Chapter 5 - The Secret Raymond Was Holding
“My brother?”
I grabbed the folder.
“Where's Ethan?”
Paul answered carefully.
“Safe.”
“How do you know?”
“We found him twenty minutes ago.”
“Where?”
“Albany.”
I stared at him.
“Raymond contacted him?”
“Three times.”
My hands tightened around the folder.
Ethan was twenty-four.
He was the only family I still spoke to.
And I had deliberately kept him at a distance because I was afraid Raymond would use him.
Apparently, Raymond had tried anyway.
“What did he want?”
Paul looked at Vincent.
“Money.”
I frowned.
“From Ethan?”
“No.”
Vincent opened the folder.
“From me.”
That made no sense.
“Why?”
Vincent pulled out several photocopied documents.
Years earlier, Raymond had been skimming money from waterfront companies connected to Vincent.
He'd kept records.
Names.
Transactions.
Enough information to threaten people.
“When I fired him,” Vincent explained, “I believed he'd destroyed these.”
“He didn't?”
“No.”
“Where were they?”
Vincent looked at me.
“With you.”
I laughed.
“That isn't possible.”
“Did Raymond ever give you a storage key?”
My smile vanished.
Years ago.
A tiny brass key.
He had told me it belonged to a box containing his mother's belongings.
When I left, I'd taken everything in my purse.
Including that key.
“I still have it.”
Vincent closed his eyes briefly.
“That's why he wants you.”
Not love.
Not obsession.
Not even revenge.
At least not entirely.
He wanted something I had unknowingly carried away.
“Where is it?”
“My apartment.”
Vincent immediately called Paul.
“Secure the building.”
I stood.
“I'm going.”
“No.”
“Vincent.”
“Absolutely not.”
“It's my apartment.”
“And Fletcher may have people watching it.”
I stared at him.
“You don't get to make decisions for me.”
He stared back.
Then sighed.
“You're difficult.”
Angela smiled.
“She really is.”
I crossed my arms.
Vincent finally nodded.
“Fine. But we go together.”
---
The key was exactly where I'd left it.
Inside an old jewelry box.
Detective Brennan arranged for officers to accompany us to the storage facility the following morning.
The box contained ledgers, photographs, financial records, and recordings.
Vincent stared at them.
“This could have destroyed people.”
“Could it destroy you?”
He looked at me.
“Yes.”
I appreciated the answer.
“What happens now?”
“We give it to Brennan.”
Paul looked surprised.
“All of it?”
“All of it.”
“Vincent, some of these records—”
“I know.”
Vincent looked at me.
“I spent years believing control was the same thing as safety.”
He closed the box.
“It isn't.”
I understood more than he realized.
Brennan took possession of everything.
Raymond was held while investigators examined evidence connecting him to Derek and several other incidents.
Derek cooperated.
Days passed.
Then weeks.
For the first time in years, I stopped checking over my shoulder every time I left work.
But something else changed too.
Vincent Calder disappeared.
He stopped coming to the diner.
Finally, I asked Angela.
“Where is he?”
She pretended not to understand.
“Who?”
“Vincent.”
“Oh.”
She polished a glass.
“He thinks you need space.”
“Why?”
Angela smiled.
“Because for a frightening man, Vincent can be remarkably stupid.”
I stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“Ask him.”
So I did.
I found Vincent one evening sitting alone in booth six.
The same booth where Derek had attacked me.
“You've been avoiding me.”
He looked up.
“I've been busy.”
“Bad lie.”
He almost smiled.
I sat across from him.
“You gave the evidence to the police.”
“Yes.”
“Even though it could hurt you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it was the right thing.”
I studied him.
“That's it?”
“No.”
He looked toward the window.
“I didn't want you wondering whether I was just another Raymond.”
That silenced me.
“You're not.”
“You don't know everything I've done.”
“No.”
I leaned forward.
“But I know what you did when you found me unconscious.”
Vincent met my eyes.
“You asked if I was breathing.”
He said nothing.
“You called an ambulance.”
Still nothing.
“You listened when I told you no.”
That mattered most.
Vincent nodded slowly.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What happened?”
He listened.
Then looked directly at me.
May you like
“Raymond made bail.”
---
