Chapter 21 - The Name Mark Refused to Say
No one spoke after Olivia's words.
I held the phone tightly.
"Sweetheart, are you safe?"
"Yes."
"They were polite."
"But they asked strange questions."
"What kind of questions?"
"They wanted to know whether Dad had contacted me recently."
I glanced at Mark.
He had stopped breathing normally.
"They also asked whether he still kept... something called the Black Ledger."
Rachel immediately looked up.
"The Black Ledger?"
Vanessa frowned.
"I've never heard that name."
Emma slowly turned toward Mark.
He whispered,
"Don't answer another question."
Olivia heard him through the phone.
"Dad?"
Her voice trembled.
"Why are you there?"
Mark closed his eyes.
For nearly twenty seconds...
He said nothing.
Then, in a voice none of us had heard before, he quietly asked,
"They... they actually used those exact words?"
"Yes."
"'The Black Ledger.'"
Mark slowly sat back down.
He looked like a man who had just seen a ghost.
Rachel carefully closed every document on the table.
"I think," she said quietly,
"our evening just became far more complicated."
Outside, another car stopped in front of the building.
May you like
This time...
No one rushed to answer the door.
