Chapter 4 - THE BLUE LEDGER
Vanessa took us to a private storage facility the next morning.
I did not trust her.
Dominic did not either.
But the ledger existed.
Blue cloth cover.
Water damage.
My father’s handwriting.
The moment I saw it, I had to sit down.
He used capital letters when he was angry.
The first page was almost entirely capital letters.
M13 IS NOT CLOSED.
ROUTES STILL ACTIVE.
W.W. KNOWS.
W.W.
William Whitmore.
Vanessa’s father.
Her face went white.
“My dad?”
I looked at her.
“Looks like it.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Fair.
Initials were not proof.
Then:
E.W. TRYING TO HELP.
Elena Whitmore.
Vanessa’s mother.
That fit.
My father trusted her.
The ledger tracked payments.
Waste disposal.
Equipment maintenance.
Port access.
Millions.
Money moved from legitimate contracts into shell vendors.
Then into M13.
“What was M13 originally?” I asked.
Dominic answered reluctantly.
“A reserve.”
“For what?”
“Off-book settlements.”
“Bribes?”
“Sometimes.”
At least he did not sanitize it.
“Who controlled it?”
“My grandfather first.”
“Then?”
“Victor.”
“And your father?”
“Anthony had oversight but not direct authority.”
“So your family did know about it.”
“Yes.”
The Morettis had built the machine.
Maybe someone else later hijacked it.
But they built it.
That mattered.
Then we reached my father’s last handwritten entry.
Dated one day before his death.
ELENA SAYS WILLIAM IS MOVING MONEY FOR V.
V.
Victor?
Vanessa whispered:
“Or Vanessa.”
I stared at her.
“You were nineteen.”
“I know.”
Then another line.
WILLIAM SAYS ANTHONY WILL HANDLE IT.
Dominic’s face tightened.
My father apparently believed Anthony Moretti knew enough to intervene.
Did he?
The next page had been ripped out.
Then all pages after that were missing.
Vanessa said:
“They were gone when I found it.”
“Who had the storage key?”
“My mother.”
“Anyone else?”
She hesitated.
“My father.”
Of course.
Then Dominic’s security team found metadata from the storage facility.
Someone entered the unit six months earlier.
Badge registered to:
WILLIAM WHITMORE.
Vanessa turned pale.
“My father knew.”
Maybe.
Then another visitor:
Three weeks ago.
Unknown credential.
Camera footage still existed.
A man.
Older.
White hair.
Expensive coat.
Dominic stared at the image.
“Victor.”
His uncle.
The supposedly retired man had accessed Elena’s storage.
Three weeks before Vanessa started requesting me repeatedly.
The timing changed everything.
Maybe Vanessa noticed his visit.
Maybe not.
“Did you know Victor was here?”
“No.”
I studied her.
Could be true.
Then the facility manager said something strange.
Victor did not remove the ledger.
He added something.
A sealed red envelope.
Still inside the locker’s secondary compartment.
Vanessa had never seen it.
Dominic opened it carefully.
One note.
A photograph.
And a flash drive.
The note:
IF AVERY CARTER OPENS THIS, THEN JAMES FAILED TO KEEP HER OUT.
I stopped breathing.
My name.
Not “James’s daughter.”
Avery Carter.
Victor knew me.
The photograph showed my father at a warehouse.
Dominic’s father Anthony beside him.
Elena Whitmore.
And Victor Moretti.
All four together.
Back:
BLACKBIRD REVIEW - 2018.
That was the year my father died.
Dominic looked stunned.
“My father said he barely knew James.”
Another lie.
Then the flash drive.
Encrypted.
Password hint:
AVERY’S FIRST FIGHT.
I stared.
My first martial arts tournament was when I was sixteen.
My father had given me a nickname after I won.
“Bluebird.”
Password worked.
Inside:
Videos.
Financial records.
One folder:
AVERY PROTECTION.
I felt sick.
Protection?
There were photographs of me leaving school.
Going to practice.
Working part-time.
Later:
Visiting Dad’s grave.
Taking Mom to dialysis.
Even recent shots.
Someone had been tracking me for years.
Dominic went very still.
“This wasn’t my team.”
“Then whose?”
One document answered partly.
PROTECTION AUTHORIZATION:
V.M.
Victor Moretti.
My whole body went cold.
The man potentially tied to my father’s death had also been paying to watch me.
Why?
Then a second authorization appeared.
L.C.
May you like
My mother.
Linda Carter.
