Chapter 8 - What Elias Marchetti Was Hiding
"Who gave you that?"
Elias's voice was calm.
Too calm.
Marlo closed her fingers around the flash drive.
"Victor."
His jaw tightened.
"What did he say?"
"That Preston isn't the person I should fear."
"Anything else?"
"Yes."
She held his gaze.
"He mentioned you."
Elias didn't react.
That frightened her more than denial would have.
Lena appeared behind them.
"Marlo, we're being called back in five minutes."
Marlo handed her the drive.
"Can you open this safely?"
Lena looked from Marlo to Elias.
"Probably."
"Do it somewhere private."
Elias stepped forward.
"Don't connect it to your computer."
Lena's eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
"Because if Victor gave it away this easily, somebody may be tracking it."
Lena slipped it into an evidence envelope.
"Then we'll let law enforcement handle it."
The hearing resumed.
The judge declined to transfer temporary custody.
Marlo nearly collapsed with relief.
But the victory was limited.
A full review would follow.
Poppy's medical treatment could not be deliberately delayed.
Both parents were ordered not to interfere with scheduled care.
And Graham Voss was instructed to preserve all communications involving Halden Strategic.
Outside, Preston approached Marlo.
"You think I did this."
"Did you?"
"I hired Graham to help me get custody."
Marlo flinched at the bluntness.
"But I never told him to interfere with surgery."
"You hired people to follow me."
Preston looked away.
"That was Graham's suggestion."
"You agreed."
"I wanted evidence that you couldn't manage."
"Manage what? Raising the child you barely showed up for?"
"I made mistakes."
"That's a convenient word."
His eyes flashed.
"You think struggling makes you noble?"
"No."
"You think because you suffered more, you automatically deserve her?"
"She's not something either of us deserves. She's our daughter."
That stopped him.
Marlo stepped closer.
"You wanted to prove I was unstable. So badly that you let strangers photograph Poppy."
"I didn't know they were watching her."
"But you paid them."
Preston looked sick.
For the first time, Marlo believed part of him.
Not enough to forgive him.
Enough to understand that the nightmare might be larger than either of them.
That afternoon, Elias took Marlo somewhere she'd never expected.
A cemetery.
They stopped before a simple headstone.
SOFIA MARCHETTI
Marlo looked at him.
"Your mother?"
"Yes."
"Why are we here?"
"Because you asked why I kept coming to your bakery."
He placed an apricot tart beside the headstone.
Marlo's throat tightened.
"She made them?"
"Every Tuesday."
He stared at the stone.
"After your father saved me, I went to see him once."
Marlo turned.
"You said you found him after he died."
"I lied."
Anger flared.
"Why?"
"Because the truth involves my family."
"Tell me."
Elias inhaled.
"Your father knew something about a Marchetti construction contract. Something he shouldn't have."
Marlo went cold.
"What?"
"Fraud. Bribes. People using our companies without my mother's knowledge."
"Your father discovered it?"
"He repaired one of the trucks."
"And?"
"He found records."
"Did your family kill him?"
The question came out before she could stop it.
Elias looked at her.
"No."
"How do you know?"
"Because I spent nine years making sure."
Marlo stared.
"His death was an accident."
"Car accident."
"Yes."
"But you investigated."
"Because I owed him that."
She looked at Sofia's grave.
"Who was involved in the fraud?"
Elias's expression darkened.
"My uncle, Carlo."
"And where is Carlo?"
"Dead."
Marlo exhaled.
"Then why does any of this matter now?"
"Because Carlo had partners."
"Who?"
"One of them founded Halden Strategic."
Everything inside Marlo went still.
"The company investigating Poppy."
"Yes."
"Why would they care about me?"
"Maybe they don't."
"Then why?"
Elias looked at her.
"They may care about something your father left behind."
Marlo almost laughed.
"My father left me fishing rods, an old truck and a toolbox."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Where's the toolbox?"
"In the bakery basement."
Elias turned toward her.
"When did you last open it?"
Marlo thought.
Years.
That night, they went downstairs.
The toolbox sat beneath an old shelf.
Rusty.
Heavy.
Marlo opened it.
Wrenches.
Sockets.
Screwdrivers.
Electrical tape.
Nothing.
Elias lifted the removable tray.
Underneath lay a false metal panel.
Marlo's heart began pounding.
Elias pried it loose.
Inside was a sealed plastic envelope.
Marlo pulled it out.
Documents.
Photographs.
And an old digital storage card.
On top was a handwritten note.
Marlo recognized her father's writing instantly.
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME, DON'T GIVE THIS TO THE POLICE UNTIL YOU KNOW WHO YOU CAN TRUST.
Marlo sat down hard on the basement floor.
Elias read the line over her shoulder.
Then footsteps sounded upstairs.
Not Poppy.
Too heavy.
Someone was inside the bakery.
Elias turned off the basement light.
May you like
A shadow crossed beneath the door.
Then the handle slowly began to turn.
