Michael Reed.
And a baby.
Caleb stared.
“That was me.”
“Yes.”
“But why are they together?”
Eleanor took a breath.
“Because your father wasn't the villain your mother believed he was.”
Caleb looked at her.
“What do you mean?”
“Michael Reed tried to expose Holloway.”
Daniel frowned.
“And Teresa?”
“She helped him.”
“Then why did she run?”
“Because Holloway discovered what they were doing.”
Caleb stared at the photograph.
“Did my father die because of it?”
Eleanor nodded.
“Yes.”
“Was he murdered?”
She hesitated.
“Yes.”
Caleb closed his eyes.
Daniel placed a hand on his shoulder.
Eleanor continued.
“Your mother blamed herself.”
“Why?”
“Because she had the evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“The ledger.”
Caleb's eyes opened.
“My mother had it?”
“She had the missing page.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Where is it?”
Eleanor looked at him.
“Your father hid it.”
“Where?”
“In a place no one would search.”
Daniel frowned.
“Where?”
Eleanor smiled sadly.
“Inside the bakery.”
Daniel stared at her.
“We searched the entire building.”
“You searched the basement.”
“Yes.”
“You didn't search the ovens.”
Daniel froze.
The ovens.
The oldest oven in the bakery had not been used in years.
His father had refused to replace it.
Daniel had never understood why.
He suddenly remembered something.
As a child, he had once asked his father why the old oven remained.
Samuel had answered:
“Some things are worth keeping, even when they stop being useful.”
Daniel's heart began pounding.
“There's something inside.”
Eleanor nodded.
“The final page.”
Caleb looked at her.
“What does it prove?”
Eleanor's expression became serious.
“It proves who stole the money.”
“And who was responsible for the threats.”
Daniel asked:
“Jonathan Holloway?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Eleanor looked at Caleb.
“Someone much closer.”
Caleb's face hardened.
“Who?”
Before she could answer, headlights appeared at the end of the street.
Eleanor turned.
“We have to go.”
A black SUV stopped outside the station.
Two men stepped out.
Eleanor grabbed Caleb's arm.
“Run.”
They raced through the old station.
Daniel followed.
Footsteps echoed behind them.
They reached a side exit.
Eleanor pushed the door open.
“Go!”
“What about you?” Caleb asked.
“I know another way.”
Daniel pulled Caleb outside.
They ran through an alley.
Behind them, someone shouted.
They did not stop until they reached Daniel's car.
When they finally got inside, Caleb looked at Daniel.
“We need to get back to the bakery.”
Daniel nodded.
“But we're not going through the front door.”
They drove through the empty streets.
Neither man spoke.
Then Caleb looked at the photograph again.
His parents.
Samuel Mercer.
The baby he had been.
And the secret that had survived twenty-six years.
Daniel gripped the steering wheel.
“What did Eleanor mean?”
“What?”
“Someone closer.”
Caleb looked out the window.
“I don't know.”
The answer came moments later.
When they returned to the bakery, the front door was still locked.
Nothing appeared disturbed.
Daniel opened the basement.
They moved toward the old oven.
Caleb shone his flashlight inside.
At first, there was nothing.
Then Daniel noticed a loose metal panel.
He pulled it away.
Behind it was a narrow compartment.
Inside lay a sealed envelope.
Daniel took it out.
The envelope had one name written across it.
Caleb.
His hands began to shake.
He opened it.
There was only one sheet of paper.
And one sentence.
The person who betrayed your mother was not Holloway.
It was someone she trusted.
Caleb looked at Daniel.
Daniel looked back.
Neither man spoke.
Then Caleb turned the page over.
There was another name.
And this time, Daniel knew exactly who it belonged to.
He whispered:
“Martin Vale.”
Chapter 10
The Betrayal
For several seconds, Caleb could not move.
Martin Vale.
The name stared back at him from the page.
The man who had warned them.
The man who had claimed to regret his past.
The man who had said Teresa was in danger.
The man who had told them to leave the ledger behind.
The man who had apparently betrayed her.
Caleb read the sentence again.
Then a third time.
“This can't be right.”
Daniel said nothing.
“You said your father trusted him.”
“I know.”
“Martin told us he betrayed your father.”
“Yes.”
“He admitted it.”
“Yes.”
Caleb looked at the page.
“Maybe that's why.”
“Maybe.”
“But why would he help my mother?”
Daniel shook his head.
“We don't know that he did.”
Caleb folded the paper.
“We find him.”
Daniel nodded.
They left the bakery through the back entrance.
The city was quiet.
Too quiet.
Caleb drove.
Daniel sat beside him with the ledger on his lap.
They had one place to start.
Martin's old house.
It took them forty minutes to reach the neighborhood.
The house looked abandoned.
The windows were dark.
The garden had disappeared beneath weeds.
Caleb knocked.
No answer.
He knocked again.
Nothing.
Daniel walked around the side.
There was a small basement window.
It was open.
“Caleb.”