Chapter 2 - What the Ledger Stole
Arthur closed the office door behind him.
The iron latch clicked firmly into place.
Nora placed her hand over the leather ledger.
“Thomas had a twin,” she whispered.
Arthur did not answer immediately.
He walked to the window and looked outside.
The harbor lights reflected in his glasses.
“Sarah Cole was an irresponsible woman,” Arthur said softly.
“She could not care for two infants.”
“I took the stronger child into my home.”
“I raised Thomas as my own son.”
Nora stood up slowly from the desk.
“And what happened to the other boy?”
Arthur turned back toward her.
His face was completely devoid of warmth.
“Ethan was fragile from birth.”
“He lived in state care for fifteen years.”
“Then he came looking for his brother.”
Nora’s chest tightened with rising anger.
“You hid him from Thomas?”
“Thomas found out four years ago,” Arthur replied coolly.
“He threatened to tell the local press.”
“He wanted to split the family company with Ethan.”
“It would have ruined our reputation.”
“It would have destroyed forty years of work.”
Nora looked toward the sofa where Lily slept.
“What did you do to Thomas?”
Arthur smiled a small, pitying smile.
“I did nothing to my son.”
“Thomas took a boat out into the storm.”
“He was going to bring Ethan home.”
“The boat sank on the reef.”
“Ethan survived on the shore.”
“Thomas did not.”
Nora felt the floor beneath her sway.
“The man at the courtroom today was Ethan?”
Arthur took two measured steps toward her.
“Ethan believes he is Thomas now.”
“His mind is fractured, Nora.”
“He spent four years in a quiet facility.”
“He broke out two days ago.”
“He found Thomas’s old clothes in the shed.”
“He believes he can take Thomas’s place.”
Nora shook her head in horror.
“You buried a empty casket, didn’t you?”
Arthur did not deny it.
He stepped closer to the oak desk.
“You will hand over those documents now.”
“They belong to the Vance estate.”
Nora gripped the leather ledger tightly.
“No.”
Arthur reached into his coat pocket.
He pulled out a slim gray smartphone.
He pressed a single button on the screen.
“You have three minutes to change your mind.”
Nora frowned in confusion.
“What are you doing?”
“I just called the county sheriff,” Arthur said calmly.
“I reported a break-in at the boatyard.”
“I told them you are having a nervous breakdown.”
“I told them you took Lily without permission.”
Nora’s breath caught in her throat.
“They will not believe you.”
“I sit on the police oversight board,” Arthur reminded her.
“I paid your home mortgage last month.”
“I own the ground beneath this building.”
“Who will the judge believe?”
“A grieving widow with no income?”
“Or the man who built this town?”
Lily stirred on the sofa and opened her eyes.
“Mommy?” Lily called out softly.
Nora made her decision in one second.
She shoved the ledger into her canvas bag.
She grabbed Lily’s arm and lifted her up.
Nora bolted through the side workshop door.
“Nora!” Arthur shouted behind her.
Rain hit Nora’s face as she ran outside.
She threw Lily into the truck’s passenger seat.
She started the engine and hit the gas.
Gravel sprayed against the wooden fence.
She drove through the dark coastal storm.
Her hands shook against the rubber steering wheel.
She needed to find Ethan before Arthur’s men did.
She drove up the winding road of Blackwood Ridge.
The cottage sat behind a row of pine trees.
A single yellow porch light glowed through the rain.
Nora stopped the truck in the muddy driveway.
She carried Lily onto the small wooden porch.
She knocked hard on the dark green door.
The door swung open three inches.
Ethan stood in the dimly lit hallway.
He wore the same wet wool coat.
His scarred face looked tired and thin.
He looked at Lily with gentle, quiet eyes.
“Nora,” he rasped painfully.
His voice was rough from years of silence.
“You remembered the name,” Nora whispered.
Ethan stepped aside to let them in.
The cottage was clean but barely furnished.
A single wooden table sat near the fireplace.
On the table rested an old cassette player.
Beside it sat a stack of handwritten letters.
Ethan pointed his trembling finger at the tape recorder.
“Listen,” he croaked softly.
Nora placed Lily on a chair near the fire.
She walked to the table and pressed play.
A tape began to reel inside the plastic casing.
Static filled the quiet room.
Then a familiar voice spoke through the speaker.
It was Thomas’s voice.
Nora held her breath as tears welled up.
“If you are listening to this, Nora, I am safe.”
“Arthur found out about Ethan last night.”
“He threatened to cut us off completely.”
“He said he would take Lily away from us.”
“He claimed you were an unfit mother.”
“He locked Ethan in the basement of the estate.”
“I am going to get my brother tonight.”
“If I do not make it back, check the boat logs.”
“The truth is hidden in the keel of the Sea Glass.”
The recording stopped with a loud click.
Nora stared at the cassette player in shock.
Thomas had not died in a storm accident.
He was running from his own father.
Ethan reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a heavy iron key stamped with a number.
It was the key to the storage shed at the harbor.
The Sea Glass was Thomas’s first wooden sailboat.
It had been stored in that shed for five years.
Suddenly, headlights flashed through the cottage window.
Two dark police cruisers pulled into the muddy yard.
Red and blue lights reflected off the pine trees.
A loudspeaker boomed through the falling rain.
“Nora Vance, step outside with your hands visible.”
Nora panicked and looked toward the back door.
Arthur’s black sedan pulled up behind the cruisers.
Arthur stepped out holding a white legal folder.
Sheriff Miller walked beside him toward the porch.
Nora opened the front door three inches.
“Sheriff, you need to hear this tape,” Nora called out.
Sheriff Miller looked down at the ground uncomfortably.
“Nora, Arthur has an emergency custody order.”
“The judge signed it twenty minutes ago.”
“You are being charged with child endangerment.”
Nora felt her heart break into pieces.
“He is lying to you!” she screamed.
Arthur stepped to the front of the police line.
He looked at Nora with calm victory in his eyes.
“Bring the child out, Nora.”
“Do not make this worse for yourself.”
Sheriff Miller walked up the wooden steps.
He gently took Lily’s hand from Nora’s grip.
Lily cried out and reached for her mother.
“Mommy! Don’t let them take me!”
Nora tried to hold onto her daughter’s sleeve.
A deputy grabbed Nora’s arms and pulled her back.
Ethan stepped forward to protect Nora.
Two deputies tackled Ethan to the floorboards.
They pulled his arms behind his back with handcuffs.
Arthur walked into the small living room.
He picked up the cassette player from the table.
He dropped it onto the hardwood floor.
He raised his heavy boot and crushed it into pieces.
The plastic cracked into tiny black shards.
The magnetic tape tore completely apart.
Arthur leaned down near Nora’s ear.
“I told you that you could not win,” he whispered.
May you like
“Tomorrow, Ethan goes to a state facility in Oregon.”
“And Lily will live in my home forever.”
