Chapter 9 - AARON’S BROTHER HAD SOLD THE NOTEBOOK
Leon Rowan did not deny taking the money.
He denied killing Aaron.
Clare met him at an attorney’s office.
Dominic did not attend.
This was her family first.
Leon looked older than his forty years.
“I was in debt.”
Clare stared.
“You took seventy-five thousand dollars from Arthur Voss.”
“I didn’t know who Voss was.”
“What did you sell him?”
Silence.
“The notebook?”
Leon began crying.
Yes.
After Aaron died, Leon had a spare key to the apartment.
Clare had forgotten.
He found Arthur’s intermediary already waiting outside.
The man offered money for “company materials Aaron had taken without authorization.”
Leon convinced himself it was corporate property.
He found the notebook.
Sold it.
Seventy-five thousand dollars.
Paid gambling debt.
Never told Clare.
“You let me think someone broke into my house.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You let Ellie grow up without her father while you protected yourself.”
“I didn’t kill him.”
Clare stood.
“That is an extremely low standard for a brother.”
She left.
Then Leon’s attorney provided something unexpected.
Before handing over the notebook, Leon photographed several pages.
Insurance.
In case the buyer refused payment.
Those photographs still existed in an old cloud account.
The notebook contained:
Batch numbers.
Payments.
Names.
Meeting dates.
And one final entry from the night before Aaron died.
A.V. OFFERED 200K + RELOCATION IF I SIGN.
REFUSED.
HE SAID “DOMINIC WILL NEVER KNOW.”
Clare stopped.
Aaron knew by then.
He knew Dominic was not part of it.
The next line:
IF SOMETHING HAPPENS, FIND SAM PIKE.
Then:
CAR BRAKES FEEL SOFT. SERVICE TOMORROW.
Everyone went quiet.
Aaron’s crash had been attributed to ice.
But the brakes had already felt wrong.
Vehicle records were requested.
The car had been destroyed years ago.
However, insurer photographs remained.
An independent mechanical expert reviewed them.
One brake line showed unusual damage.
Could have come from the crash.
Could have preceded it.
No certainty.
Clare hated uncertainty.
Dominic understood.
Then Vincent found the intermediary who bought the notebook.
Retired security contractor.
He admitted working for Arthur.
But claimed his assignment was only document recovery.
“Did Arthur tell you to harm Aaron?”
“No.”
“Did you know anyone was going to?”
“No.”
Then:
“Who paid you?”
The contractor hesitated.
Not Arthur directly.
Celia Crane.
The same assistant who handed Dominic coffee before his crash.
Celia connected both incidents.
Aaron’s notebook.
Dominic’s drink.
And now she had disappeared again.
Vincent found her abandoned car near the Canadian border.
Inside was one item.
A sealed envelope addressed to:
DOMINIC VALE.
On the front, Celia had written:
May you like
ARTHUR DIDN’T START THIS.
DOMINIC’S FATHER DID.
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