Chapter 13 - THE LAST LETTER FROM WILLIAM
Nora had not been dragged from her apartment.
That was the first surprise.
Security footage showed her leaving voluntarily.
At 11:18 a.m., a man approached the building.
Raymond Cole.
He spoke to Nora for less than one minute.
Then showed her something on his phone.
Nora immediately followed him.
“Why?” Gavin demanded.
Eric enlarged the image.
The phone screen was impossible to read.
Then Taylor spoke from the couch.
“He showed Mommy me.”
Gavin crouched.
“What?”
Taylor hugged her stuffed rabbit.
“He had a picture.”
“Of you?”
She nodded.
Eric immediately checked the exterior camera.
A gray sedan had been parked across from Nora’s preschool twice the previous week.
Gavin felt sick.
Raymond had not needed to physically threaten Nora.
He had shown her that he knew where Taylor went to school.
Nora had gone with him to protect her daughter.
Gavin called the police.
Then federal investigators.
Then his attorneys.
He did not go to Pier 17 alone.
He also did not bring the original ledger.
He brought a copy.
At 12:02 p.m., Gavin reached an abandoned warehouse near the waterfront.
Police remained several blocks away.
A wire recorded everything.
Raymond stood inside.
Nora was beside him.
Unrestrained.
But terrified.
Gavin looked at her.
“You okay?”
She nodded.
“Taylor?”
“Safe.”
Relief crossed her face.
Raymond smiled.
“Heartwarming.”
Gavin ignored him.
“Let her go.”
“The ledger.”
Gavin held up the envelope.
“Let her walk toward me.”
Raymond laughed.
“You really are William’s son.”
“What does that mean?”
“He always thought he could negotiate from the moral high ground.”
“Did you kill him?”
Nora looked at Raymond.
Raymond’s smile disappeared.
“No.”
“Did Charles?”
“No.”
“Did you tamper with his car?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Raymond looked almost amused.
“You still think this ends with Charles Ashford.”
Gavin’s eyes narrowed.
Raymond continued.
“Your father discovered a system that existed before Charles entered politics.”
“Who ran it?”
“Developers.”
“Names.”
“Judges.”
“Names.”
“Contractors.”
“Names.”
Raymond shook his head.
“You have the names.”
“The ledger.”
“Yes.”
Gavin stared.
“Why do you want it?”
“Because old men who bought power fifteen years ago are still very powerful.”
“Charles?”
Raymond laughed.
“Charles was ambitious.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“He participated.”
“Who controlled it?”
Raymond looked toward the city skyline.
“Your father called them the Harbor Circle.”
Gavin felt cold.
The ledger contained dozens of names.
Maybe Ashford had been only one.
Raymond continued.
“William wanted to expose everyone.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“I was twenty-nine when I entered that system.”
“You were thirty-three when my father died.”
Raymond shrugged.
“Close enough.”
“You buried the crash report.”
Raymond’s expression changed.
Gavin saw it.
“So that’s true.”
“I removed one traffic image.”
“Why?”
“Because my boss told me to.”
“Charles?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Raymond ignored the question.
“Give me the ledger.”
“Let Nora go.”
Raymond looked at her.
Then nodded.
Nora walked toward Gavin.
Halfway across the warehouse, Raymond spoke.
“Ask her what Rosa wrote inside the recipe book.”
Nora stopped.
Gavin turned.
“What?”
Nora looked confused.
“My grandmother’s recipe book?”
Raymond nodded.
“She never told you?”
Nora stared.
Raymond smiled.
“Rosa was smarter than all of us.”
Gavin remembered the box.
Photographs.
Recipes.
Key.
Had they ignored something?
Raymond stepped backward.
“The ledger isn’t the most dangerous thing William left behind.”
“What is?”
“A letter.”
Gavin frowned.
“We found William’s letter.”
“No.”
Raymond shook his head.
“You found the one Charles kept.”
He looked at Nora.
“Rosa had the last one.”
Then sirens sounded in the distance.
Raymond’s face changed.
“You brought police.”
Gavin said nothing.
Raymond ran toward a side exit.
Officers entered seconds later.
He was gone.
But Nora was safe.
Twenty minutes later, Gavin, Nora, and Evelyn stood inside Nora’s apartment.
The old recipe book lay open on the kitchen table.
Nora flipped through pages.
Chicken soup.
Biscuits.
Apple pie.
Tamales.
Then Evelyn noticed something.
One recipe had been written twice.
Same ingredients.
Same handwriting.
Different ink.
She held the page to the light.
Two sheets had been glued together.
Nora carefully separated them.
Inside was a sealed letter.
WILLIAM ROBERSON.
TO GAVIN.
Gavin’s hands shook.
He opened it.
Son,
If you are reading this, then Rosa kept her promise.
Charles is involved.
But Charles is not the man I fear most.
Gavin continued.
The next name made Evelyn collapse into a chair.
Because the person William Roberson had feared most was not a senator.
It was his own brother.
Thomas Roberson.
Gavin’s uncle.
May you like
The vice chairman of Roberson Development.
And the man who had been running the company beside Gavin for twelve years.
