Chapter 10 - The thing Audrey had carried for twelve years
We searched everything.
Audrey's childhood possessions.
Rebecca's jewelry.
Old books.
Photo albums.
Nothing.
Then I remembered Audrey's violin.
Rebecca bought it months before she disappeared.
Audrey hadn't played since her mother's “death.”
The instrument remained inside my attic.
We opened the case.
Nothing.
Audrey lifted the violin.
Something rattled.
Inside the hollow body was a tiny encrypted drive.
Twelve years.
It had been sitting above my garage.
Thomas was right.
The drive contained names.
But not hundreds.
Forty-three.
The people at the top.
One name made Ortiz leave the room and immediately call federal authorities.
Another was Judge Cole.
Another was Margaret.
Arthur appeared too.
Marked:
Cooperating asset.
Then:
Rebecca Hayes.
Audrey stopped breathing.
Beside Rebecca's name:
Controller.
“What does controller mean?”
We didn't know.
The final entry:
Thomas Hayes — compromised.
My brother had warned me not to trust Margaret.
Rebecca had warned me Thomas was wrong.
The list suggested neither deserved blind trust.
Then federal agents arrived.
Not local police.
Not state investigators.
They took control of the drive.
Ortiz protested.
One agent showed credentials.
Special Counsel Adrian Cross.
I recognized the name.
He had prosecuted corruption cases nationally for twenty years.
Then Audrey looked at the list again.
“Dad.”
“What?”
She pointed.
Adrian Cross.
Entry number one.
Status:
Primary beneficiary.
I quietly closed the laptop before he entered.
Cross smiled warmly.
“Mr. Hayes. We've been waiting a very long time for that drive.”
I smiled back.
“Then you're going to keep waiting.”
His smile remained.
May you like
But his eyes changed.
That night, Ortiz disappeared.
