Chapter 9 - THE NIGHT SOMEONE BROKE INTO GRANDPA’S HOUSE
The break-in changed Frank.
Until then, Grandpa had treated the investigation like an old case colliding with his family.
After someone entered his home while I slept, it became personal.
Police moved us temporarily.
Mom went into a protected location separately.
I was angry about that.
Part of me wanted her close.
Another part couldn't forgive her.
The safest place available was a small furnished apartment used for protected witnesses awaiting relocation.
No family photographs.
No familiar furniture.
No basement.
I slept better there than I had in years.
That made me sad.
Two days later, investigators identified the burglar.
Not Robert.
He was still in custody.
The man was Victor Lang.
Former accountant.
Age sixty-one.
Connected to the same criminal network Thomas Reed had exposed.
Victor was arrested at a bus station.
The missing notebook was in his bag.
He asked for a lawyer immediately.
Then he made one statement.
“Michael Kane doesn't scare me.”
Grandpa asked why anyone would steal for a man they didn't fear.
The answer arrived six hours later.
Victor wasn't working for Robert.
He was working against him.
The notebook contained an old contact list.
Victor believed it could lead him to Samuel Beck before Robert reached him.
Suddenly there were three sides.
Federal investigators.
Robert Kane.
And whoever Victor represented.
Victor eventually agreed to talk in exchange for protection.
His story rewrote everything.
The criminal network from seventeen years ago had fractured after Thomas disappeared.
Michael Kane took money belonging to several partners and vanished.
People wanted him dead.
Thomas's ledger didn't only prove old crimes.
It showed where millions had been hidden.
Grandpa stared at Victor.
“So Michael wants the ledger to destroy evidence.”
Victor smiled.
“He wants the account numbers.”
That explained why Robert had remained obsessed after so many years.
Greed.
Survival.
Revenge.
All tangled together.
Then Victor delivered the worst part.
“Michael isn't the dangerous one anymore.”
“Who is?”
“A man named Charles Holt.”
Grandpa recognized him.
Former attorney.
Never charged.
Now a respected real-estate developer and philanthropist.
The kind of man newspapers photographed at charity dinners.
Victor said Holt had ordered Thomas Reed's disappearance.
He had also discovered Robert was alive.
“And Samuel Beck?”
Victor nodded.
“Holt found him.”
“Where?”
Victor hesitated.
“Ask Michael.”
Robert suddenly became valuable as a witness.
Prosecutors approached his attorney.
Robert offered information.
But he demanded something in return.
A private conversation with me.
Grandpa refused immediately.
So did investigators.
Robert's attorney returned with another message.
“Tell Ethan I know where his father is.”
I couldn't breathe.
Grandpa said it was manipulation.
Maybe.
But Robert had been there when I was born.
He knew Thomas.
He had spent years searching for the ledger.
He might actually know.
Against Grandpa's wishes, I agreed to speak with him through reinforced glass, monitored by investigators.
Robert entered wearing jail clothes.
For the first time in my life, he couldn't reach me.
That changed the way his face looked.
He sat.
Picked up the phone.
I did the same.
He smiled.
“You look different when you're not scared.”
I said nothing.
Robert leaned closer to the glass.
“Want to meet your father?”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“Where is he?”
Robert smiled wider.
“First tell Grandpa Frank something.”
“What?”
“The ledger isn't hidden where Thomas thinks it is.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I moved it.”
My heart stopped.
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Robert had spent years pretending to search for something.
According to him, he'd known where it was all along.
