Chapter 4 - The Box Under Amelia’s Name

The bank opened at 11:40 p.m.

Only for them.

The private manager said nothing.

People who worked around families like theirs learned not to ask questions.

Christian stood inside the vault.

Charles beside him.

Victor behind them.

Amelia remained near the door.

Samuel watched the hallway.

The box required both keys.

Brass first.

Silver second.

Christian turned them together.

The lock clicked.

Inside was a black leather folder.

Three cassette tapes.

A stack of contracts.

And a photograph.

Christian picked up the photograph first.

His father.

Victor.

Anthony Voss.

Richard DeLuca.

All four standing on a dock.

Fifteen years younger.

Christian looked at Charles.

“When was this?”

“Two weeks before I disappeared.”

Victor pointed at Anthony.

“He had already decided to confess.”

“Confess to what?”

Victor opened the folder.

The first contract transferred voting rights in three DeLuca Shipping subsidiaries.

The signature at the bottom read:

CHARLES DELUCA.

Christian looked at his father.

“You signed this?”

“No.”

The signature looked perfect.

Charles stared at it.

“Leonard.”

Christian understood.

“Your lawyer.”

Charles nodded.

“He had samples of everything.”

Victor pulled out another document.

This one transferred the same shares to a holding company.

Its owner:

RICHARD DELUCA.

Christian’s face hardened.

“He stole the company before you disappeared.”

“He tried.”

Charles pointed to a date.

“The transfer required board confirmation.”

Christian looked at the next page.

The board vote had taken place two days after the plane was found.

Charles had already been presumed missing.

Richard had voted as temporary chairman.

Christian whispered:

“He used your disappearance to complete it.”

“Yes.”

Amelia stepped closer.

“What does my uncle have to do with this?”

Victor looked at her.

“Anthony discovered Leonard had forged Charles’s signature.”

“Why didn’t he go to the police?”

“He tried.”

Victor pointed to the cassette tapes.

“Those are recordings of the meetings.”

Christian lifted one.

A handwritten label.

A.V. — R.D. — L.R.

Anthony Voss.

Richard DeLuca.

Leonard Russo.

Amelia stared.

“My uncle recorded them?”

“Yes.”

Victor looked ashamed.

“And then he made the mistake of telling Richard.”

Charles picked up the second cassette.

“What happened to Anthony?”

Victor looked at Samuel.

Samuel answered.

“I only saw him get into Richard’s car.”

Christian turned to Charles.

“You said Richard had two men waiting for you.”

Charles nodded.

“One was Leonard.”

“The other?”

Charles hesitated.

“I never saw his face.”

Victor opened the folder farther.

A sealed envelope fell out.

FOR CHRISTIAN.

Christian stared.

His name was written in Anthony’s handwriting.

Victor looked surprised.

“I’ve never seen that.”

Christian opened it.

One page.

He read silently.

Then again.

Amelia watched his face.

“What does it say?”

Christian looked at his father.

“Anthony says if something happens to him, I should never trust the story about the plane.”

Charles stepped closer.

Christian continued.

“He says Richard planned two disappearances that week.”

Victor went pale.

“Two?”

Christian looked at him.

“Anthony and my father.”

Silence.

He kept reading.

Then stopped.

“What?”

Amelia asked.

Christian looked directly at Victor.

“He says one of the men helping Richard was someone inside your house.”

Victor frowned.

“My house?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

Christian lowered the paper.

“Your wife.”

Amelia stopped breathing.

“My mother?”

Victor stared at the letter.

“That’s impossible.”

Amelia’s mother, Eleanor Voss, had died nine years earlier.

Christian looked back at the page.

Anthony had written one final line.

ASK ELEANOR WHY SHE GAVE RICHARD THE HARBOR SCHEDULE.

Amelia shook her head.

“No.”

Victor sat down hard.

Charles said nothing.

Christian watched him.

“You knew her.”

Charles nodded.

“Very well.”

Victor looked up.

“How well?”

Charles’s expression changed.

Too late.

Amelia saw it.

“So did my mother help you?”

Charles looked at her.

“No.”

“Then why do you look like that?”

He didn’t answer.

Victor stood.

“Charles.”

The older man looked tired.

Not afraid.

Tired.

“Eleanor didn’t give Richard the schedule because she worked for him.”

Christian asked:

“Then why?”

Charles looked at Amelia.

“Because Richard told her Anthony was planning to kill Victor.”

Victor stared.

“What?”

“She thought she was saving her husband.”

Amelia’s eyes filled.

“And was she?”

Charles shook his head.

“No.”

Christian looked at the tapes.

“She gave Richard the schedule.”

“Yes.”

“And that put Anthony and you in the same place.”

“Yes.”

Christian’s voice became quiet.

“So one lie moved everybody into position.”

Charles looked at him.

“That is how Richard always worked.”

Samuel entered the vault.

His face had changed.

“Christian.”

“What?”

“The bank manager just received a call.”

“From who?”

“Richard.”

Christian looked toward the vault door.

“What did he want?”

Samuel answered:

“He said to tell Charles the third tape is missing.”

Charles looked at the open box.

There were only three slots.

Two tapes.

One empty space.

Christian stared at his father.

“What was on the third tape?”

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Charles whispered:

“The confession.”