Chapter 5 - THE NIGHT MARK'S FATHER DIEDMargaret's words hung over the foyer.
Mark stared at her.
“You know who betrayed my father?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
Margaret looked at Victoria.
“Your wife knows too.”
Victoria shook her head.
“I don't.”
“You were there.”
“I was there when he died.”
“You heard the conversation.”
“I heard part of it.”
Mark stepped between them.
“Enough.”
He looked at Margaret.
“Start from the beginning.”
Margaret sighed.
“Your father discovered that several people inside his company were stealing money.”
Mark looked at the ledger.
“Richard?”
“Richard was involved.”
“Who else?”
“Your father had names.”
“Where are they?”
“Some are in the ledger.”
“Some?”
Margaret nodded.
“Your father kept a second ledger.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
Mark looked at her.
“You knew about it.”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“I don't know.”
Margaret smiled.
“I do.”
Mark turned.
“Where?”
“Inside this mansion.”
The police searched the house again.
After an hour, they found nothing.
Then Elena noticed the grandfather clock in the study.
It had stopped at exactly 11:17.
“What happened at 11:17?”
Victoria looked at the clock.
“That was the time your father died.”
Mark stared.
Elena walked toward it.
“Maybe that's not a coincidence.”
The back panel opened.
Inside was a small key.
Mark took it.
A tag was attached.
ROOM 17.
“What room is 17?” he asked.
Victoria whispered:
“There isn't one.”
They searched the blueprints.
The mansion had sixteen official rooms on the main floor.
But the basement plans showed a sealed section.
Room 17.
They found the entrance behind a bookshelf.
The key unlocked it.
Inside was a small office.
Dust covered the desk.
A tape recorder sat in the center.
Mark pressed play.
His father's voice filled the room.
“If Mark ever hears this, it means I failed to protect him.”
Mark's eyes filled with tears.
His father's voice continued.
“Richard is involved. But he is not the leader.”
Mark looked at Victoria.
The recording continued.
“The person behind everything is someone I trusted more than anyone.”
Static.
Then his father's voice:
“Do not trust the woman who tells you she is protecting you.”
The recording stopped.
Mark stared at Victoria.
She began crying.
“You thought he meant me.”
“He said woman.”
“I know.”
“Who else could he mean?”
Victoria shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Suddenly Margaret spoke.
“He meant me.”
Everyone turned.
Mark stared.
“You?”
Margaret nodded.
“Your father discovered I had been working for Blackwood.”
Mark's face hardened.
“Then why aren't you in prison?”
“Because I turned against them.”
“When?”
“After your father died.”
Mark looked at Victoria.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“And you still let her into my house?”
“I needed her.”
“For what?”
“To expose Richard.”
Mark laughed bitterly.
“You're all using me.”
“No,” Victoria said. “I was trying to save you.”
Before Mark could respond, a scream came from upstairs.
Elena.
Mark ran.
He found Elena in the hallway.
She was holding a photograph.
Her face was white.
“What happened?”
She pointed toward the window.
“There was someone outside.”
Mark looked.
Nobody.
Then Elena handed him the photograph.
It showed her father.
Standing beside Mark's father.
Behind them was a third man.
Mark recognized him.
Richard.
On the back was written:
THE THREE MEN WHO KNEW.
Mark's heart pounded.
“Who took this?”
Elena whispered:
“My father.”
Mark turned.
“What?”
“He wrote something on the back.”
She pointed.
Under the original message was another sentence.
ONE OF THEM NEVER LEFT.
Mark looked toward the driveway.
Then toward Richard's empty bedroom.
Richard had supposedly left town the day before.
May you like
But if the photograph was telling the truth, he might never have left at all.
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