Chapter 4 - The Truth Hidden in the Blue Box
Leo refused to speak on the drive home.
Norah sat beside him, staring at the blue box.
The warning from her father played inside her mind.
Trust no one connected to Black Harbor.
Not even the man who says he loves you.
When they arrived, Leo locked the office door.
“No one comes in.”
Norah nodded.
He placed the key on the desk.
His face was unreadable.
“My father used that symbol for private accounts.”
“What kind?”
“Accounts that didn't officially exist.”
“Black money?”
“Sometimes.”
“Evidence?”
“Yes.”
Norah sat down.
“What did my father know?”
Leo pulled out an old family ledger.
“My father believed your father had stolen something.”
“The ledger.”
“Maybe.”
“Then why was I targeted?”
“Because they thought you inherited it.”
“But I didn't know anything.”
“They don't care about innocence.”
Norah looked at him.
“Did you?”
Leo frowned.
“What?”
“Did you think I had it?”
He was silent.
“Before you married me.”
He finally answered.
“Yes.”
The truth hurt.
She stood.
“So that's why.”
“Norah.”
“You chose me because of my father.”
“That was part of it.”
She laughed.
“How many reasons were there?”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“By using me.”
“Yes.”
The honesty made the pain worse.
Then Leo opened a drawer.
He pulled out another envelope.
“This arrived two months before I met you.”
Norah opened it.
Inside was a photograph of her working at the Grand Peninsula.
Someone had been watching her.
On the back were four words.
She's the key.
Norah stared.
“Who sent this?”
“We don't know.”
“Then you married me because someone told you I was important.”
“I married you because I thought I could protect you long enough to find out why.”
“Did you ever plan to tell me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“When I knew who I could trust.”
She shook her head.
“You don't understand. Trust isn't something you postpone until it's convenient.”
Leo looked down.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
He didn't answer.
That night, Norah moved into the guest room.
For the first time since the fake marriage began, there was no pretending.
No public smiles.
No jokes.
No shared meals.
Just distance.
Three days later, Rayburn sent a message.
A photograph of Norah leaving the house.
Then another.
Her bedroom window.
Then another.
Leo saw the images.
His expression became murderous.
“Pack a bag.”
“No.”
“Norah.”
“I’m done running.”
“This isn't a game.”
“I know.”
“Rayburn is sending messages to me.”
“Then answer him.”
Leo stared.
“What?”
“Tell him I'm not afraid.”
He shook his head.
“You don't understand what he wants.”
“He wants the ledger.”
“He wants you.”
That stopped her.
“Why?”
“Because you're the only person who may be able to identify a hidden account.”
“How?”
“Your father's last transaction was made through an account connected to your social security number.”
Norah felt sick.
“He used my identity?”
“Possibly.”
The next morning, Norah met an old friend from the hospital, Dr. Emma Lawson.
Emma looked horrified when she saw her.
“Norah.”
They hugged.
“I thought you disappeared.”
“I did.”
Emma looked at Leo.
“You trust him?”
Norah hesitated.
“No.”
Leo accepted the answer.
Emma quietly handed Norah an envelope.
“This was left for you years ago.”
Inside was a hospital record.
Norah read it.
It showed that on the night her father died, he had been brought into the emergency room alive.
He had survived for forty-seven minutes.
And he had spoken with one person.
Leo's father.
Norah looked at Leo.
“Your father was there.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Leo shook his head.
“I didn't know.”
Emma looked between them.
“He asked me to protect Norah.”
Norah's breath caught.
“What?”
“He told me your father had hidden the ledger, and that you were the only person he trusted.”
“When was this?”
“Two years after your father's death.”
Norah stared.
That was impossible.
Her father had died when she was twelve.
Why would Leo's father talk about her when she was fourteen?
Then Emma said the sentence that changed everything.
“Your father wasn't dead.”
Norah's lips parted.
“What?”
“He left the hospital alive.”
Silence.
“Someone changed the record.”
Leo looked at the file.
“Who?”
Emma shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Norah's hands trembled.
“My father may still be alive.”
Leo looked at her.
“And if he is, he knows exactly where the ledger is.”
Before anyone could speak, the hospital windows exploded.
A sniper round hit the wall.
Emma screamed.
Leo grabbed Norah and pulled her behind a concrete column.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Leo looked at Norah.
“We need to go.”
Outside, tires screamed.
A black sedan disappeared around the corner.
Leo turned toward her.
“Rayburn knows we've found something.”
Norah nodded.
And deep inside, one terrible possibility formed.
May you like
If her father was alive, perhaps he was the one person who could destroy Black Harbor.
But perhaps he was also the reason Rayburn had been hunting her for two years.
