Chapter 8 - The Sister David Wanted
For nine years, Marianne believed she had been hiding Rachel and Lily from Meridian.
In reality, someone had been using Rachel and Lily to find Marianne.
“Why me?”
Eric answered over speakerphone:
“Because you have the ledger.”
Marianne looked at Jonathan.
He did not look surprised.
Jack saw it.
“What ledger?”
Marianne stayed silent.
Jonathan answered.
“The original Meridian account ledger.”
Twenty years of payments.
Politicians.
Private clients.
Security contracts.
Some legal.
Some not.
Marianne copied it before leaving the company.
That was why she could create false identities without being immediately challenged.
She held proof against people who might expose them.
Mutual blackmail disguised as protection.
Jack stared at his sister.
“You’ve had evidence this whole time?”
“Yes.”
“And you kept it?”
“If I released it carelessly, Rachel’s fake identities would be exposed too.”
Another secret rationalized as protection.
Eric said:
“David knows you still have it.”
“Why now?”
“Because federal investigators are closing on Meridian.”
David had decided to take the ledger and sell immunity information before Jonathan could sacrifice him.
The highway crash was deliberate.
Not necessarily designed to kill Jack.
David arranged for a vehicle to force Jack off the road, knowing Marianne’s monitoring network would alert her if Jack was seriously hurt.
Then Lily happened to be there.
Unexpected.
David realized who she was.
Everything escalated.
Jack whispered:
“Where is David now?”
Eric replied:
“Looking for Marianne’s copy.”
Marianne closed her eyes.
“There is no copy.”
Jonathan turned.
“What?”
“The ledger is physical.”
“Where?”
She looked at Jack.
“Our mother’s grave.”
Silence.
Marianne had buried it with Diane Cole twenty-five years earlier.
Inside a waterproof container beneath the grave marker.
No one would disturb a dead woman’s grave without reason.
David now had reason.
Jack headed for the door.
Marianne stopped him.
“You have a concussion.”
“My daughter has already been dragged into this.”
“Lily’s safe with Eric.”
Jack looked at Jonathan.
“Is she?”
Jonathan answered carefully.
“Eric protected her once.”
“Once?”
Jonathan’s expression changed.
Then:
“Ask Eric what happened to the woman in the motel.”
Jack froze.
The woman whose body convinced him Rachel died.
Eric went silent on the phone.
“Eric?”
No answer.
Jonathan continued:
“Rachel wasn't supposed to be in that motel when it exploded.”
Jack’s voice became quiet.
“Who was?”
Jonathan said:
“Eric’s wife.”
No one moved.
Eric whispered:
“Her name was Natalie.”
Rachel had never heard that name.
“She died because she agreed to wear Rachel’s coat and carry Rachel’s identification while I moved Rachel somewhere else.”
Jack felt sick.
“You used your wife as a decoy?”
Eric shouted:
“I didn't know there would be a bomb!”
“But you put her there.”
“Yes.”
The truth was uglier than heroism.
Eric saved Rachel.
And made another woman vulnerable.
Lily’s safe protector suddenly became more complicated.
Then Rachel’s voice came onto the phone.
“Jack.”
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“And Lily?”
“Safe.”
Then she whispered:
“Eric just showed me something.”
“What?”
“A photograph of the motel bomb.”
Jack frowned.
“Why?”
“Because David wasn’t the one who planted it.”
“Who did?”
May you like
Rachel’s voice broke.
“Marianne.”
