Chapter 4 - The House Beyond Blackwater Road
Victor read Elena's letter three times.
Each time the same sentence waited for him.
If Gregory is still working with Delacroix, then Leo's accident may not have been an accident.
His son.
Leo.
Seven years old.
Dead twelve years.
Victor lowered the paper.
"No."
Hannah stood across from him in the church archive.
Marcus said nothing.
Victor read the next paragraph.
Elena had been investigating money moving through Delacroix Maritime. Gregory had handled portions of Victor's legitimate harbor business and had quietly redirected contracts through shell companies.
Elena discovered it.
She believed Gregory had realized she knew.
Then Elena became sick.
Months later, Leo died in what authorities called an accident involving a car driven by a family employee.
Victor had accepted the investigation because Gregory had personally overseen it.
That realization made him physically ill.
"Where's the recording?" Hannah asked.
Victor looked at the cassette.
Sister Margaret brought an old player.
Elena's voice filled the room.
Thin.
Tired.
Alive.
"Victor, if you're hearing me, I ran out of time."
Victor closed his eyes.
"I know you'll blame yourself. Don't."
His throat tightened.
"I need you to listen instead of getting angry. Gregory knows about Delacroix. I don't know how much. I don't know whether he's protecting Arthur or himself."
A pause.
Then Elena said something unexpected.
"The money isn't the important part."
Victor opened his eyes.
"The important part is the names."
The recording clicked.
Elena continued.
"There is another ledger. Not the one in your safe. The real one. I hid it somewhere Gregory would never search."
The tape ended.
Marcus frowned.
"Where?"
Hannah looked at the photograph.
"The Blackwater house."
They returned there after sunrise.
Police had already searched the building for Gregory.
Nothing.
Victor walked through every room.
Elena had bought the property secretly.
Why?
Then Hannah noticed something.
"The photograph."
Victor looked at her.
"In the picture, Elena is standing beside the fireplace."
They entered the living room.
The fireplace remained.
Hannah compared the photograph.
"Something's different."
Victor saw it.
A decorative stone had been replaced.
Marcus pried it loose.
Behind it was a waterproof package.
Inside lay a ledger.
The real Delacroix ledger.
Victor opened it.
Names.
Payments.
Dates.
Gregory Vance appeared repeatedly.
Arthur Delacroix appeared even more.
Then Victor reached the final pages.
One entry made him stop.
November 17 — L.C. relocation expense.
November 17.
The day Leo died.
Victor's hands began trembling.
Marcus looked over his shoulder.
"What does L.C. mean?"
Victor couldn't answer.
Hannah could.
"Leo Castellano."
Victor slammed the book shut.
"No."
"Victor—"
"My son died."
Hannah stepped closer.
"You saw him?"
Victor stared at her.
"What?"
"After the accident. Did you see Leo?"
Victor's memory returned in fragments.
Hospital corridor.
Gregory.
A doctor.
Elena sedated.
A closed coffin because of the severity of the injuries.
Victor had been told not to look.
Gregory had told him.
Victor whispered, "No."
Marcus's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
"Victor."
"What?"
"We found Gregory."
"Where?"
"He's trying to leave the country."
"Airport?"
"No."
Marcus looked toward the harbor.
"Private marina."
They moved immediately.
But Gregory never reached the boat.
Authorities intercepted him at a fuel dock forty minutes later.
When Victor arrived, Gregory was sitting beneath an awning.
He looked exhausted.
For the first time in fourteen years, Victor saw him without the mask.
"You found the ledger," Gregory said.
Victor stood across from him.
"Where is my son?"
Gregory looked away.
Victor repeated the question.
"Where is Leo?"
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"Arthur handled it."
"So he lived."
Gregory's silence answered.
Victor's voice dropped.
"You let me bury an empty coffin."
"I didn't know that part until later."
"You stood beside me."
"I know."
"You watched Elena die believing her child was dead."
Gregory looked sick.
"I know."
Victor wanted to hate him.
Instead, he felt something colder.
"Why?"
"Money at first."
Gregory laughed bitterly.
"That's the pathetic truth. Arthur paid me to redirect contracts. Elena discovered it. Then Arthur realized Leo had seen us meeting at Blackwater."
"He was seven."
"He remembered faces."
"So Arthur took him."
"I was told Leo would be returned."
Victor stared at him.
"You believed that?"
"No."
Gregory finally looked up.
"I told myself I did."
Victor stepped away before rage made the decision for him.
Marcus took over.
"Where is Delacroix?"
"I haven't seen him in years."
"But you spoke to him."
"Through intermediaries."
"Names."
Gregory hesitated.
Victor turned back.
"Give me one reason I shouldn't walk away and let you spend the rest of your life explaining this to people who hate you."
Gregory's eyes dropped.
"Because I know what Arthur called the boy."
Victor froze.
"What?"
"After Leo disappeared."
Gregory swallowed.
"He changed his name."
Victor approached slowly.
"To what?"
Gregory spoke.
"Elliot Crane."
Victor repeated it silently.
Elliot Crane.
Marcus was already searching.
Thirty seconds later, his face changed.
"I've got someone."
Victor turned.
Marcus held out his phone.
A photograph showed a nineteen-year-old young man standing outside a community college in Virginia.
Dark hair.
Olive skin.
A narrow scar beside his eyebrow.
Victor knew that scar.
Leo had gotten it at five when he fell from an apple tree.
The world tilted.
Hannah covered her mouth.
Victor stared at the screen.
Twelve years of grief collapsed into a single photograph.
His son was alive.
But beneath the photograph was another piece of information.
Elliot Crane had disappeared from his Virginia home two days earlier.
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And the last person seen speaking to him had been a man matching Arthur Delacroix's description.
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