Chapter 8 - The Copy
Liam barely slept.
The next afternoon Daniel called again with his attorney present.
The copy, he explained, was not a magical document that proved everyone else guilty and him innocent.
Daniel was clear about that.
“It proves I knew more than I admitted at first,” he said.
“That sounds worse.”
“In some ways, it is.”
The records were backup spreadsheets showing certain payments had been redirected through shell subcontractors associated with Charles Vance.
Daniel had copied the data onto an encrypted flash drive before the original servers were wiped.
“Where is it?”
Daniel hesitated.
“I gave it to your mother.”
Liam turned toward Rachel.
Her face went white.
“You have it?”
“Not anymore.”
“What happened?”
Rachel sat down.
“Daniel gave me an envelope before he reported to prison. I was angry. I told him I didn’t want anything connected to the case in our house.”
“So?”
“I put it in our safe-deposit box.”
Liam stared at her.
“Then why isn’t it there?”
“Because three months later Daniel’s attorney asked me to turn over everything he had given me.”
“And you did?”
“I thought I did.”
Daniel interrupted through the speaker.
“The flash drive was hidden inside the cardboard spine of an old account ledger.”
Rachel looked at the phone.
“You never told me that.”
“I was afraid the government would interpret it as withheld evidence.”
“You were withholding evidence.”
“Yes.”
Liam pressed both palms to the kitchen counter.
Every answer created a worse answer.
“Where’s the ledger?”
Rachel’s eyes widened.
“I donated a box of Daniel’s old books and office supplies after sentencing.”
Liam laughed once.
There was nothing funny in it.
“So Dad hides evidence. Mom gives it to a thrift store. Great.”
Rachel flinched.
“I didn’t know.”
Daniel said, “Liam, don’t blame your mother.”
“I have enough blame for everybody.”
The donation had gone to Second Turn Community Store.
Rachel still had the tax receipt.
They drove there that evening.
The manager, Mrs. Alvarez, listened patiently.
“Fourteen months ago?”
Rachel nodded.
“Office supplies, accounting books, binders.”
“Most of that would’ve been recycled or sold.”
“Can we look?”
Mrs. Alvarez shook her head.
“Our inventory doesn’t track individual donated books that far back.”
Liam looked around the crowded store.
Thousands of objects.
His father’s secret could be anywhere.
Or nowhere.
As they turned to leave, Mrs. Alvarez called after them.
“Wait.”
She disappeared into the back.
Minutes later she returned with an older man named George, who handled donations.
“I remember a box of accounting ledgers,” George said.
Liam’s pulse jumped.
“Why?”
“Because nobody buys blank ledger books anymore. I took them to the community theater.”
“For what?”
“Props.”
The Cedar Ridge Community Players had staged a production of A Christmas Carol two months earlier.
Old ledgers had been used in Scrooge’s counting house.
The theater storage room contained three.
None had Daniel’s initials.
Liam opened each cardboard spine anyway.
Nothing.
Emma, who had joined the search with Nora, sat on the floor among fake candlesticks.
“This is officially the weirdest week of my life.”
Liam looked at her.
“You’re not helping.”
“I’m emotionally supporting.”
Nora lifted another box.
“Try emotionally supporting with your hands.”
They searched for ninety minutes.
Nothing.
At home, Liam checked the anonymous messages.
A new one waited.
Looking for something?
His blood chilled.
He showed Rachel.
This time police took greater interest.
Someone appeared to know about the ledger search within hours.
Only a handful of people knew.
Daniel.
His attorney.
Rachel.
Liam.
Emma.
Nora.
Mrs. Alvarez.
George.
And anyone watching them.
The next morning Liam found his locker open.
Nothing had been stolen.
But a folded strip of cardboard lay inside.
It had been sliced from the spine of an old accounting ledger.
Written across it in black marker were four words:
YOUR FATHER CHOSE HIMSELF.
Emma stared at it.
“This isn’t Mrs. Keller being angry anymore.”
Liam agreed.
Someone was trying to control what he discovered.
May you like
And that meant whatever had been hidden fourteen months ago still mattered now.
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