Chapter 12 - Table Seven
Bellafonte was closed when they arrived.
Police tape hung across the entrance.
Dominic’s men cut nothing.
Touched nothing.
Hannah had insisted.
“Evidence first,” she said.
Dominic gave her a look.
“You enjoy ordering me around.”
“I’ve had a stressful week.”
“It’s Thursday.”
“Exactly.”
Evelyn stayed at the hospital with the girls.
Hannah entered Bellafonte with Dominic and two federal agents.
Peter was missing.
His apartment had been empty.
His phone was off.
Hannah walked toward Table Seven.
The same table.
The same place where everything started.
Dominic looked around.
“Daniel met Evelyn here.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Hannah examined the room.
“My father hated expensive restaurants.”
“You’re sure?”
“He thought nineteen dollars for pasta was a crime.”
Dominic raised an eyebrow.
“Your father and I may have agreed on something.”
Hannah crouched beside Table Seven.
Nothing.
She checked underneath.
Gum.
A loose screw.
No drive.
Then she remembered something.
Peter always insisted Table Seven remain reserved until noon.
Even on busy days.
She had thought it was for important guests.
“Move the table.”
They did.
Under one leg was a tiny metal plate set into the floor.
Hannah pried it open.
Inside was a key.
Not a drive.
A key.
Dominic exhaled.
“Your father loved keys.”
“He also loved making my life difficult.”
The key fit an old wine locker in the basement.
Locker 47.
Hannah laughed once.
“Forty-seven again.”
Inside sat a bottle of red wine.
Nothing else.
Dominic took it out.
“Sealed.”
Hannah examined the label.
Bluebird Vineyards.
She stared.
“Seriously?”
Dominic almost smiled.
They broke the bottle.
Inside, wrapped in plastic, was a flash drive.
Hannah plugged it into the agents’ laptop.
Password protected.
One clue appeared.
TWO BIRDS. ONE SKY.
Hannah typed:
HANNAHEVELYN.
Access denied.
Dominic said, “Try EvelynHannah.”
Denied.
Hannah closed her eyes.
Then remembered the locket.
H & E.
Together, always.
She typed:
TOGETHERALWAYS.
Unlocked.
Hundreds of files appeared.
Bank records.
Audio recordings.
Photographs.
Payments.
Names.
Judges.
Police.
Businessmen.
Julian.
And Dominic.
Hannah stopped.
Dominic stared at the screen.
There were documents bearing his signature.
Wire transfers.
Orders.
Enough to put him in prison for decades.
He didn’t move.
Hannah looked at him.
“Are these real?”
“Some.”
“And the others?”
“Maybe forged.”
“Maybe?”
Dominic met her eyes.
“I told you I wasn’t a good man.”
Hannah said nothing.
“I built businesses legally.”
He paused.
“I also inherited things that were not legal.”
The federal agents listened.
Dominic didn’t care.
“I protected people who deserved prison. I threatened people. I moved money I should not have moved.”
Hannah’s stomach tightened.
“Did you kill people?”
Silence.
One agent looked up.
Dominic chose his words carefully.
“I’m not confessing to crimes without counsel.”
Hannah almost laughed despite everything.
Dominic continued.
“But I will not lie to you and pretend my hands are clean.”
Hannah appreciated that more than she wanted to.
The screen suddenly changed.
A hidden video opened.
Daniel Mercer appeared.
Hannah’s breath caught.
Her father looked thinner.
Near the end.
“Hannah,” he said.
“If you found this, then Evelyn survived long enough for the truth to matter.”
Tears filled Hannah’s eyes.
Daniel continued.
“There is one thing she doesn’t know.”
Evelyn didn’t know?
Hannah leaned closer.
Daniel took a breath.
“Julian was not the person who first discovered her investigation.”
Dominic went still.
“He had help.”
A photograph appeared.
Peter.
Hannah’s manager.
Daniel looked directly into the camera.
“If Peter Bell knows you found this drive, Hannah…”
The recording glitched.
Then resumed.
“…he will come for you first.”
A sound came from the basement stairs.
Everyone turned.
A gun clicked.
May you like
Peter stood in the doorway.
And the barrel was pointed directly at Hannah.
