Chapter 5 - The Father Who Sold His Daughters
Walter Parker was waiting for them when they returned to Quincy.
He stood in the kitchen.
No surprise.
No tears.
Only exhaustion.
“I knew you'd come.”
Elsie stared.
“You knew everything.”
Walter nodded.
“Not everything.”
“But enough.”
“Yes.”
Marissa stood behind Elsie.
Walter looked at her.
Then at Elsie.
“I thought I was protecting both of you.”
Elsie laughed bitterly.
“You sold us.”
Walter flinched.
Adrien had paid off his debts.
In return, Walter had allowed access to his house.
His office.
His records.
His daughters.
“He said he only needed information.”
“You knew he was marrying me for a ledger.”
Walter looked down.
“Yes.”
Elsie's heart cracked.
“What about Mom?”
“I loved your mother.”
“Then how could you?”
Walter's voice broke.
“She was going to destroy everyone.”
“Everyone?”
“Your father had debts. Adrien's father had enemies. The unions were threatening strikes. Men were disappearing.”
Elsie shook her head.
“You chose yourself.”
Walter nodded.
“Yes.”
That was the first honest thing he had ever said to her.
Marissa stepped forward.
“What about Tommy?”
Walter looked at her.
“Adrien never intended to hurt him.”
“You don't know that.”
“No.”
Marissa's eyes filled.
“You never protected me.”
Walter looked destroyed.
“I failed both of you.”
Elsie stepped toward him.
“You don't get to say that and make it better.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you telling us now?”
Walter reached into a drawer.
He removed a key.
“The original ledger is not here.”
Elsie froze.
“Where?”
“The cemetery.”
Roman looked sharply at him.
“Whose?”
“Your mother's.”
Elsie felt dizzy.
Walter continued.
“Diane knew they would search the obvious places.”
“She hid it in her own grave?”
“No.”
He handed Elsie a photograph.
It showed the cemetery.
A stone angel stood behind Diane's grave.
Walter pointed.
“Under that statue is a compartment.”
Elsie stared at him.
“How did you know?”
“I helped bury the box.”
She looked at him.
“You helped her?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you tell us?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of Adrien?”
Walter nodded.
“But he had the ledger first.”
Elsie frowned.
“First?”
Walter's face went pale.
“I thought he did.”
Roman stepped closer.
“Explain.”
Walter's voice shook.
“Three days before Diane died, she gave the box to someone else.”
“Who?”
Walter looked at Marissa.
Marissa covered her mouth.
“I don't know.”
Walter shook his head.
“She was there.”
Elsie looked at her sister.
“You took it?”
Marissa whispered.
“I thought I was protecting it.”
“Where is it?”
“I gave it to someone.”
“Who?”
Marissa began to cry.
“I gave it to Roman.”
Roman went completely still.
Elsie looked at him.
He did not deny it.
“You had it?”
“Not the ledger.”
“What did you have?”
“The key.”
Elsie remembered the small dark object Adrien had placed in Marissa's palm.
Roman reached into his coat.
He produced a black key.
Identical to the one in Elsie's old photograph.
Adrien had not given Marissa a key.
He had given her a fake.
Roman had the real one.
The entire wedding had been a trap designed around a fake clue.
Adrien had thought Marissa could access the ledger.
She could not.
Elsie looked at Roman.
“How much did you know?”
“Not enough.”
“Did my mother tell you where it was?”
“No.”
“Then why keep the key?”
“Because she asked me to.”
Elsie walked away.
She needed air.
Outside, the day was gray.
She stood beside the old porch.
Roman followed but stopped several feet away.
“You have every right to be angry.”
“I am.”
“I know.”
“She trusted you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Roman's answer was quiet.
“Because your mother once saved my life.”
Elsie turned.
“How?”
“Not with a gun.”
He smiled.
“She testified when everyone else stayed silent.”
He told her about his father.
About the Bellamy organization.
About the night a young Roman decided to leave it.
Diane had helped him.
She had given him documents.
A lawyer.
A way out.
He had spent the next 10 years rebuilding his life.
Not cleanly.
Not perfectly.
But differently.
“And now?”
“I keep promises.”
Elsie looked at him.
“What did my mother promise you?”
“That I'd take you away from the wedding if the time came.”
“That was all?”
Roman hesitated.
“No.”
“What else?”
“She said one day you'd need to choose whether you wanted to spend your life being the woman people expected you to be or become the woman they feared you could become.”
Elsie smiled sadly.
“She knew me too well.”
“She knew all of you.”
That night, they went to the cemetery.
The statue stood where Walter had said.
Beneath it was a metal compartment.
Inside was the original ledger.
But there was one final object.
A cassette.
Elsie played it in Roman's car.
Her mother's voice filled the cabin.
“If you are hearing this, then Adrien found the family.”
Elsie closed her eyes.
“Walter may have told the truth. Marissa may have lied. Elsie may be angry with me. All of that can be forgiven.”
Her mother's voice became softer.
“But there is one thing neither of my daughters know.”
A pause.
“The ledger does not belong to me.”
Roman looked at Elsie.
Diane continued.
“It belongs to the person who built the entire network.”
Elsie's heart stopped.
“And that person is not Adrien's father.”
The tape clicked.
Then Diane said the name.
“Walter.”
May you like
Elsie turned toward her father.
Everything went silent.
