Chapter 5 - THE RECORDING INSIDE THE OLD LEDGER
Gabriel Rossi had spent his entire adult life trying to become the man his father wanted.
Strong.
Feared.
Untouchable.
But now he was discovering that Salvatore Rossi had built the family empire on secrets that destroyed innocent lives.
Including Norah's.
He stared at Mrs. Gable.
“My father ordered Thomas Hayes hidden?”
She nodded.
“Because Thomas discovered the charity accounts.”
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“Where are the records?”
Mrs. Gable hesitated.
“I don't know.”
Norah stepped forward.
“Please.”
Her voice trembled.
“My father is alive somewhere. I need to know what happened.”
Mrs. Gable looked at her.
For the first time, genuine shame appeared in her eyes.
“I'm sorry, Norah.”
Norah shook her head.
“Sorry doesn't tell me where my father is.”
Silence.
Then Mrs. Gable whispered, “There's a recording.”
Gabriel leaned forward.
“What recording?”
“Thomas made it before he disappeared.”
“Where?”
“In the old ledger room.”
Gabriel frowned.
The Rossi estate contained a private archive his father used for financial records.
Gabriel had inherited the room but rarely entered it.
He preferred modern accounting systems.
Mrs. Gable continued.
“Thomas hid a recording in one of the books.”
Gabriel looked toward Vincent.
“Let's find it.”
With investigators informed and the archive preserved for review, they examined the old ledgers.
Hours passed.
Then Vincent found something.
A leather-bound volume with an unusual weight.
Inside the hollowed cover was a small digital recorder.
Gabriel stared.
He recognized the book.
It had belonged to his father.
Vincent carefully documented the device before it was examined.
When the recording was played, an older man's voice filled the room.
“My name is Thomas Hayes.”
Norah covered her mouth.
Her father.
Alive in the recording.
Speaking clearly.
“I worked as an accountant for Salvatore Rossi for eleven years.”
A pause.
“I discovered payments made to several private medical facilities through a charitable foundation.”
Gabriel leaned forward.
Thomas continued.
“The money wasn't being used to help patients.”
Norah's heart pounded.
“People were being moved between facilities without proper consent.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
The same kind of coercion that may have trapped Thomas.
Then the recording shifted.
A second voice appeared.
Salvatore Rossi.
Gabriel stopped breathing.
His father sounded angry.
“You should have left the books alone, Thomas.”
Thomas answered.
“People are being hurt.”
Salvatore laughed bitterly.
“People are always hurt when powerful men do business.”
Gabriel's hands trembled.
Then Thomas spoke again.
“I've copied the evidence.”
Silence.
Salvatore's voice sharpened.
“Where?”
Thomas answered:
“Somewhere you won't find it.”
The recording ended.
Norah stared.
“Where did Dad hide it?”
Vincent examined the file.
Then looked toward Gabriel.
“There's a second recording.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Play it.”
Thomas's voice returned.
This time, weaker.
Frightened.
“If anything happens to me, my daughter Norah must never be told what I discovered.”
Norah stopped breathing.
May you like
Then her father's voice broke.
“Because the last piece of evidence is hidden inside something she's carried since childhood.”
