Chapter 5 - The Woman in the Security Room
Amelia stared at her own name.
"That's not my handwriting."
"No one said it was," Vincent replied.
Beside her name was a date.
Tomorrow.
And an amount.
$4,000,000.
The same amount waiting in the abandoned office.
Dante turned pages.
"There's no explanation."
Amelia examined the ink.
"This page is newer."
Elena leaned closer.
"How new?"
"Months. Maybe less."
Vincent looked around the room.
"Then someone found this place."
Dante shook his head.
"I changed the lock."
Amelia pointed toward the door.
"And yet I opened it with four numbers."
Dante didn't appreciate that.
Vincent almost smiled.
Then Amelia noticed something beneath her name.
A sequence.
B-17-042.
"That's not an account."
Elena recognized it.
"Storage reference."
They searched the shelves.
B-17.
Box 042.
Inside was a digital recorder.
Amelia pressed play.
Her father's voice filled the room.
She nearly dropped it.
"Amelia, if this reaches you, you're older now."
She covered her mouth.
Vincent looked away, giving her the smallest measure of privacy.
Jonathan continued.
"Richard believes money controls people. Salvatore and I learned that information controls money."
The recording crackled.
"We created a protected trust. Four million dollars. Enough to give you and your mother a life independent of anyone connected to this family."
Amelia closed her eyes.
So the money wasn't stolen from Vincent.
It had been set aside for her.
Her father continued.
"But the trust became useful for another reason. Richard thinks it contains the evidence against him."
Dante whispered, "Decoy."
"Yes," Elena said.
The recording continued.
"The real evidence is somewhere he would never willingly look."
A pause.
"With the person he considers least important."
The recording ended.
Amelia replayed the final sentence.
Least important.
She thought about employees Richard might ignore.
Servers.
Cleaners.
Bookkeepers.
Then she remembered the woman who had worked at Starlight longer than almost anyone.
Mrs. Alvarez.
Night cleaning supervisor.
She had known Amelia's father.
Amelia had once mentioned her father's name, and Mrs. Alvarez had dropped a stack of towels.
At the time, Amelia thought it was coincidence.
Now she knew better.
"We need to find Rosa Alvarez."
Vincent nodded.
They returned upstairs.
Power was still out.
Emergency lights guided them through the corridor.
When they reached the security room, someone was sitting inside.
A woman.
Amelia stopped.
"Mrs. Alvarez?"
Rosa turned.
She was sixty-eight, small, gray-haired, and usually impossible to surprise.
Tonight she looked terrified.
"You found the box."
Amelia stepped inside.
"You knew my father."
Rosa's eyes softened.
"Yes."
"Is he alive?"
Rosa looked down.
Amelia's voice cracked.
"Please."
Rosa nodded.
Amelia gripped the edge of the desk.
Vincent moved closer but didn't touch her.
"Where?"
"I don't know anymore."
"When did you last see him?"
"Seven years ago."
Amelia stared.
"Five years after his funeral?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't he come home?"
"Because Richard threatened your mother."
The answer hit harder than Amelia expected.
Her father had stayed away to protect them.
Or believed he had.
"Where is the evidence?"
Rosa reached into her pocket.
She removed a brass key.
"Your father told me to give this to you only if you found the second ledger yourself."
Amelia took it.
"What does it open?"
Rosa pointed toward the casino floor.
"Locker 317."
Dante frowned.
"There are no lockers on the casino floor."
Rosa looked at him.
"Not anymore."
She explained that before Starlight became a casino lounge, the building had been a hotel.
The original guest lockers remained behind a decorative wall near the old coatroom.
They hurried downstairs.
Guests had been evacuated into secured sections.
The darkness made the enormous room feel unfamiliar.
Rosa found a concealed seam behind mirrored panels.
Vincent pulled one open.
Rows of old brass boxes appeared.
Amelia inserted the key.
Inside was a single envelope.
No drive.
No ledger.
Just a photograph.
Amelia removed it.
Richard Vale stood beside Jonathan Barrett.
Between them was another man.
Vincent recognized him.
"Carmine Delano."
On the back was a date from twelve years earlier.
The night before Jonathan's accident.
And a sentence:
Three men entered the room.
Only two agreed to the plan.
Amelia looked at Rosa.
"What plan?"
"I don't know."
A phone rang somewhere in the dark casino.
Everyone turned.
One of the old desk phones at an abandoned concierge station was ringing.
Amelia approached.
Vincent said, "Don't."
She looked at him.
"If that's my father, I'm answering."
She lifted the receiver.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then breathing.
Amelia's eyes filled.
"Who is this?"
A familiar voice said one word.
"Millie."
Her knees almost gave way.
"Dad?"
Vincent stared.
Dante stopped breathing.
Jonathan Barrett spoke quickly.
"Listen carefully. Richard isn't trying to get into the building."
Amelia gripped the receiver.
"What?"
"He's already inside."
A soft click sounded behind them.
Amelia slowly turned toward the dark staircase.
A silhouette stood at the top.
May you like
Then Jonathan whispered into her ear:
"And he's not alone."
