
“I helped her.”
Morgana froze.
“You helped her disappear.”
“Yes.”
“And she left me?”
Jason looked away.
Morgana's voice broke.
“She left me with you?”
“No.”
Jason's answer came quickly.
“She wanted to take you.”
“Then why didn't she?”
“Because someone threatened you.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Roman said, “Caleb does.”
Everyone turned.
Roman held a file Hayes had just delivered.
“Caleb Mercer wasn't Elena's friend.”
He placed the file down.
“He was federal.”
Jason went pale.
Morgana looked at Roman.
“An agent?”
“Undercover financial crimes investigator.”
Roman opened the file.
“Until he disappeared twelve years ago.”
“The same year Mom disappeared.”
“Yes.”
Morgana sank into a chair.
Roman crouched beside her, keeping distance.
“There is more.”
She looked at him.
“Just say it.”
“Caleb wasn't tracking your mother.”
“Who was he tracking?”
Roman's eyes moved toward Jason.
“Your father.”
Jason stood.
“That's a lie.”
Hayes blocked the door.
Roman opened another page.
“Jason Hale received $250,000 three days after Elena disappeared.”
Morgana stared at her father.
Jason shook his head.
“No.”
“Account ending 4417.”
“No.”
Roman continued.
“Funds originated through a shell company controlled by Lev Vulov.”
Jason's face drained.
Morgana whispered, “They paid you.”
“No.”
“They paid you after Mom disappeared.”
Jason backed away.
“Morgana, listen.”
“For what?”
“I didn't know what would happen.”
Her stomach turned.
“What did you do?”
Jason began crying.
Roman watched him with disgust.
“I gave them a location.”
Morgana stopped breathing.
“What location?”
Jason covered his face.
“The motel.”
“What motel?”
“Where your mother was hiding.”
Morgana couldn't speak.
Roman rose.
Jason rushed forward.
“I thought they wanted the records! Elena had files. They said they'd take the files and leave.”
“And you believed them?” Morgana screamed.
“I owed money!”
There it was again.
Money.
Always money.
Morgana backed toward the wall.
Roman stepped between them.
Jason sobbed.
“I've regretted it every day.”
“You regretted losing the money,” Morgana said.
Jason froze.
She knew him too well.
Roman looked at Hayes.
“Take him out.”
Jason resisted.
“Morgana!”
She turned away.
Hayes removed him.
Roman stayed.
After a long silence Morgana asked, “Where is Caleb?”
“Secure room.”
“I want to talk to him.”
Roman hesitated.
“No lies,” Morgana said. “No more deciding for me.”
Roman nodded.
Caleb sat behind a steel table.
His wrists were cuffed.
He smiled when Morgana entered.
“You look like Elena.”
Morgana remained standing.
“Is my mother alive?”
Caleb's smile vanished.
“I don't know.”
“That's not good enough.”
“The last time I saw Elena was twelve years ago.”
“Where?”
“Baltimore.”
“After the accident?”
“Yes.”
Morgana's knees weakened.
Roman pulled out a chair.
She sat.
Caleb continued.
“Elena survived.”
“Why didn't she come back?”
“Because the people hunting her had you.”
Morgana frowned.
“I was with Jason.”
Caleb looked toward Roman.
“Exactly.”
Roman's face changed.
Caleb leaned forward.
“Jason wasn't just a gambling addict.”
Morgana's stomach tightened.
“What was he?”
“A courier.”
“For the Vulovs?”
Caleb smiled.
“For someone above them.”
“Who?”
Caleb looked directly at Roman.
“Someone your father trusted.”
Roman became still.
Caleb reached into his shirt pocket.
Hayes moved.
“Easy.”
Caleb withdrew a tiny folded piece of paper.
He placed it on the table.
Roman opened it.
An address.
Morgana read it.
A storage facility outside Baltimore.
Unit 317.
Caleb said, “Elena left something there.”
“What?”
“The reason Antonio Costa died.”
Roman looked at Morgana.
Caleb added, “And the reason Jason was ordered to sell Morgana yesterday.”
Morgana's blood ran cold.
Roman folded the paper.
“We leave in an hour.”
Caleb laughed.
Roman turned.
“What?”
“You're already late.”
Roman's phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A photograph arrived.
Storage Unit 317.
The door stood open.
Someone had painted one sentence across the concrete wall.
MORGANA KNOWS TOO MUCH.
Then a second photograph loaded.
A woman was standing inside the unit.
Older now.
Gray threaded through her brown hair.
May you like
But Morgana recognized her face.
Her mother was alive.
