Chapter 5 - The Ledger Number Forty-Three
The woman standing beneath the chandelier was older than the photograph.
But it was her.
Evelyn Cole.
Alive.
Margaret stood beside her.
Alice ran downstairs.
“Grandma!”
Margaret embraced her.
For several seconds Alice forgot everything else.
The threatening photograph.
The missing card.
Annabelle.
Victoria.
The ledger.
She simply held the woman who had raised her.
Then Alice looked at Evelyn.
“You hired me.”
“Yes.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You sent me into this house.”
Evelyn’s eyes lowered.
“Yes.”
Alice stepped back.
“Why?”
Evelyn explained.
She had discovered that someone was again searching for Ledger 43.
She believed the ledger contained proof of financial misconduct dating back decades.
She also believed Margaret knew something without realizing its significance.
Alice’s hiring had been intended to place someone trustworthy near the Johnson archives.
Alice was furious.
“You used me.”
“I did.”
“You put my grandmother in danger.”
“I was trying to protect her.”
“By lying?”
Evelyn had no good answer.
Chief Johnson entered.
For twenty-two years, he had believed Evelyn guilty.
Now she stood before him.
“I owe you an apology,” he said.
“You owe me the truth,” Evelyn replied.
They searched until dawn.
Margaret finally remembered Chief Johnson’s father giving her an old book before Evelyn disappeared.
He had told her to keep it safe.
Margaret thought it was a Bible.
She had carried it through three apartments.
Alice suddenly remembered.
Her own Bible.
The one Margaret had given her.
They hurried to Alice’s room.
She opened it.
Nothing.
Then Chief Johnson examined the spine.
It was unusually thick.
Inside the binding was a narrow compartment.
A folded sheet of paper slid out.
Not Ledger 43.
A key.
And an address.
Chief Johnson recognized it.
An old Johnson Foundation building downtown.
The property had been closed for fifteen years.
They went there together.
Inside the basement, behind a rusted cabinet, they found a locked metal box.
The key fit.
Ledger 43 was inside.
So were letters.
Bank records.
And a signed statement from Chief Johnson’s father.
Chief Johnson read it once.
Then again.
His face lost color.
“What does it say?” Alice asked.
He looked toward Victoria.
Or rather, toward her name.
Victoria’s maiden name appeared throughout the records.
Her father had been the company accountant.
The documents suggested that he had diverted charitable funds and framed Evelyn when she discovered it.
But another signature appeared beneath his.
Victoria’s.
Alice stared.
“She knew?”
Chief Johnson closed his eyes.
“She was twenty-four.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“She didn’t merely know.”
She opened another document.
“She helped him.”
Chief Johnson looked devastated.
Then Alice noticed something.
The newest document in the box was not twenty years old.
It was six months old.
Someone had opened the box recently.
A handwritten note lay beneath it.
YOU FOUND THE OLD SECRET.
NOW FIND OUT WHY IT STARTED AGAIN.
Chief Johnson read the sentence.
His phone vibrated.
A security alert from the mansion.
The private office door had just opened.
But everyone with legitimate access was standing in the basement.
Chief Johnson opened the live camera.
A figure entered his office.
Alice leaned toward the screen.
It was Annabelle.
She walked directly to the safe.
May you like
Then Victoria stepped into view behind her.
And handed her the combination.
