"We need the ledger."
Nolan nodded.
"I know."
"Victor has it."
"Probably."
"Then we find him."
Nolan handed Ethan a tablet.
"I traced Margaret."
A map appeared.
One location was highlighted.
An abandoned warehouse near the river.
Ethan looked at it.
"When?"
"Last night."
"Let's go."
Nolan shook his head.
"Not yet."
"Why?"
"Because there's something else."
He opened a second file.
"Someone accessed the Northstar system ten minutes ago."
Ethan frowned.
"Victor?"
"No."
"Margaret?"
"No."
"Then who?"
Nolan looked at him.
"The access code belonged to Richard Hayes."
Ethan went still.
"Richard is dead."
"I know."
Marissa appeared behind them.
"What does that mean?"
Nolan looked at her.
"It means someone has been using your father's identity."
A message appeared on the screen.
STOP LOOKING FOR THE LEDGER.
Then another.
LOOK FOR THE FIRST PLATE.
Ethan stared at the words.
Marissa whispered:
"The first plate."
She suddenly remembered something.
The old man.
The first day.
The plate she had given him.
And the strange way he had looked at her.
"What if..."
Ethan turned.
"What?"
Marissa looked at him.
"What if the homeless man wasn't homeless?"
THE OLD MAN AT THE TABLE
They found him three hours later.
Not on the street.
Not at a shelter.
Not in an alley.
They found him sitting inside an old community center on the South Side.
Clean clothes.
Gray hair.
A cane resting beside him.
He looked nothing like the man who had eaten at Bellweather.
Marissa stopped in the doorway.
"You."
The old man smiled.
"I wondered how long it would take."
Ethan stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
The man laughed softly.
"That depends on which story you want."
Marissa walked toward him.
"You knew my father."
"Yes."
"You knew Anna."
"Yes."
"You knew who I was."
"Yes."
Her voice broke.
"Why did you let me believe you were homeless?"
The old man looked down.
"Because hungry people are invisible."
Marissa stared.
"What?"
"That's what I wanted you to understand."
He looked at Ethan.
"Your family spent decades looking at numbers."
Then at Marissa.
"Your father looked at people."
Ethan stepped forward.
"Your name."
The man smiled.
"Thomas Bell."
Marissa remembered.
"Thomas Bell."
"Yes."
"You've been following me."
"Protecting you."
"You could have told me."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because if you knew who I was, they would know you knew."
Ethan's voice hardened.
"Where is the ledger?"
Thomas looked at him.
"Victor has it."
"We know."
"Then why are you asking me?"
"Because you know where he's going."
Thomas smiled.
"Not yet."
Nolan stepped forward.
"Then tell us what 'the first plate' means."
Thomas's expression changed.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
"You found the message."
"Yes."
Thomas stood.
"The first plate was not food."
Marissa frowned.
"Then what was it?"
"A promise."
Thomas explained.
In 1998, Richard Hayes had discovered Northstar.
He realized Edward was involved.
He realized Victor was controlling the network.
But he also discovered something else.
The organization had a secret tradition.
Every person recruited into Northstar received a symbolic object.
A watch.
A ring.
A document.
Something that represented loyalty.
Richard refused.
Instead, he took an ordinary ceramic plate from the Calloway kitchen.
He wrote a message on the back.
NO ONE EATS ALONE.
Then he gave it to Edward.
Edward kept it.
Years later, when Richard was accused of stealing the twelve million dollars, the plate disappeared.
Thomas believed it had been destroyed.
Until the night Marissa served food to the old man at Bellweather.
Thomas had been watching.
When she gave him the plate, he saw the handwriting.
Richard's handwriting.
On the back of the plate.
NO ONE EATS ALONE.
Marissa stared.
"How did that plate survive?"
Thomas smiled.
"Your father gave it to me."
She touched her chest.
"Why?"
"Because he knew he might not survive."
Ethan looked at Thomas.
"You knew Richard was innocent."
"Yes."
"You knew my father was involved."
"Yes."
"You knew Anna was alive."
"Yes."
"You knew Marissa's identity."
"Yes."
Ethan's patience broke.
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
Thomas stared at him.
"Because your father asked me not to."
"My father was dead."
"Dead men can still have promises."
Ethan looked away.
Thomas continued.
"Edward spent his final years trying to dismantle Northstar."
"Then why didn't he?"
"Because he discovered that Northstar had already infiltrated the company."
"And Victor?"
"Victor believed Edward was weak."
"Was he?"
Thomas smiled sadly.
"Edward was a coward."
Ethan flinched.
"But he became brave at the end."
Thomas handed Marissa a small envelope.
"This is yours."
She opened it.
Inside was a letter from Richard.
My little girl,
If you are reading this, then I failed to protect you in the way I wanted.
But never believe that blood is the reason I love you.
You are my daughter because I chose you.
Every day.
Every morning.
Every night.
Every time you laughed.
Every time you were afraid.
Every time you gave away something you needed because someone else needed it more.
That is what makes a family.
Marissa cried silently.
Ethan put his hand on her shoulder.
Thomas looked away to give her privacy.
That evening, they followed Thomas to an old warehouse.
He stopped outside.
"Victor is inside."
Nolan checked his weapon.
Thomas shook his head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because if you enter through the front, he will kill someone."
"What's the alternative?"
Thomas pointed toward the river.
"There is a tunnel."
They entered through the back.
The warehouse was dark.
A single light hung from the ceiling.
Victor stood beneath it.
The ledger was on a table.
Margaret stood behind him.
And Roger Vance was sitting in a chair.
Alive.
Marissa gasped.
"Roger."
He looked at her.