Chapter 8 - The Daughter Graham Wanted BackFor several seconds, nobody moved.
“My mother was not a thief.”
Nathan nodded.
“I don’t believe she was.”
Vanessa said, “Neither do I.”
Tessa turned on her.
“You suggested it.”
“I asked whether Graham might have manipulated her.”
“That’s different.”
“It is.”
Daniel placed several documents across Vanessa’s dining table.
“We need facts.”
Tessa hated him slightly for being reasonable.
Nathan sat beside her.
She moved her chair away.
He noticed.
He deserved to.
The banking records showed Marianne had opened an account at East River Community Bank eight years earlier.
Initial deposit: $412.
Tessa stared.
“That’s the amount I gave Nathan.”
Nathan froze.
“Exactly?”
“Four hundred and twelve dollars.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You’re sure?”
Nathan nodded.
Tessa remembered the envelope.
She remembered peeling off four hundred-dollar bills, then twelve dollars in smaller notes.
Her entire college savings.
“Why would Mom open an account with the same amount?”
Nathan whispered, “Insurance.”
Everyone looked at him.
“What?”
“Your mother told me that money mattered because it represented a decision.”
Tessa frowned.
Nathan continued.
“She said if I ever became the kind of man who forgot what four hundred dollars could mean to somebody, I didn’t deserve whatever success came next.”
Tessa swallowed.
That sounded exactly like Marianne.
Nathan touched the account statement.
“She may have used the amount as a marker.”
“For what?” Vanessa asked.
“A secret archive.”
They began tracing transactions.
Most were tiny.
One dollar.
Four dollars and twelve cents.
Forty-one dollars and twenty cents.
Repeated in patterns.
Daniel stared.
“These aren’t payments.”
“They’re coordinates,” Eli said from behind them.
Everyone turned.
The teenager was holding a bowl of cereal.
Tessa frowned.
“What?”
“Not geographical coordinates. Numbers.”
He pulled out his phone.
“Mom loved puzzles.”
Tessa remembered.
Crosswords.
Sudoku.
Word searches.
She had hidden Eli’s birthday presents behind riddles when he was little.
Eli continued.
“Maybe the amounts point to pages or dates.”
Nathan slid the records toward him.
“Try.”
Tessa immediately objected.
“He’s seventeen.”
“And annoyingly good at math,” Eli replied.
“No.”
“I’m already involved. Someone photographed me outside school.”
That silenced her.
For two hours, Eli tested combinations.
Nothing.
Then he noticed the transaction dates.
Every one corresponded with a memorable family date.
Birthdays.
Anniversaries.
The day their father left.
The day Marianne was diagnosed.
The last deposit had been made three days before Marianne died.
$4.12.
Reference line:
B-17.
Tessa stared at it.
“B-seventeen.”
Eli stopped typing.
Their eyes met.
“What?” Nathan asked.
Tessa whispered, “Mom’s Bible.”
Marianne owned an old leather Bible given to her by her grandmother.
Inside, she had written notes beside hundreds of passages.
After her death, Tessa packed it into a box and gave it to Eli because he liked the family inscriptions.
“Where is it?” she asked.
Eli’s face went pale.
“Our apartment.”
Daniel stood.
“I’ll retrieve it.”
“No,” Tessa said. “I’m going.”
Nathan opened his mouth.
“Do not say no.”
He closed it.
Twenty minutes later, they returned to the apartment under security escort.
The reporters had vanished after building management forced them away.
Tessa entered first.
Nothing looked disturbed.
Eli went directly to his room.
Then stopped.
“Tess.”
She followed his gaze.
His bookshelf had been emptied onto the floor.
Nathan cursed.
“Someone came back.”
Eli dropped to his knees.
“The Bible’s gone.”
Tessa’s stomach sank.
Daniel checked the window.
No damage.
The apartment door had not been forced.
“Who has a key?” he asked.
“Tessa. Me. Mrs. Alvarez upstairs.”
“Anyone else?”
Tessa hesitated.
“My aunt.”
“Name?”
“Rebecca Monroe.”
Nathan looked at her.
“You have an aunt?”
“My mother’s younger sister.”
“Where is she?”
“Boston.”
Eli spoke quietly.
“No.”
Tessa looked at him.
“What?”
“Aunt Rebecca moved.”
“When?”
“She messaged me last month.”
“Where?”
Eli swallowed.
“New York.”
Tessa stared.
Rebecca and Marianne had fought years before Marianne’s death.
Tessa had never known why.
After the funeral, Rebecca disappeared from their lives.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She said she wanted to surprise you.”
Daniel asked for the phone.
Eli handed it over.
The messages seemed normal.
Then Daniel checked the number.
“This is prepaid.”
Tessa’s pulse increased.
He called.
Disconnected.
Nathan walked toward the window.
“Do you have a photograph of Rebecca?”
Tessa searched her phone.
She found an old family picture.
Nathan stared at it.
Then his face changed.
“What?”
He took the photograph from the storage facility out of his coat.
Marianne stood beside Graham.
At the far edge of the image was a woman partially obscured by a car.
Only half her face was visible.
Tessa hadn’t noticed.
But now she did.
Rebecca.
“Oh my God.”
Nathan enlarged the image.
“Your aunt knew Graham.”
Tessa’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone stared at it.
She answered on speaker.
“Hello?”
A woman’s voice.
“Tessie?”
Tessa stopped breathing.
Only one person had called her that besides her mother.
“Aunt Rebecca?”
“Tessa, listen to me. I don’t have much time.”
“Where are you?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“You were in the picture.”
Silence.
“You knew Graham.”
Rebecca’s breath trembled.
“Yes.”
“Did Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Graham was your father.”
Tessa’s crutch slipped from her hand.
Nathan caught it.
Eli whispered, “What?”
Rebecca continued before Tessa could speak.
“Marianne spent years hiding that from you because Graham was dangerous.”
Tessa’s ears rang.
“My father’s name was Michael Monroe.”
“No.”
Rebecca began crying.
“Michael married Marianne when she was pregnant. He gave you his name. He loved you. But biologically, Graham Vale was your father.”
Tessa sank onto the edge of Eli’s bed.
Nathan looked stunned.
Rebecca whispered, “And now he knows your mother left you the evidence he needs.”
“I don’t have anything.”
“You do.”
“What?”
“The Bible.”
“It’s gone.”
Rebecca inhaled sharply.
“Then he already has half.”
“Half of what?”
“The key.”
Tessa’s pulse pounded.
“What’s the other half?”
Rebecca whispered three words.
May you like
“Nathan Sterling has it.”
Then the line went dead.
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