Adrian stopped several feet away.
Marlene moved between us.
“You've had years to tell her,” she said.
“I was waiting for the right evidence.”
“You were waiting for her to find it herself.”
“That was the point.”
I looked from one to the other.
“You're both talking as if my mother planned all of this.”
“She did,” Adrian said.
“Then why didn't she tell me?”
“Because telling you would have put you in danger.”
I almost smiled.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because it's true.”
“Then explain the house.”
Adrian nodded toward the document in my hand.
“Your mother discovered that the original transfer had been falsified. She also discovered your grandfather had left instructions for the property to be transferred again after his death.”
“To whom?”
“To a company controlled by Victor Hale.”
I looked at Marlene.
She nodded.
Adrian continued.
“Your father found out before your mother did.”
“Dad said he didn't know.”
“He knew enough.”
That distinction sounded deliberate.
“What happened?”
“Your father tried to stop the transfer. Your mother tried to prove the original theft. They disagreed about how to proceed.”
“About me?”
“About what would happen to you.”
Adrian took another step.
“Your mother believed the only way to keep the house from disappearing into another company was to make it impossible for anyone to quietly sell it.”
“She created the holding company.”
“Marlene did.”
“Using your mother's instructions.”
“Yes.”
I looked at Marlene.
“You told me Mom asked you to sign.”
“She did.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because the agreement wasn't complete.”
“What was missing?”
Marlene looked at Adrian.
“The final signature.”
I understood.
“My father's.”
Adrian nodded.
“He refused.”
“Why?”
“Because signing would have implicated him in the original transfers.”
I thought of Dad's face in the study.
The shame.
The exhaustion.
The years of silence.
“Then why did he keep the house?”
“Because your mother asked him to.”
“After everything?”
“She still loved him.”
That answer hurt in a way I hadn't expected.
I sat on the edge of the old platform bench.
“What happened before she died?”
Adrian's expression softened.
“She gave Marlene the key.”
“And the letters?”
“She kept those.”
“The notebook?”
“She hid it.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor's people were searching the house.”
“Then how did Dad know where it was?”
“He didn't.”
I looked up.
Adrian's eyes held mine.
“He knew your mother had hidden something. He didn't know where.”
That explained the study.
The searches.
The missing key.
The fear in Dad's voice.
I opened my phone.
There were three missed calls from him.
Then another arrived.
I answered.
“Where are you?”
“Railway depot.”
Silence.
“Who is with you?”
“Adrian and Marlene.”
Dad swore under his breath.
“Listen to me. Leave.”
“No.”
“Mara—”
“You should have told me.”
“I know.”
“You let me believe the certification requirement was real.”
“I thought if you believed the house depended on your career, you'd stay away from the property records.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It made sense to your mother.”
I closed my eyes.
“Tell me the truth.”
“I am trying.”
“No. You're trying to control what I know.”
His voice cracked.
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
The call ended.
I stared at the phone.
Adrian said nothing.
Marlene looked away.
“There's more,” I said.
“Yes,” Adrian replied.
“What?”
“The transfer wasn't the only thing your mother found.”
He reached into his coat.
I stiffened.
He removed a small leather folder.
Inside were photocopies of bank statements.
Payments.
Dates.
Names.
I recognized Dad's name on one page.
My breath caught.
“How much?”
“Enough to look like bribery.”
“Was it?”
“No.”
“Then what was it?”
“Your father was returning money.”
I looked closer.
The payments were moving in the opposite direction.
Money had entered an account under Dad's name.
Then been transferred to the families whose properties had been taken.
“He was paying them back.”
“Quietly.”
“Why?”
“Because your grandfather was still alive when he started.”
I turned another page.
There were twenty-seven names.
Some were elderly.
Some were companies.
One entry was marked deceased.
I looked at the date.
It was eleven years ago.
The week Mom died.
“Why did the payments stop?”
Adrian's answer was immediate.
“Because someone threatened your father.”
“Who?”
“Victor.”
“And Dad stopped?”
“He stopped publicly. Privately, he continued through Marlene.”
I looked at my aunt.
She nodded.
“I helped him.”
I felt betrayed and grateful at once.
“You both lied to me.”
“Yes,” Marlene said.
“Why?”
“Because your mother made us promise.”
“What promise?”
“That you would never be used as leverage.”
A car engine sounded beyond the depot.
Adrian looked toward the road.
“We need to go.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor knows where we are.”
Marlene gathered the documents.
I stood.
“Where are we going?”
“To the place your mother left the complete file.”
“Where?”
Adrian looked at me.
“Your old school.”
I stared at him.
“My school?”
“She taught there.”
“I know.”
“She had a locked cabinet in the archive room.”
“Why would she put legal records in a school?”
“Because no one looking for property documents would think to search there.”
We left through the rear of the depot.
The car on the road passed without slowing.
I couldn't tell whether it belonged to Victor.
At my car, Adrian stopped.
“Don't drive home.”
“Where, then?”
“Anywhere public.”
I looked at him.
“I'm done running.”
“You're not running.”
“I've been running since yesterday.”
He considered that.
Then he handed me a small key.
“This opens the cabinet.”
I recognized the number stamped into it.
17.
The same number as my mother's brass key.
Except this one had a tiny red mark painted beside the number.
I looked at Marlene.
She whispered, “There were two.”
I understood.
The key in my pocket wasn't the key to the compartment.
It was the key to the next step.
And someone had gone to considerable trouble to make sure I found only one of them.
Click here to continue reading: PART 7: The School Archive Held More Than Property Papers, and the First Page Inside Forced Me to Question Who Had Been Protecting Whom
The Number on the Screen Was Almost Perfect, Yet One Lie About It Could Cost Me My Home
Part 6 of 20
