They returned to the house after dark.
The recording remained on the kitchen table.
Nobody wanted to play it again.
They had already heard enough to understand what it meant.
Someone close to Thomas had known where Maria was hiding before Thomas officially knew.
That narrowed the possibilities.
It also opened an older wound.
Adrian placed the recorder beside the blue folder.
“Who knew?”
Daniel began counting on his fingers.
“Thomas.”
“Maria.”
“Victor.”
“Me.”
“Samuel.”
Evelyn added, “Helen.”
Maria shook her head.
“Helen didn't know where I was.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You're sure?”
“She knew I was alive. Not where.”
Daniel frowned.
“There was someone else.”
“Who?”
“Thomas's driver.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Frank?”
“Yes.”
“He died years ago.”
“Before Maria disappeared?”
“Three years after.”
Adrian looked at the recorder.
“Could he have known?”
Daniel nodded.
“Possibly.”
Maria said quietly, “Frank was kind.”
“That doesn't mean he wasn't involved.”
“No.”
The sentence hurt Maria.
Adrian noticed.
“We don't know yet.”
She nodded.
“Then we don't accuse anyone.”
It was the first time Adrian realized how much she had changed since their first meeting.
The woman who had once lived in hiding had become careful without becoming bitter.
Evelyn understood it too.
“Thomas would have appreciated that.”
Maria looked toward the photograph.
“He would have argued first.”
Evelyn laughed.
“Yes.”
The next morning they contacted Helen.
She arrived carrying a folder.
“I expected this.”
Adrian frowned.
“You knew about the recording?”
“No.”
“Then why did you expect us?”
“Because Thomas once asked me the same question.”
“What question?”
“Who knew where Maria was.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“What did you tell him?”
“That I didn't know.”
“Did he believe you?”
Helen smiled faintly.
“He didn't believe anyone completely.”
Evelyn said, “Except perhaps Samuel.”
Helen shook her head.
“Thomas stopped trusting Samuel years before his death.”
“Then who did he trust?”
Helen looked at Evelyn.
“You.”
Evelyn looked surprised.
“He didn't tell me anything.”
“He trusted you with the house.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“No.”
Helen opened her folder.
“He also trusted you with Adrian.”
Evelyn's eyes filled.
Helen placed an old personnel list on the table.
“Thomas kept records of everyone who had access to his private correspondence.”
Adrian scanned the names.
There were twenty-three.
Most were employees.
Three were attorneys.
Two were accountants.
One was Frank.
One was a woman named Nora Pierce.
Evelyn frowned.
“Who is Nora?”
Helen answered.
“Thomas's former secretary.”
“She worked for him before Samuel.”
“Yes.”
“When did she leave?”
“Six months before Maria disappeared.”
Adrian looked at Maria.
“Do you remember her?”
Maria shook her head.
“I met her once.”
“Where?”
“At Thomas's office.”
“When?”
“Just before I left.”
Helen's expression changed.
“What did she say?”
Maria thought.
“She asked me whether I trusted Thomas.”
Evelyn stiffened.
“What did you say?”
“That I did.”
“And?”
“She said I shouldn't.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“Why?”
“I never found out.”
Daniel took the personnel list.
“Where is she now?”
Helen looked uncomfortable.
“She died.”
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
Adrian exhaled.
Another dead end.
Then Helen pointed to a line on the page.
“Nora had a brother.”
“Who?”
“Peter Pierce.”
Adrian recognized the name.
“Pierce.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Why do I know that?”
Daniel answered.
“Because Peter Pierce was Thomas's estate surveyor.”
Silence.
Adrian stared.
“The man who valued the property after Dad died?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn felt her stomach tighten.
“Is he still alive?”
“Yes.”
They found Peter that afternoon.
He was seventy-two and lived in a quiet neighborhood outside the city.
When Adrian showed him Nora's name, his expression changed.
“I haven't heard that name in years.”
“She worked for Thomas.”
“Yes.”
“Did she know Maria?”
Peter looked toward the window.
“She knew more than she should have.”
“What does that mean?”
Peter sighed.
“Nora believed Thomas was hiding something.”
“He was.”
“She thought he was hiding money.”
“He wasn't.”
“I know that now.”
Peter looked at Adrian.
“But she didn't.”
“What did she do?”
“She followed him.”
“To Maria?”
Peter nodded.
“She discovered Thomas was meeting someone secretly.”
“Did she know who?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Maria.”
Adrian's pulse quickened.
Peter continued.
“Nora confronted Thomas.”
“Then?”
“He fired her.”
“Why?”
“Because she had copied some documents.”
“What documents?”
Peter looked at the blue folder.
“The same kind of records you have.”
Evelyn said, “So Nora knew about the fraud.”
“Yes.”
“Was she involved?”
“No.”
“Then why did Victor think someone close to Thomas was feeding information to the people watching Maria?”
Peter hesitated.
“Because Nora told someone.”
“Who?”
“Myself.”
Adrian stared.
“You?”
Peter nodded.
“She gave me copies of the documents.”
“Why?”
“Because she trusted me.”
“Did you give them to anyone?”
“No.”
Adrian watched him.
Peter's hands trembled.
“I kept them.”
“Where?”
“In a safe.”
“Do you still have them?”
“Yes.”
He brought out a metal box.
Inside were copies of the financial records.
But one document stood apart.
It was a letter from Nora.
She had written:
Thomas is not the person you should fear.
The person you should fear is the man who knows what Thomas knows before Thomas has told him.
Adrian looked up.
“Who was that?”
Peter shook his head.
“I never knew.”
The document beneath it was an old access log.
Someone had entered Thomas's office after hours.
The name was listed.
Frank Mercer.
Adrian stared.
“Frank?”
Evelyn frowned.
“He was Thomas's driver.”
Peter nodded.
“And his cousin.”
Evelyn had never heard that.
“Thomas's cousin?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't I know?”
“Because Thomas didn't speak about family.”
Adrian looked at the dates.
Frank had accessed the office eleven days before Maria disappeared.
Again three days later.
And once on the morning Victor vanished.
Maria's face became pale.
“He was following us.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“We don't know that.”
Maria looked at the record.
“He was there.”
Adrian studied the final entry.
It occurred at six twenty-two in the morning.
The day Thomas supposedly learned Maria was gone.
He looked at Evelyn.
“Dad knew.”
“Yes.”
“But he told everyone he found out later.”
Evelyn felt a chill.
The old story had shifted again.
Thomas had not merely discovered Maria's disappearance.
He had known before he admitted it.
Adrian turned the page.
A handwritten note appeared beside the access log.
Thomas wrote:
Frank says he never saw Maria.
But the office record says otherwise.
Adrian whispered, “Dad knew Frank was lying.”
Peter looked at him.
“And yet he kept Frank employed.”
Evelyn understood.
“Because Frank was family.”
“No,” Peter said.
“Because Frank was useful.”
Everyone turned toward him.
Peter's face was grim.
“Frank wasn't just Thomas's driver.”
“What was he?”
“He was the person Thomas used when he needed to know whether someone was following him.”
Adrian stared.
“So Dad knew.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did Victor think someone close to Thomas was betraying him?”
Peter looked at the recording.
“Because Thomas himself wasn't sure.”
Maria sat down.
Evelyn placed a hand on her shoulder.
Adrian looked at the files.
The truth was no longer about his birth.
It was about the machinery of secrets Thomas had built around the people he loved.
And somewhere inside that machinery was one final name.
Click Here to continue read next: PART15: The Last Name in Thomas’s Records Belonged to Someone Nobody Expected, and the Discovery Forced Adrian to Reconsider What Protection Had Cost His Family
She Had Invited Them Into Her Husband’s House for One Last Goodbye, but the Young Couple Arrived Expecting Something Far More Valuable
Part 14 of 16
