Chapter 9 - THE SECRETARY’S FIRST TRAP
We gave Thomas a document.
Not the notebook.
A copy of one page.
Enough to terrify him.
It showed Anthony Steves authorizing payments after my father’s death.
And one handwritten note:
T.S. TO TAKE OVER SOLSTICE IF NECESSARY.
Thomas.
We sent it anonymously from a secure channel.
Then waited.
He moved immediately.
That proved he was afraid.
First, he tried accessing WDS accounts.
Frozen.
Then contacted the old notary archive.
Why?
To destroy signature records.
Too late.
Sarah had copies.
Then he went to a Manhattan storage facility.
Larkin’s investigators followed from a distance.
No violence.
No confrontation.
Thomas retrieved two boxes.
Took them to a private apartment.
Who lived there?
Roman Bellini.
The man who recognized my mother at the gala.
That surprised everyone.
Roman and Thomas together.
Maybe allies.
Maybe enemies.
Then Roman called me.
Not Larkin.
“You’re playing with men who don’t lose politely.”
“Neither do accountants.”
He laughed.
“Your father said things like that.”
“Why did Thomas come to you?”
Silence.
“Roman.”
“He wants passage.”
“Out of New York?”
“Yes.”
“Why would you help?”
“I won’t.”
Interesting.
Then Roman said:
“Thomas believes the notebook contains proof his father killed Joseph.”
“It might.”
“It does.”
I stopped.
Roman knew.
“How?”
“Because I was there when Anthony gave the order.”
Everything went quiet.
“You witnessed it?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you stop him?”
Long silence.
“Because twenty years ago, I was not a good man pretending to be respectable.”
At least honest.
Then:
“I told Joseph to leave the city.”
“He didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“You.”
My chest tightened.
“My mother?”
“And you.”
Dad refused to disappear without ensuring we were safe.
Then Roman told me the deeper secret.
Anthony ordered Joseph’s car sabotaged.
But the crash did not kill him immediately.
He survived long enough to reach a hospital.
Someone visited him.
Thomas.
Twenty-three years old.
Why?
To retrieve the evidence.
Thomas told Roman afterward Joseph was dead and the files were gone.
But Box 711 proved otherwise.
“What did Thomas do to my father?”
“I don’t know.”
I believed Roman.
Then he said:
“But your father’s medical file disappeared.”
There.
Maybe the hospital death needed review.
Not necessarily murder by Thomas.
Could be.
Evidence first.
Sarah obtained archived records.
Partial.
Emergency admission.
Internal bleeding.
Surgery.
Then sudden cardiac arrest six hours later.
Possible complication.
No immediate proof of wrongdoing.
But visitor log remained.
Thomas Steves entered at 2:11 a.m.
Left 2:24.
Joseph coded at 2:31.
Seven minutes later.
My hands shook.
Larkin sat beside me.
Did not touch.
Good.
Then Sarah found medication administration.
A sedative given at 2:19.
Ordered by physician.
Appropriate?
Maybe.
But dosage was entered manually, then corrected later.
Who requested the correction?
Hospital legal liaison.
Name:
Anthony Steves’s attorney.
My stomach turned.
Not proof.
Pattern.
Then Thomas made his next mistake.
He texted me:
YOUR FATHER SHOULD HAVE DIED IN THE CAR.
I stared at the sentence.
Not confession.
But knowledge.
Sarah smiled without humor.
“Keep that.”
May you like
Thomas thought he was frightening a secretary.
He was building our evidence file.
