Chapter 4 - THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
Z
Leonardo arrived at the police station that evening.
Dora hadn't asked him to.
When she saw his car outside, she stopped walking.
“You shouldn't be here.”
He stepped out.
“Elias told me about the break-in.”
“How did Elias know?”
“Your attorney contacted my legal department because the stolen property may be connected to the investigation.”
Dora frowned.
“Then let our attorneys handle it.”
Leonardo studied her.
“You really don't trust me.”
“Your guard pointed a gun at me. Your family's business employed my father. And now somebody's breaking into my home.”
He nodded.
“Fair.”
The word surprised her.
Then he said, “I came to make sure you had transportation.”
“I have a car.”
“Then I won't interfere.”
Dora watched him turn away.
“Leonardo.”
He stopped.
“Thank you.”
He looked back.
A faint smile appeared.
“You're welcome.”
The recovered voice recorder was examined by a digital forensics specialist.
Several audio files were intact.
One contained Thomas Ellis discussing inspection discrepancies with an unidentified man.
Another included a conversation with Marco Costas.
The final file had been recorded two days before the warehouse fire.
Thomas sounded frightened.
Marco, they're moving the vehicles tonight. The brakes aren't the only problem.
A second voice answered.
I know.
Then we need to tell someone.
I already tried.
Who?
The recording broke into static.
Then Marco spoke again.
If anything happens, the number is in the ledger.
Dora listened with Caleb and Helen.
“What ledger?” Caleb asked.
Helen shook her head.
“We don't know yet.”
But Leonardo did.
When he heard the recording, he went pale.
“My father's private freight ledger.”
Dora stared.
“Where is it?”
Leonardo swallowed.
“It disappeared the night Marco vanished.”
The Costas organization had been founded by Leonardo's grandfather as a shipping business.
Over decades, legitimate freight operations became entangled with smuggling, extortion, and fraudulent contracts.
Leonardo's father, Victor Costas, maintained separate accounting records for transactions he didn't want ordinary auditors examining.
After Victor died, Leonardo inherited the businesses.
He also inherited their secrets.
But the private ledger was missing.
Leonardo had assumed Marco took it when he disappeared.
Now Thomas's recording suggested the ledger might reveal what happened to both men.
Dora sat opposite Leonardo in Helen's office.
“Did your father order something illegal?”
Leonardo's jaw tightened.
“My father ordered many illegal things.”
“Did you?”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
The honesty hit hard.
Dora had suspected as much.
But hearing him admit it changed something.
He continued.
“I won't pretend I was innocent. I participated in an organization that hurt people. I've been restructuring the businesses, but that doesn't erase the past.”
Dora looked toward her father's photograph.
“What makes you different from him?”
Leonardo considered.
“Not enough yet.”
She studied him.
Then said, “That's the only answer you've given me that I completely believe.”
The next morning, Dora received an envelope at the diner.
No return address.
Inside was an old photograph of Thomas Ellis standing beside Marco Costas.
Behind them was a woman wearing a blue coat.
Someone had circled her face.
On the back were four words.
SHE KNOWS THE LOCATION.
Dora stared.
She knew the woman.
She had seen her every Sunday for eleven years.
It was Mrs. Campbell.
Her elderly neighbor.
May you like
The woman who'd taken Caleb in after the break-in.
And suddenly Dora wondered whether the safest person in her life had been keeping her father's biggest secret.
