Chapter 5 - Locker 318 Opens

Emergency lights came on.

Red.

Dim.

Someone grabbed me.

I screamed.

Marco turned.

Arthur shouted.

Daniel drew an old revolver from beneath his coat.

The lights returned.

Victor was gone.

So was Elena.

Marco stared.

“Mom?”

The train began moving.

Marco ran.

Too late.

The last car disappeared into the tunnel.

Valentina looked at the platform.

A steel key lay on the floor.

Elena’s second key.

Arthur picked it up.

“She dropped it.”

Marco stared at the tunnel.

“No.”

“She left it.”

Daniel frowned.

“What’s the difference?”

Marco took the key.

“She knew he wanted the compartment.”

“She made sure he couldn’t open it.”

Arthur nodded.

Marco looked toward the station lockers.

“318.”

We ran.

The old locker bank still existed behind the renovated concourse.

318.

Marco inserted Arthur’s brass key.

The outer door opened.

Inside:

Empty shelf.

Dust.

Twenty-three letters had been removed months earlier.

Valentina looked ashamed.

Marco ignored it.

Arthur pressed a hidden catch.

A steel plate shifted.

Second lock.

Marco inserted Elena’s key.

Turned.

The compartment opened.

Documents.

Four cassette tapes.

A leather ledger.

A sealed envelope.

And a small revolver wrapped in cloth.

Daniel froze.

“That gun.”

Marco looked at him.

“You know it?”

“It’s the weapon Victor used on Anthony.”

Silence.

Arthur stared.

“How did Anthony get it here if he died that night?”

Daniel looked confused.

“He didn’t.”

Marco picked up the revolver.

A note was tied to it.

FOR MARCO.

THE MAN YOU SAW DIE WAS NOT YOUR FATHER.

Marco stopped breathing.

Daniel snatched the note.

“No.”

Elena’s earlier words came back.

Anthony died in Daniel’s arms.

But the note said otherwise.

Marco opened the sealed envelope.

Anthony’s handwriting.

Son,

If this compartment has opened, the truth lasted longer than I expected.

Marco sat down.

He read aloud.

The garage recording shows a man being shot.

Daniel believed that man was me.

Victor believed that man was me.

Even Elena believed it for years.

Daniel whispered:

“I held him.”

Marco continued.

The man in the garage was my cousin, Michael Santoro.

Arthur closed his eyes.

“You knew Michael.”

“Yes.”

Daniel looked sick.

“They looked alike.”

“Almost identical.”

Marco continued.

Michael agreed to wear my coat because we believed Victor was watching.

We intended to expose the meeting.

Instead, Victor shot him.

Daniel sat down hard.

“I watched the wrong man die.”

Marco read on.

I wanted to return for you that night.

But Michael’s death proved Victor would kill anyone near me.

So I disappeared completely.

Marco’s hands shook.

Valentina whispered:

“Then your father might still be alive.”

Arthur looked at the final paragraph.

Marco read:

I survived.

If Elena is still alive when you read this, she knows where I went.

Everyone stopped.

Victor had Elena.

And Elena knew where Anthony was.

Marco folded the letter.

“He didn’t take my mother because of the documents.”

Arthur nodded.

“He took her because she knows where your father is.”

Daniel looked at the revolver.

“And if Victor realizes Anthony is alive…”

“He’ll finish what he started.”

Marco looked at the train schedule.

The departing train’s destination.

Montreal.

Valentina checked her phone.

“There’s another train in twenty minutes.”

Marco looked at Arthur.

“You said my mother lived in Toronto.”

“Yes.”

“Where did my father live?”

Arthur hesitated.

“I don’t know.”

Marco stared.

“Arthur.”

“I swear.”

Daniel looked at the ledger.

“Maybe it’s in here.”

He opened it.

Names.

Accounts.

Dates.

One repeated code.

M-27.

Arthur frowned.

“I’ve seen that.”

“Where?”

“In Elena’s Toronto apartment.”

“What is it?”

“Not an account.”

“A storage unit.”

“Where?”

“Montreal.”

Marco looked toward the departure board.

Platform 6.

Montreal.

11:59 p.m.

He took the ledger.

The keys.

The letter.

And his coat.

Valentina stepped forward.

“I’m coming.”

Marco looked at her.

“You don’t owe me this.”

“No.”

She wiped her face.

“I owe myself the truth.”

Daniel said:

“So do I.”

Arthur smiled faintly.

“I’m too old for another train.”

Marco looked at him.

“Stay.”

Arthur picked up his coat.

May you like

[COMPLETED] “GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY DRESS! YOU’RE NOTHING BUT AN OLD SEAM...

[COMPLETED] At the Mafia Boss's Engagement Party, I Served His Hungry So...

[COMPLETED] The Mafia Boss’s Fiancée Tried to Dismiss His Father’s Loyal...

“I said too old.”

“Not unwilling.”