Mara stood at the bottom of the stairs with the second ledger pressed against her chest.
Daniel whispered for her to stay behind him.
She ignored him.
Rose moved beside Helen.
The four of them waited.
Footsteps crossed the kitchen above.
Slow.
Unhurried.
A chair scraped.
Then the man's voice came again.
“You've found the room.”
Daniel looked at Mara.
“He knows.”
Mara whispered, “Let him come down.”
“No.”
“He came here because of the ledger.”
“He may be armed.”
Mara looked at the old metal cabinets.
“He already knows where we are.”
Daniel hesitated.
Then the man appeared at the top of the stairs.
He was in his late sixties, dressed in a dark coat, carrying a leather case. His hair was white at the temples. He looked ordinary enough to pass unnoticed in any grocery store.
That was what made him frightening.
He looked at Daniel.
“You're older.”
Daniel stared back.
“So are you.”
The man smiled.
“Where is Helen?”
Helen stepped forward.
“Here.”
The man's expression changed.
He looked at her for a long moment.
“You have your father's eyes.”
Helen's face hardened.
“You knew him.”
“I worked with him.”
“You helped him.”
“Yes.”
“Did you help him take children?”
The man did not answer immediately.
Then he said, “I helped people disappear.”
“You sold them.”
“Some wanted new lives.”
“You took their children.”
“Your father did.”
Helen stepped forward.
“You were there.”
“I was.”
Rose raised the ledger.
“Then you know what this is.”
The man looked at it.
“Yes.”
“Why do you want it?”
“Because it can destroy people.”
Mara stepped forward.
“People like you?”
The man looked at her.
“You must be Mara.”
She felt a chill.
“How do you know my name?”
He smiled faintly.
“I have known your name longer than you have.”
Mara tightened her grip.
“You watched me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you inherited something.”
“What?”
He glanced at Helen.
“Memory.”
Mara looked at her mother.
The man continued.
“Your mother remembers the room.”
Helen shook her head.
“No.”
“She remembers the baby.”
Helen's face went pale.
Mara stepped closer.
“What baby?”
The man looked directly at her.
“Elena.”
Rose moved forward.
“Don't.”
He ignored her.
“Elena was not a name. It was a designation.”
Mara frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“She was the first child whose identity your grandfather erased.”
Helen whispered, “You said she died.”
The man looked at Daniel.
“Daniel told you that?”
Daniel's face tightened.
“I believed it.”
“You wanted to believe it.”
Mara looked at him.
“Why?”
Daniel lowered his eyes.
“Because I couldn't live with what I had done.”
The room went silent.
Helen turned toward him.
“What did you do?”
Daniel took a breath.
“I helped your father move Elena.”
Helen stared.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You carried her.”
“Yes.”
“You knew she was alive.”
“Yes.”
Helen covered her mouth.
Mara felt tears burn her eyes.
“Dad.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I thought I was saving her.”
“From what?”
“From your grandfather.”
The man interrupted.
“He wasn't saving her.”
Daniel turned.
“Don't.”
“You carried her to the woman who bought her.”
Helen made a broken sound.
Mara looked at Daniel.
“Is that true?”
Daniel could not answer.
The man opened his leather case.
Inside were several old photographs.
He placed one on the floor.
It showed a woman holding a baby.
The baby's face was partly covered by a blanket.
Helen stepped forward.
“That is Elena.”
The man nodded.
“Taken the morning after she was born.”
Mara looked at the baby.
Something about the tiny face felt strangely familiar.
She could not explain why.
The man placed another photograph beside it.
A woman.
Older.
The same woman appeared in one of the photographs from the metal cabinet.
Mara recognized her.
“She has been watching us.”
“Yes.”
“Who is she?”
“The woman who raised Elena.”
Mara stopped.
“She's alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
The man looked toward the hidden room.
“She lives less than twenty miles from here.”
Helen's knees weakened.
Rose caught her.
“Why didn't she come forward?”
“Because your father made sure she understood what would happen if she did.”
Mara looked at the man.
“Then why tell us now?”
He smiled.
“Because your grandfather is dead.”
“That doesn't answer the question.”
“No.”
He looked at the ledger.
“I'm dying.”
Nobody spoke.
“I don't have much time.”
Mara watched him carefully.
“You want to clear your name.”
“No.”
“You want forgiveness.”
“No.”
“Then what?”
He looked at Helen.
“I want the records destroyed.”
Rose shook her head.
“No.”
“They will ruin innocent people.”
“They will expose guilty people.”
“Some guilty people are dead.”
“Others aren't.”
The man looked at Daniel.
“Exactly.”
Mara understood.
“He wants to erase the evidence.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“We need to preserve it.”
The man looked surprised.
“You finally grew a conscience.”
Daniel flinched.
Mara opened the ledger.
“There are names here.”
“Yes.”
“Children.”
“Yes.”
“Families.”
“Yes.”
“Then we're not destroying anything.”
The man reached for the book.
Mara pulled it away.
He suddenly grabbed her wrist.
Daniel lunged.
Rose shouted.
The man released Mara and stumbled backward.
He looked at his hand.
Blood was running from a cut across his palm.
The metal cabinet had a sharp edge.
For the first time, fear appeared on his face.
Not fear of them.
Fear of time.
Mara saw it.
“You're sick.”
He said nothing.
“You need the records before you die.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because someone else will use them.”
“Who?”
He looked at the ceiling.
“The person who sent the first photograph.”
Mara froze.
“Rose?”
Rose shook her head.
“I didn't send the records.”
The man smiled.
“Not you.”
Mara remembered the envelope.
The photograph.
The message.
She suddenly understood.
The person who sent it had known exactly where to look.
They had known Helen's name.
They had known Rose was alive.
They had known about the hidden room.
And they had known Mara would be there.
Mara turned to Daniel.
“Who knew about the second ledger?”
He stared at her.
“Your grandfather.”
“Who else?”
“Rose.”
“Helen?”
“Yes.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
Mara looked at the man.
“And you.”
He nodded.
“Then there is one more.”
Nobody spoke.
Mara thought of the photographs.
Helen outside the house.
Rose outside her apartment.
Mara outside her workplace.
Six months.
Two months.
Three weeks.
Someone had been following them.
Someone had access to the old records.
Someone had wanted Mara to find the room.
Mara turned toward the stairs.
“There's a camera.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“In the house.”
She pointed toward the smoke detector.
“It wasn't there before.”
The man smiled.
“You're learning.”
Mara grabbed a chair and pulled it beneath the detector.
Daniel stopped her.
“Wait.”
He examined it.
A tiny lens stared back at them.
Rose whispered, “How long?”
The man answered.
“Long enough.”
Mara looked at him.
“Who installed it?”
He smiled.
“I didn't.”
The smile disappeared from his face.
For the first time, he looked genuinely frightened.
Mara climbed down.
“Then who did?”
The man stared at the camera.
“Your grandfather's partner.”
Daniel whispered, “There were three.”
The man nodded.
“I told you one was dead.”
Rose looked at him.
“You said one was dead.”
“I was wrong.”
Mara stared.
“Which one?”
The man looked toward the kitchen.
“The one who owned this house before your family.”
Helen suddenly gasped.
Mara turned.
“What?”
Helen was staring at the camera.
“I remember.”
“What?”
Helen's voice was shaking.
“The man who gave me the key.”
Rose stepped closer.
“Who?”
Helen looked at her.
“He wasn't my father's partner.”
She swallowed.
“He was his son.”
Daniel went pale.
Mara whispered, “Your uncle?”
Helen nodded.
“My father's son.”
Rose's face changed.
“That means…”
Mara finished the thought.
“He could still be alive.”
A phone rang upstairs.
Everyone froze.
The ringtone came from Mara's phone.
She reached into her pocket.
The screen showed an unknown number.
She answered.
No one spoke.
Then a man's voice whispered.
“Ask your mother where she left Elena.”
Mara looked at Helen.
The caller continued.
“Then ask her why the baby was crying.”
The line went dead.
Helen collapsed against the wall.
Mara held the phone.
Rose stared at her sister.
“Do you remember?”
Helen closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“What?”
Helen opened them.
“The baby wasn't crying in the room.”
She looked at Mara.
“She was crying outside.”
Mara's breath caught.
“Outside where?”
Helen pointed toward the kitchen wall.
“Behind that wall.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART8: At Last, Helen Remembered Where Elena Had Been Hidden, and the Truth Forced Every Survivor to Face What Silence Had Cost Them
By the Time the Last Gray Hair Fell, Mara Knew Her Mother Was Hiding Something More Painful Than Fear
Part 7 of 16
