Chapter 14 - The Call From My Father
Vale called Daniel's hospital room.
Lena answered.
“You've ruined everything,” Vale said.
“No. You did that.”
“You think evidence matters?”
“Yes.”
“You think prison frightens me?”
“No.”
“What do you think frightens me?”
Lena looked through the window at her father sleeping.
“Being forgotten.”
Silence.
She had found him.
Men like Vale wanted control.
Legacy.
Fear.
“Your name won't mean power anymore,” Lena continued. “It'll mean evidence number, court exhibit, inmate record.”
Vale hung up.
The call was traced.
He was still in Bellhaven.
Lena understood why.
Vale couldn't leave without one final thing.
The original ledger.
The physical book Daniel had created.
Where was it?
Daniel woke.
When Lena asked, he smiled weakly.
“You've seen it every day for six years.”
“The diner.”
He nodded.
“Your mother hid it there.”
“Where?”
“Under the counter.”
Lena laughed.
The evidence that had destroyed half their lives had been beneath her feet while she poured coffee.
Vale would figure it out.
May you like
And when he did, he would return to where the story started.
The Bellhaven Diner.
