Chapter 5 - The Man Who Had Been Protecting Her For Years
The old Costa archive was buried beneath a warehouse on the river.
Vincent took Charmian there himself.
She wore jeans, boots, and the only coat she owned that was warm enough for the night.
“You shouldn't be here,” Vincent said.
“You said I deserved the truth.”
“I said you deserved some truth.”
She looked at him.
“Then don't stop halfway.”
He almost smiled.
“You really don't know when to quit.”
“No.”
“Good.”
The steel door opened.
Inside were boxes.
Ledgers.
Photographs.
Old correspondence.
Charmian stared.
“How long has this been here?”
“Longer than I've been alive.”
She found a box marked WARD.
“What's that?”
Vincent opened it.
Her mother's name appeared.
Elaine Flannery.
Charmian's fingers trembled.
Inside was a stack of letters.
One was addressed to Vincent's father.
Another to Elias.
The final letter was addressed simply:
To whoever protects my daughter.
Charmian stared.
“Read it,” Vincent said.
She opened it.
My daughter is not responsible for what men before her have done.
If you are reading this, then I have failed to protect her.
Please don't punish her for my choices.
She deserves school.
She deserves a home.
She deserves the chance to become something more than what people around her expect.
Charmian began crying.
Vincent stood beside her.
“She wrote that before she died.”
“How do you know?”
“Because my father kept a copy.”
“Why?”
“Maybe guilt.”
“Did he protect me?”
Vincent hesitated.
“Yes.”
Charmian looked up.
“How?”
“Your tuition.”
She froze.
“What?”
“The scholarship you received at St. Jude’s.”
“You mean the anonymous scholarship?”
“Yes.”
She stared at him.
“My tuition was paid for three years.”
Vincent nodded.
“By a Costa foundation.”
“That was you?”
“No.”
“My father?”
“Probably.”
Charmian looked confused.
“Then why did it stop?”
“Because Elias took control of the foundation.”
She understood.
The scholarship had been intended to protect her.
Then someone had deliberately removed that protection.
The same someone who had sent her brother into hiding.
The same person who had recreated her debt.
The same person who wanted the notebook.
“Elias.”
“Yes.”
Vincent's voice hardened.
“He is alive.”
Charmian looked at the files.
“Where?”
“We'll find him.”
“Why would he want me?”
“Because you're the only person who has something he can't recreate.”
“My mother's notebook.”
“No.”
Vincent looked at her.
“You.”
Charmian frowned.
“I don't understand.”
“Your mother encrypted the list.”
“How?”
“She knew people might steal paper.”
Vincent opened another file.
“Her notebook was not the evidence.”
“Then what is?”
“Your mother's memory.”
Charmian stared.
“What?”
“Your mother taught you everything when you were a child.”
“I don't remember.”
“That's the problem.”
Vincent pulled out an old medical report.
“Your mother suffered memory loss shortly before she died.”
Charmian read.
“Why?”
“Someone poisoned her.”
She stopped breathing.
“But some memories remained.”
“What memories?”
“She told you a sequence.”
Charmian shook her head.
“No.”
“You used to sing it.”
She frowned.
“A children's song.”
Vincent nodded.
“She encoded names into it.”
Charmian's mind raced.
A lullaby.
Her mother had sung it every night.
A ridiculous little rhyme about stars.
“Seven stars above the bay…”
She whispered.
Vincent stared at her.
“Continue.”
“Six lights on the street…”
She looked at him.
“One door beneath the river…”
He went still.
“That is the code.”
Charmian's mouth went dry.
“My mother made me memorize it.”
“Yes.”
“I thought it was a song.”
“So did Elias.”
She stared at him.
“Then why hasn't he found it?”
Vincent's expression changed.
“Because the final line was never written.”
“What is it?”
“You.”
Charmian shook her head.
“I don't understand.”
“Your mother needed the last word to be something only you would know.”
She closed her eyes.
A memory appeared.
Her mother sitting on the kitchen floor.
A red notebook.
A small silver key.
And one sentence.
When you grow up, you'll understand why I taught you this.
Charmian gasped.
“The key.”
“What key?”
“I had one.”
“Where is it?”
She suddenly remembered.
Her mother had sewn it into the hem of her childhood coat.
The coat was in storage.
She had kept it.
Vincent called Aleandro.
“Find it.”
Within an hour, they found the coat.
The key was still there.
Vincent held it.
A tiny silver key.
On the handle were two letters.
E.W.
Charmian stared.
“Who does it belong to?”
Vincent looked at the archive wall.
“There's only one lock in the entire Costa compound with that symbol.”
He led her downstairs.
The key opened a steel cabinet.
Inside was a microfilm cartridge.
And a photograph.
Charmian picked it up.
It showed her mother with a man.
Her father.
And Vincent's father.
All three were smiling.
On the back was a date.
The day before her mother died.
Charmian whispered,
“They were working together.”
“Yes.”
“But why?”
Vincent stared at the photograph.
“Because before they became enemies…”
He paused.
“…they were trying to expose Elias.”
Charmian looked at him.
“So my mother wasn't killed for what she knew.”
Vincent shook his head.
“She was killed because she was about to prove it.”
A sound came from the doorway.
Tommy.
His face was pale.
“Boss.”
Vincent turned.
“What?”
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
Tommy held up a phone.
“Elias has Charmian's college professor.”
Charmian's blood froze.
A voice came through the speaker.
Her professor.
Terrified.
Then another voice.
Elias.
“Bring me the girl.”
The call ended.
Vincent looked at Charmian.
May you like
She knew the answer before he spoke.
“We're going.”
