"What did Catherine have to do with Samuel?"
The investigator said he would examine the surrounding documents.
A second list included the names of people who had been watched, approached, or threatened.
Mason found his father's name.
Then his own.
His name appeared with a date from the year he was born.
Beside it was a short note.
Potential leverage. Monitor family contact.
Mason felt suddenly cold.
Arthur took the phone from his hand.
"How long had he been watching them?"
The investigator could not answer.
They were still processing the documents.
The final discovery came after sunset.
A photograph.
It showed Samuel Price standing outside the house with a young woman and a boy.
The woman was holding the child's hand.
The boy looked about seven.
Mason stared at the picture.
The child's face was turned slightly toward the camera, but the expression was clear.
He was not smiling.
On the back, someone had written:
Samuel, Anna, and Daniel. Winter 1991.
Arthur leaned closer.
"Daniel?"
Mason felt the name strike him.
"Daniel Mercer?"
It was possible.
The boy's features were difficult to distinguish at that age, but the timing fit.
Daniel Mercer had been involved in the Blackwater network. He had disappeared after the earlier crimes and had later been arrested.
If the boy in the photograph was Daniel, then Samuel Price had been part of his life long before the operation collapsed.
Mason called the investigator again.
"Do you have any records of a woman named Anna?"
"Not yet."
"Look for her. And look for Daniel Mercer."
The investigator promised to follow the lead.
Mason put the phone away.
Arthur remained silent.
Then he said, "This is bigger than we thought."
Mason looked at the photograph.
"Yes."
The next morning, Daniel Mercer requested a meeting.
He was being held in a secure detention facility while the remaining charges were prepared. His attorney contacted the investigators and said Daniel was willing to provide information about Samuel Price.
Mason did not want to meet him.
He had spent too many years watching Daniel's choices damage people he cared about. He had no reason to believe that a sudden willingness to cooperate meant anything beyond self-preservation.
But the investigators believed the meeting could be useful.
They arranged it in a monitored interview room.
Arthur accompanied Mason.
Daniel entered wearing a plain gray detention uniform. His face looked thinner than it had during the earlier investigation. His hair had grown out, and the exhaustion in his eyes was difficult to hide.
He sat across from them.
"I heard you found the winter house," he said.
Mason's expression remained flat.
"How did you hear that?"
"People talk."
"Who told you?"
Daniel looked toward the investigator behind the glass.
"I don't want to discuss that."
"Then why are we here?"
Daniel leaned forward.
"Because Samuel Price is not dead."
Mason stared at him.
"Do you know where he is?"
"No."
"Then how do you know he's alive?"
"Because he contacted me."
"When?"
"Before I was arrested."
"How?"
"A letter."
Mason looked at Arthur.
"Where is it?"
"I don't have it."
"Who does?"
"I gave it to my attorney."
"Your attorney can provide it to the investigators."
Daniel shook his head.
"He told me not to give it to anyone."
Mason's voice hardened.
"Why should I care what Samuel Price told you?"
"Because he knows who arranged the attack on your father."
Mason felt his jaw tighten.
"We already know he arranged it."
"No. You know he arranged the payment. You know he spoke to the men. But you don't know why he chose that night."
"Then tell me."
Daniel looked down at his hands.
"Because your father was going to meet someone."
"Who?"
"An investigator."
"Name?"
"I don't know."
"Where?"
"At the old rail yard."
Mason remembered the documents.
"Blackwater rail yard?"
Daniel nodded.
"Your father had copies of the shipping records. He was going to hand them over."
"Why did Samuel care?"
"Because the records included the names of people who had been protected for years. Not just the people in the network. Officials. Contractors. People who had helped keep the operation alive."
Mason leaned forward.
"Was my grandfather one of them?"
Daniel did not answer.
"Was William Cole on those records?"
"Yes."
"Then he had reason to stop my father."
"Yes."
"Why did Samuel arrange the attack instead of letting William handle it?"
Daniel looked at him.
"Because Samuel wanted the records. He didn't care whether your grandfather was exposed. He cared about what was written in the files."
Mason felt the pieces shift.
"William wanted to protect the family. Samuel wanted to protect the network."
"That's right."
"Did William know?"
"I think he understood too late."
Mason stared at him.
"Where is Samuel now?"
"I don't know."
"Why did he contact you?"
Daniel hesitated.
"Because he wanted something."
"What?"
"The second ledger."
Mason's expression changed.
"What second ledger?"
Daniel swallowed.
"The original one. Not the copy you found. The first record of every transaction, every payment, every name. Samuel believed William had hidden it before he disappeared."
"Where?"
Daniel looked directly at Mason.
"Your grandfather's grave."
Mason went still.
Arthur's face tightened.
"That's impossible."
Daniel shook his head.
"Samuel believed William had hidden it there."
"William's grave was empty," Mason said.
"Exactly."
The room fell silent.
Mason looked at Daniel.
"Are you telling me my grandfather took the ledger when he disappeared?"
"I'm telling you Samuel believed he did."
"Why would William hide it in a grave?"
"Because nobody would look there if they believed he was dead."
Mason sat back.
For the first time since the meeting began, Daniel seemed almost relieved.
"There is something else," he said.
Mason waited.
"Samuel didn't just arrange the attack on your father. He arranged the disappearance of someone else."
"Who?"
Daniel's eyes moved toward the glass.
"Anna."
The name stayed with Mason long after the meeting ended.
Anna.
The woman in the photograph.
The woman who had been standing beside Samuel Price and the little boy.
The woman who had disappeared from the records in 1992.
The investigators located a marriage certificate between Samuel Price and Anna Bell, dated 1989. It had been registered in another county under an address connected to North Lake Holdings.
There was no divorce record.
There was no death certificate.
There was no evidence that she had left the country.
Her disappearance had never been reported.
A search of archived newspapers produced a brief article about a missing woman from Millbrook.
Anna Price, thirty-one years old, last seen in October 1992.
The article mentioned that she had been reported missing by a neighbor.
No further investigation had been documented.
Mason read the article twice.
"Why would nobody follow up?"
Arthur looked at the date.