Chapter 11 - THE TRAITOR IN THE HOUSE
By morning, the Costello estate had become a fortress.
Every window was guarded. Every employee was searched. Vehicles were inspected before entering or leaving.
Sam rested in a private bedroom on the third floor while Dr. Morales monitored him.
Sadi stood outside the room, watching her brother sleep.
Victor approached from behind.
“The doctors say he’s stable.”
“For now.”
“Dr. Morales has contacted another hospital.”
“Can they continue treatment?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
Sadi turned. “You’re paying again.”
“I’m arranging it.”
“That means paying.”
“It means making sure the treatment continues.”
“You can’t buy every person’s safety.”
“No.”
“Then why do you keep trying?”
Victor studied her. “Because I know what happens when no one does.”
Before she could ask what he meant, Elias entered.
“We have a problem.”
Victor followed him to the security room.
Sadi went with them.
A map of the estate covered one wall. Red dots marked cameras, entrances, and employee quarters.
Elias pointed to a screen.
The feed showed Nora Bell, the housekeeper, entering Victor’s office at 4:18 a.m.
Sadi’s chest tightened.
“Nora?”
“She used a key,” Elias said.
Victor watched the footage.
Nora went straight to the desk.
She opened the bottom drawer and removed a small black device.
“What is that?” Sadi asked.
“A transmitter.”
Nora turned toward the camera.
For a moment, she looked directly into it.
Then the feed cut out.
Victor’s face became cold.
“Find her.”
They searched the estate.
Nora’s room was empty.
Her bed had not been slept in.
Behind a loose floorboard, they found a second phone and a photograph of Rafael with Nora’s daughter.
The girl was perhaps eight years old.
On the back of the photograph was a message:
SHE GETS HOME WHEN THE LEDGER DOES.
Sadi stared at the image. “He has her daughter.”
“That is what Nora believes,” Victor said.
“You think she helped him because of this?”
“I know she did.”
“She may not have had a choice.”
“Choices are still choices.”
Sadi looked at him. “You sound like someone who has never been forced to choose between two terrible things.”
Victor’s gaze shifted.
“I have,” he said.
“What did you choose?”
“To survive.”
The security system alarmed.
A car had entered through the eastern gate.
Victor’s men raised their weapons.
The car stopped.
Nora stepped out alone.
She held a white cloth above her head.
Victor met her in the courtyard.
Sadi stood behind him.
Nora looked older than she had an hour before.
“Where is my daughter?” Victor asked.
“Rafael has her.”
“Where?”
“He said she’d be at the old train depot.”
“Why return?”
Nora looked at Sadi. “Because I know what they plan to do.”
Victor gestured for her to continue.
“Rafael doesn’t want the ledger anymore. He wants the recording. He believes it contains a confession from your father.”
“It doesn’t,” Sadi said.
Nora’s eyes filled with tears. “Then what is on it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Rafael thinks it proves Victor’s father ordered the murders.”
Victor’s expression did not change.
Nora continued, “But there was another copy.”
“Where?” Victor asked.
“Your father kept it in the house.”
“The blue house?”
“No. This house.”
Sadi looked toward the mansion.
Nora pointed upward. “The old nursery.”
Victor went still.
He had not lived in the nursery since childhood. It was located above the east wing, sealed after his mother died.
“Why would it be there?” he asked.
“Because your father wanted your mother to hear it.”
Victor walked inside.
Sadi followed.
The old nursery was filled with covered furniture and faded wallpaper. A small wooden horse stood beneath the window.
Victor moved to the fireplace.
Nora said, “Your mother used to sit there.”
He touched the mantel.
A panel opened.
Inside was a tape player and another cassette.
Sadi’s heart began pounding.
Victor inserted the tape.
Static filled the room.
Then a man’s voice spoke.
Victor’s father.
“If you are listening to this, Rafael has already turned the family against itself.”
A second voice answered.
Sadi recognized her father.
“I kept the records.”
“You should have burned them.”
“I couldn’t.”
“You know what happens if Rafael finds them.”
“He already knows.”
A pause.
Then Sadi’s father said, “The girl saw him.”
Victor looked at Sadi.
The recording continued.
“She saw Rafael kill the judge.”
Sadi froze.
“What judge?” she whispered.
Victor’s father answered, “If the child remembers, the whole city will fall.”
The tape crackled.
Then Sadi heard her own childhood voice.
A little girl crying.
Rafael’s voice followed.
“Where is the room?”
Her father shouted, “Run!”
A gunshot exploded.
The tape ended.
Sadi’s knees weakened.
Victor caught her.
She pushed away from him. “I saw him kill someone.”
“You were four.”
“I remember the blue house.”
“What did you see?”
“A man in a courtroom.”
Victor looked at the tape player.
Nora whispered, “The judge was investigating the money.”
Sadi closed her eyes.
The memory returned in fragments.
A courtroom.
A red tie.
A silver crown ring.
A woman screaming.
Her father pulling her behind a curtain.
Then Rafael firing.
She opened her eyes.
“I know where the original records are.”
Victor stared at her.
May you like
“Where?”
“In the courthouse.”
