Chapter 9 - What Thomas KeptThomas locked his bedroom door.
He had never locked it during the day before.
The blue ledger lay on his bed.
Arthur Hale had given it to him nine months before his stroke.
Not eleven months.
Not two weeks before he died.
Nine months.
“Keep this somewhere Evelyn won't look,” Arthur had said.
Thomas had almost laughed.
“Mrs. Hale looks everywhere, sir.”
“Then put it somewhere beneath her attention.”
Arthur had pointed toward Thomas’s uniform.
“You've spent twenty years being invisible in my house. Use it.”
Thomas had hidden the ledger inside the lining of an old suitcase.
After Arthur died, he considered giving it to Ethan.
Then Evelyn announced that Arthur’s final months had been confused.
Martin reinforced that story.
Thomas began doubting whether the book mattered.
So he kept it.
Until the pool.
He opened the cover.
The first pages contained dates and figures.
Harbor Point.
Vendor initials.
Bank transfers.
One name appeared repeatedly.
MC.
Martin Cole.
Another notation:
E knew first bridge. Claims she did not know later diversions. Unclear.
Thomas swallowed.
Arthur had been documenting his own wife.
He turned another page.
Danielle found duplicate invoices. She is right. Do not let Ethan dismiss her to keep peace. He inherited my worst habit.
Thomas almost smiled despite himself.
That sounded like Arthur.
Then came a page marked with a red tab.
If M.C. threatens family trust, Danielle must retain control. Evelyn cannot be successor. Amendment signed 7/14. Copy with Bennett & Shore.
Thomas stopped.
The trust document everyone had been discussing apparently had another amendment.
He read further.
If Danielle removed or unable to serve, successor = Hudson National Trust Company. Not Evelyn. Do not tell E until filing complete.
Thomas stared.
Evelyn had endangered Mia believing that removing Danielle would put the trust under her control.
Arthur had specifically prevented that.
The plan could never have achieved what Evelyn believed.
Unless someone had lied to her.
A floorboard creaked outside.
Thomas closed the ledger.
Another sound.
His doorknob moved.
Locked.
“Thomas?”
Evelyn.
He did not answer.
“Thomas, open the door.”
He slid the ledger beneath his jacket.
“I'm changing.”
“Don't be ridiculous.”
The handle rattled again.
“I need to ask you something.”
He moved toward the other side of the room.
His window overlooked the service courtyard.
Too high to climb safely.
“Thomas.”
Her voice softened.
“Did Arthur give you anything before he died?”
Thomas stared at the door.
“No, ma’am.”
Silence.
Then:
“You've always been a terrible liar.”
Thomas felt a strange sadness.
“Mr. Hale said the same thing.”
That was a mistake.
The hallway became completely quiet.
Thomas regretted the sentence instantly.
Then Evelyn walked away.
He waited thirty seconds before opening the door.
Nobody.
He stepped into the hall.
A man came around the corner.
Thomas stopped.
It was not Martin.
It was Daniel Price, one of Hale Meridian’s corporate security contractors.
“What are you doing here?”
Price smiled.
“Mrs. Hale asked me to check the alarm panel.”
“No, she didn't.”
Thomas backed toward his room.
Price’s eyes dropped to the shape beneath Thomas’s jacket.
“What have you got?”
“Nothing.”
“Thomas.”
The man's tone changed.
“Give it to me.”
Thomas ran.
At fifty-four he had no illusions about being faster than a trained security contractor.
But he knew the house.
He cut through the linen pantry, slammed the connecting door and pushed a cart against it.
Price hit the other side.
Thomas ran downstairs.
He pulled out his phone.
Detective Ortiz had given him her card.
He called.
She answered immediately.
“Ortiz.”
“This is Thomas Reed.”
“Mr. Reed?”
“Someone is inside the house looking for something Arthur gave me.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Behind him, the pantry door crashed open.
Thomas ran faster.
“Where are you?”
“Hale House.”
“Get outside. Now.”
“I’m trying.”
Price appeared at the top of the stairs.
Thomas reached the mudroom.
He unlocked the door.
Before he could open it, the security system engaged.
A red light appeared.
LOCKDOWN.
Thomas stared.
Someone had activated the house remotely.
Price came down the stairs.
Slowly now.
No need to run.
Thomas backed toward the kitchen.
Ortiz’s voice came through the phone.
“Thomas, listen to me. Officers are on the way.”
Price stopped ten feet away.
“I don't want to hurt you.”
Thomas looked at the man's hands.
“No?”
“No.”
“Then leave.”
“I can't.”
“Martin sent you?”
Price said nothing.
That was answer enough.
Thomas pulled the ledger from beneath his jacket.
Price’s eyes fixed on it.
“Give me the book.”
Thomas looked toward the glass doors.
The same doors through which he had watched Mia disappear beneath the pool cover.
Something on the patio caught his attention.
A police cruiser turned into the drive.
Price saw it too.
He lunged.
Thomas threw the ledger.
Not to him.
Through the open serving hatch into the kitchen.
The blue book slid across the marble floor and disappeared beneath a cabinet.
Price grabbed Thomas by the shirt.
Police shouted outside.
Seconds later, Price released him and raised both hands.
Detective Ortiz arrived behind the officers.
Thomas pointed into the kitchen.
“The ledger.”
They found it beneath the cabinet.
Ortiz opened to the page Thomas had marked.
Her eyes moved across Arthur’s handwriting.
Then stopped at one line Thomas had missed.
Pool system vendor—Martin insisted we use Westbridge Automation. Why?
May you like
Ortiz looked up.
The notation was dated eleven months before Mia was born.
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