Chapter 2 - The Man Who Knew
Elijah didn't answer.
He ended the call.
“Who was it?” Hannah asked.
“My brother.”
Daniel Brooks.
Elijah's younger brother had spent the last fifteen years beside him in business. He was chief operating officer of Brooks Continental Transport and the only person besides Elijah with authority over every division of the company.
He had also been the last member of Elijah's family to see Rebecca alive.
Elijah looked through the window.
A black sedan waited outside.
Daniel stepped out.
“What did he say?” Margaret asked.
Elijah slid his phone into his pocket.
“He told me not to open the room.”
Hannah's expression tightened.
“How could he know?”
That was the question.
Elijah walked to the door.
Daniel entered without waiting.
At forty, Daniel was leaner than Elijah, impeccably dressed, and almost always calm.
Tonight he wasn't.
His eyes went immediately to Hannah.
Then Noah.
Then the key.
“You need to send her away.”
Elijah shut the door.
“How do you know about Room 314?”
Daniel ignored the question.
“That woman isn't who she says she is.”
Hannah stood.
“You don't know me.”
Daniel looked directly at her.
“I know exactly who you are.”
Elijah stepped between them.
“Start explaining.”
Daniel removed his wet coat.
“Four years ago Rebecca became convinced someone inside the company was stealing.”
Elijah frowned.
“What?”
“She was wrong.”
“You never told me.”
“You were dealing with her funeral.”
“My wife suspected theft and you decided I didn't need to know?”
“She was paranoid.”
Hannah's eyes flashed.
“Don't call her that.”
Daniel turned.
“You met her twice.”
“Three times.”
Elijah looked at Hannah.
“You told me you knew her.”
“I didn't tell you how well.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Exactly.”
Elijah's patience snapped.
“Both of you stop.”
Silence.
He faced Daniel.
“Why did you tell me not to open that room?”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“Because Rebecca filled it with accusations.”
“Against whom?”
“Everyone.”
“Including you?”
Daniel hesitated.
That was enough.
Elijah walked toward the stairs.
Daniel caught his arm.
“Think.”
Elijah looked down at his hand.
Daniel released him.
“If you open that room tonight,” Daniel said, “you're trusting a stranger who appeared at your house carrying a story designed to exploit the one thing you've never recovered from.”
Elijah looked at Hannah.
She didn't defend herself.
Instead she unwrapped the edge of Noah's blanket.
A faded photograph slipped onto the sofa.
Elijah picked it up.
Rebecca stood beside Hannah outside a small coffee shop.
The date printed on the back was six days before Rebecca died.
Rebecca was holding the brass key.
Beneath the date, she had written:
If I can't finish this, Hannah can.
Elijah read it twice.
Daniel's face changed.
“Where did you get that?”
Hannah looked at him.
“Rebecca.”
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because six days before she died, Rebecca told me she had destroyed everything.”
Hannah stared.
“Everything?”
Daniel realized his mistake.
Elijah turned.
“What did she destroy?”
Daniel said nothing.
Elijah stepped closer.
“What did my wife tell you she destroyed?”
“Files.”
“What files?”
“Financial records.”
“What financial records?”
Daniel exhaled.
“There were discrepancies in a subsidiary.”
“Which one?”
“Midland Freight Solutions.”
Elijah knew the name.
Brooks Continental had acquired Midland five years earlier.
The division handled specialized medical and government freight.
“Rebecca wasn't involved in operations.”
“She found something accidentally.”
“How?”
“She was helping with the foundation's audit.”
Hannah reached into her bag.
“Was it this?”
She produced a photocopied ledger.
Daniel stared at it.
Elijah took it.
Rows of payments.
Shell vendors.
Unfamiliar companies.
Amounts ranging from $80,000 to $600,000.
Then one name caught his attention.
R.B. Consulting.
Rebecca Brooks.
His wife's initials.
“What is this?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Forgery.”
“You've seen it before.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before she died.”
Elijah's stomach tightened.
Rebecca had supposedly discovered fraud.
Someone had used her name.
Then she died.
He looked at Hannah.
“What did she tell you?”
“That someone was moving money through companies that didn't exist.”
“Who?”
“She didn't know.”
Daniel interrupted.
“She accused me.”
Hannah looked at him.
“She suspected you.”
“She accused me.”
“There's a difference.”
Elijah studied his brother.
“Did you steal from the company?”
“No.”
“Did you forge Rebecca's name?”
“No.”
“Did you have anything to do with her accident?”
Daniel's face went pale.
“No.”
The hesitation was tiny.
But Elijah knew him.
“Daniel.”
“I didn't kill Rebecca.”
“That wasn't my exact question.”
Daniel looked away.
Elijah felt something inside him turn cold.
“What do you know about the accident?”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“Rebecca called me that night.”
Elijah stopped breathing for a moment.
The police report had listed Elijah as Rebecca's final outgoing call.
He had missed it during a meeting.
She had left no voicemail.
“You told police she never called you.”
“I panicked.”
“Why?”
“She was driving. Crying. She said someone was following her.”
Hannah covered her mouth.
Elijah stared at his brother.
“And you kept this from me?”
“I told her to pull over.”
“Did she?”
“I don't know. The call disconnected.”
“Why did you lie?”
“Because I had argued with her earlier.”
“About the fraud?”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe she lost control in the rain.”
“I was trying to keep you from destroying yourself.”
Elijah grabbed Daniel by the lapels.
“You don't get to decide what truth I can survive.”
Noah began crying.
Elijah released Daniel instantly.
Hannah soothed the baby.
Margaret whispered, “There is more.”
Everyone looked at her.
She walked to a cabinet.
From behind a stack of books she removed a small wooden box.
“I kept this because Rebecca asked me to.”
Inside was an old phone.
Rebecca's phone.
Elijah stared.
“The police had her phone.”
“No,” Margaret said. “They had another phone.”
Daniel whispered, “Oh God.”
Elijah turned it on.
The battery was dead.
Margaret produced a charger.
Minutes later, the screen illuminated.
There were seven saved voice recordings.
The final one had been created forty-three minutes before Rebecca's crash.
Elijah pressed play.
Rebecca's voice filled the room.
“Elijah, if you're hearing this, I didn't get the chance to explain.”
His eyes closed.
Four years.
He had forgotten the exact softness of her voice.
The recording continued.
“The money isn't the real problem. The money is covering something else.”
Static.
Then Rebecca said:
“Someone inside Brooks Continental is using company routes to move unauthorized cargo. I found the manifests.”
Elijah looked at Daniel.
Daniel shook his head.
“I didn't know.”
Rebecca continued.
“I trusted the wrong person. If anything happens to me, don't trust the accident report.”
The recording ended.
Hannah whispered, “There's another.”
Elijah selected the next file.
Rebecca was breathing hard.
A car horn sounded.
“They found me.”
Elijah gripped the phone.
“I'm on Route 17. There's a black SUV behind me. I can't see the driver.”
Then Rebecca said something else.
A name.
The recording distorted.
Elijah replayed it.
Again.
A burst of static swallowed the word.
But the next sentence was clear.
“He has access to the house.”
Everyone became still.
Elijah looked toward the staircase.
Room 314.
Someone had access to the mansion.
Someone Rebecca feared.
Someone possibly still did.
Then a sound came from upstairs.
A heavy click.
Hannah looked up.
“What was that?”
Margaret's face drained.
Elijah knew the sound.
A door.
May you like
From the third floor.
Room 314 had just opened.
