The second file contains the original financial records. It also contains recordings of the people who organized the operation.
Please don't trust anyone simply because they wear a badge.
I love you.
Emily.
Claire lowered the letter.
For a long moment, she couldn't speak.
Daniel gently touched her shoulder.
"She's still alive. We have to remember that."
Claire nodded.
Michael inserted one of the memory cards into an old laptop.
A folder appeared.
Inside were dozens of recordings, photographs, bank transfers, and scanned documents.
One file was labeled:
FINAL MEETING β EVELYN / BENNETT / WHITMORE.
Daniel opened it.
The recording showed three people sitting around a table.
Evelyn Blackwood was wearing a dark business suit. Chief Arthur Bennett sat opposite her. Between them was Judge Samuel Whitmore.
The recording was grainy, but the voices were clear.
Whitmore spoke first.
"Thomas Morgan has become a serious problem."
Evelyn replied.
"Then remove the problem."
Bennett shook his head.
"He has a daughter. A younger one. If we make him disappear, she'll keep asking questions."
Whitmore leaned forward.
"Then make sure she has no evidence to follow."
Evelyn looked directly at Bennett.
"Can you handle it?"
Bennett nodded.
"Thomas won't be a problem after tonight."
The recording continued.
Whitmore discussed the transfer of money to several officials. Evelyn explained how the companies would disguise the payments. Bennett described the plan to make Thomas's death appear unrelated to the investigation.
Daniel paused the recording.
"That's enough to put all three of them away."
Michael shook his head.
"Not without the original files and the people who can verify them."
Claire looked at the second memory card.
"What else is here?"
She opened another folder.
A document appeared with a list of names.
At the top were Evelyn Blackwood, Arthur Bennett, and Samuel Whitmore.
Below them were several police officials, two prosecutors, and a financial officer.
Then Claire saw another name.
MARCUS COLE.
Daniel leaned closer.
"He's on the list."
Michael nodded.
"He was part of the operation. But he also helped Emily escape."
"Why would he do both?" Claire asked.
Michael hesitated.
"Because Evelyn had something on him."
He opened another document.
It contained a photograph of a young girl standing beside Marcus.
A note beneath the photograph explained that Marcus's daughter had been involved in an accident years earlier. Evelyn had secretly paid for the treatment and used the debt to control him.
Claire looked at the photograph.
"So he helped them destroy evidence because they were holding his daughter over him?"
"That's what he told me," Michael said.
Daniel shook his head.
"That doesn't excuse what he did."
"No," Michael replied. "It doesn't."
A noise came from the staircase.
All three turned.
Someone was coming down.
Daniel raised his weapon.
"Police! Show yourself!"
A familiar voice answered.
"Put that thing down, Daniel."
Captain Hayes stepped into the room.
Claire immediately moved away from the desk.
"What are you doing here?"
Hayes looked at the documents.
"I followed you."
"You shouldn't have."
"I know."
Daniel kept his weapon raised.
"How did you find us?"
Hayes held up a small tracking device.
"Your car. I placed it there before you left."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"You've been following us?"
"Yes."
Claire stepped forward.
"Why?"
Hayes looked at the memory cards.
"Because there is something you don't understand about Emily's disappearance."
Claire's voice became cold.
"Then explain it."
Hayes took a breath.
"Emily was not simply hiding from Evelyn. She was negotiating with her."
Michael frowned.
"What?"
"Emily agreed to give Evelyn part of the evidence in exchange for the release of several witnesses. She believed she could use the deal to get people out safely."
Daniel looked at him.
"Did it work?"
"No. Evelyn betrayed her."
Claire stared at the captain.
"Where is my sister now?"
Hayes looked toward the laptop.
"The Blackwood estate. Evelyn wants the second file. She believes Emily knows where the original ledger is hidden."
Claire picked up the memory cards.
"Then we have what she wants."
Hayes shook his head.
"Not everything. The original ledger is still missing."
Michael suddenly looked toward the door.
"Wait."
He opened the letter again and examined the last page.
There was a small handwritten sentence at the bottom.
THE FIRST KEY IS WHERE WE LEARNED TO COUNT THE STARS.
Claire read it twice.
Then her eyes widened.
"Our old house."
Daniel looked at her.
"What?"
"Emily and I used to count stars from the roof of our childhood home. Father built a small wooden box under the floorboards."
Michael nodded slowly.
"That could be where the original ledger is."
A phone began vibrating on the desk.
It was not theirs.
The screen showed an unknown number.
Claire answered.
"Hello?"
A woman's voice spoke.
"Claire. It's been a long time."
Claire's entire body went still.
"Emily?"
"Yes."
"Where are you?"
There was a pause.
Then Emily whispered:
"Don't come alone. Evelyn knows everything. And Claire..."
"What?"
"Marcus is with me."
The call ended.
Claire stared at the phone.
Daniel looked at her.
"What's wrong?"
Claire swallowed.
"My sister just told me not to trust anyone."
Hayes looked toward the staircase.
"Then we may already be too late."
The old Morgan house had been empty for more than a decade.
Its windows were covered with boards, the garden had disappeared beneath weeds, and the front door was damaged by years of rain and neglect.
Claire stood outside for several seconds.
She remembered the house as it had been when she was a child.
Her father sitting at the kitchen table, reading newspapers. Emily running down the stairs with a schoolbag. The sound of laughter from the backyard.
Then she remembered the night everything ended.
The police had arrived before sunrise.
Her father was dead.
Emily was gone.
And no one had ever given her a truthful explanation.
Daniel approached.
"Are you ready?"
Claire nodded.
They entered.
Dust covered the furniture. The walls were marked by water damage, and several family photographs still hung crookedly in the hallway.
Claire stopped in front of one.
It showed her, Emily, and Thomas standing beside a small tree in the garden.
Her father was smiling.
She reached out and touched the photograph.
"I used to think I would forget his face," she whispered.
Daniel stood beside her.
"You didn't."