Chapter 10 - THE LAST GIFT FROM MY FATHER
St. Matthew’s Community Church had changed since I was nineteen.
The basement had not.
Every Christmas, my father volunteered there.
He repaired broken chairs, served soup, fixed pipes, and refused to accept a dime.
He always brought the same battered toolbox.
Standing inside the basement again, I finally understood why.
Dad hadn’t been protecting tools.
He had been protecting my mother’s evidence.
Walter walked toward the old coat closet.
“Your father used to bring you here?”
“Every Christmas Eve.”
“What did he always tell you?”
I closed my eyes.
Memories returned.
Dad laughing.
Mom carrying soup.
Me complaining about washing dishes.
Then his voice:
When you lose something important, Maggie, don’t look where people hide valuables.
Look where people give things away.
My eyes opened.
“The donation wall.”
Behind the church pantry was a wooden panel covered with engraved plaques honoring volunteers.
One plaque read:
PATRICK & ELEANOR SULLIVAN
EVERYONE DESERVES A SEAT AT THE TABLE.
I pulled it away.
Behind it was a small recessed compartment.
Inside sat a sealed metal case.
Roman exhaled slowly.
“We found it.”
Records filled the case.
Bank documents.
Photographs.
Letters.
Enough to prove Sebastian Vale’s scheme.
And something newer.
Much newer.
A handwritten list of transactions dated only two years earlier.
Adrian Vale had continued his father’s system.
But one name appeared repeatedly beside Adrian’s.
V.D.
I looked toward Vincent.
His full name was Vincent DeLuca.
The basement went silent.
Roman’s face hardened.
“Vincent.”
Vincent stared at the papers.
“That isn’t me.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
I remembered my mother’s warning.
Do not trust everyone who stands beside Roman.
Vincent had been beside him from the first moment.
Roman stepped toward his oldest friend.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A man spoke.
“You found the documents.”
Adrian Vale.
I knew before he introduced himself.
“Congratulations, Maggie.”
My skin went cold.
“What do you want?”
“To finish what our parents started.”
May you like
Then he said six words that made everyone in the room freeze.
“Ask Vincent who V.D. really is.”
