Chapter 9 - The Fiancée’s Bargain
Victoria arrived at the safe apartment before sunset.
She came alone, wearing a cream coat and carrying no purse. Marcus searched her and found a small recorder taped inside her sleeve.
Alexander stood across the room. “You have five minutes.”
Victoria looked at Lena. “I’m sorry.”
Lena laughed once, without humor. “You mocked me in front of three hundred people. You watched my mother’s name turn him into a ghost. What exactly are you sorry for?”
“For what my father did.”
“Did you know my mother was alive?”
Victoria hesitated.
Alexander’s voice sharpened. “Answer.”
“I knew she had been moved. I didn’t know where.”
“Who moved her?”
“My father. With Frank Blake’s help.”
Margaret stepped forward. “Why?”
Victoria’s eyes filled. “They wanted the ledger. Your mother refused to give it up. My father kept her hidden because he believed she had made another copy.”
Lena’s hands curled into fists. “And you helped him?”
“I was seventeen. I thought she was a criminal. My father told me she had stolen from us.”
“You were old enough to know better.”
Victoria accepted the accusation. “Yes.”
She placed the recorder on the table. “My father recorded a conversation with Frank. It proves the fire was ordered by someone else.”
“Who?” Alexander asked.
Victoria looked at him.
“Your mother.”
Margaret shook her head. “No.”
Victoria pressed PLAY.
A man’s voice—Frank Blake—said, “Evelyn gave the order. She wanted the room burned and the witness list gone.”
Then a woman’s voice answered, “I wanted the books destroyed, not the people.”
The recording ended.
Alexander’s face was unreadable. “That voice is my mother.”
Victoria nodded. “She tried to stop the fire. Frank changed the plan.”
“Why bring this now?” Lena asked.
“Because my father is dead, and the people who worked for him are coming after me. I can trade the recording for protection.”
“You want us to save you.”
“I want to stop them from using me to finish what they started.”
Margaret took the recorder. “There’s more on this tape.”
Victoria looked startled.
Margaret rewound it. Beneath the conversation was a faint sound: three piano notes, a pause, two notes.
The same pattern as the score.
May you like
The recording was not just evidence.
It was a map.
