Chapter 5 - The Name She Was Afraid to Say
The letter began with two words.
My Norah.
She could not read further.
Leo offered to leave.
"No."
The answer surprised both of them.
"Stay."
He sat opposite her.
Norah unfolded the yellowed paper.
Evelyn had known.
She had known Arthur was stealing.
Known Declan was becoming like him.
Known they were dangerous.
She had been preparing evidence.
Bank statements.
Photographs.
Recordings.
Enough to leave and take Norah with her.
But the final paragraph changed everything.
If something happens to me, find Thomas Bell. He knows what Arthur did.
"Thomas Bell," Leo repeated.
Norah shook her head.
"I don't know him."
Marco did.
Thomas Bell had been Arthur's business partner.
He had vanished two days after Evelyn died.
Not dead.
Vanished.
By evening, they found a trail.
Nevada.
Arizona.
Finally Oregon.
Thomas Bell was alive.
And he had spent seventeen years hiding.
When Leo called him, Thomas refused to speak.
Then Leo said Norah's name.
Silence.
"She's alive?" Thomas whispered.
Norah took the phone.
"I'm here."
The man began crying.
He told her everything.
Arthur had been laundering stolen freight money long before he ever crossed Leo Russo.
Evelyn discovered it.
She threatened to expose him.
Arthur threatened her.
Thomas had helped Evelyn gather evidence.
The night of the fire, she planned to leave.
Thomas was supposed to pick up Evelyn and Norah at midnight.
They never arrived.
The next morning Arthur told police his wife had died accidentally.
Thomas knew better.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Norah asked.
"I tried."
His voice broke.
"Arthur found me first."
Thomas had been beaten nearly to death.
He fled.
Cowardice had kept him silent afterward.
Norah lowered the phone.
She felt no anger.
Only exhaustion.
"There's more," Thomas said.
Leo leaned closer.
"What?"
"Evelyn made a second copy."
"Of the evidence?"
"Everything."
"Where?"
"I don't know. She told me she put it somewhere Arthur would never search."
Norah suddenly remembered.
A photograph.
Her mother kneeling beside her.
A wooden music box.
Norah stood so quickly her chair nearly fell.
"My grandmother's house."
Leo looked up.
"What?"
"My mother gave me a music box the week before she died."
"Where is it?"
"Arthur hated my grandmother. After she died, he never went back to the house."
The property had been vacant for twelve years.
They drove there before sunrise.
Norah found the music box beneath a loose floorboard in her childhood bedroom.
Inside was a key.
Not evidence.
A key.
Attached was a tiny metal tag.
PIER 17 — 314
Leo stared at it.
Marco swore softly.
Pier Seventeen belonged to an abandoned storage complex.
Arthur had worked there twenty years earlier.
They had finally found Evelyn's hiding place.
But they were not the only ones looking.
Outside, a car engine started.
Leo turned toward the window.
Headlights disappeared down the road.
May you like
Someone had followed them.
And whoever it was now knew Norah had found the key.
