Chapter 9 - The Last Recording Was Behind the Fireplace

We returned to the estate after sunrise.

The New Year’s decorations were still hanging.

Champagne glasses remained on abandoned tables.

The house looked exhausted.

So did everyone inside it.

Joseph asked me to take him to the kitchen fireplace.

The same fireplace where Victoria had told me to burn the letter.

He stared at the brickwork.

“Sixteen years ago, this room was smaller.”

I looked at him.

“You hid something here?”

“Behind it.”

Gabriel moved the iron screen.

Joseph pointed to the third brick from the left.

It looked ordinary.

I pressed it.

Nothing.

Joseph said:

“Push and turn.”

I did.

The brick moved.

Behind it was a narrow metal tube.

Gabriel pulled it out.

Inside was another microcassette.

And a handwritten note.

IF I DO NOT COME HOME, PLAY THIS FOR GABRIEL.

Gabriel read it twice.

Joseph looked at him.

“I thought someone loyal would find it.”

Gabriel glanced at me.

“Eventually someone did.”

We took the cassette to the study.

The recording began with static.

Then Marcus’s voice.

“You are making this harder than it needs to be.”

Joseph answered.

“You sold names.”

“I sold information.”

“People died.”

Silence on the tape.

Then Marcus said:

“And Gabriel will too if you keep pushing.”

In the room, Gabriel stopped breathing.

The tape continued.

Joseph’s younger voice became quiet.

“You threaten my son again and I will destroy you.”

Marcus laughed.

“No.”

“You will disappear.”

“Evelyn already arranged the clinic.”

“She has doctors who ask no questions.”

“And when Gabriel asks where you went, I will tell him you chose money over him.”

Joseph said:

“He will never believe you.”

Marcus answered:

“He is eighteen.”

“He will believe the man who stays.”

The tape clicked.

Then one final sentence.

Marcus said:

“By the time he is thirty, he will call me father without realizing it.”

The recording ended.

Gabriel stood completely still.

Joseph looked down.

“I’m sorry.”

Gabriel turned.

“For what?”

“For not finding a way back.”

Gabriel’s eyes filled.

“You were hit by a car.”

“I survived.”

“You were threatened.”

“I still should have found a way.”

Gabriel walked closer.

Joseph looked at him.

“I missed your entire life.”

Gabriel shook his head.

“No.”

Joseph frowned.

Gabriel held up the bundle from Box 118.

“You were given pieces of it.”

Then he held up his own letters.

“And I spent sixteen years trying to reach you too.”

For the first time, Gabriel put his arms around his father.

Joseph closed his eyes.

Neither man spoke.

Margaret turned away to give them privacy.

I did the same.

Victoria stood at the doorway.

She watched Gabriel hold the father she had helped hide.

Then she removed the diamond necklace from her throat.

She placed it on the desk.

Gabriel looked at her.

“What are you doing?”

“Leaving.”

He said nothing.

Victoria looked at Joseph.

“I am sorry.”

Joseph studied her.

“You were afraid of your mother.”

“That does not excuse what I did.”

“No.”

She nodded.

“I know.”

Gabriel asked:

“Where will you go?”

“To give a statement.”

Evelyn, standing behind her, went pale.

Victoria looked at her mother.

“All of it.”

Evelyn whispered:

“You would destroy your own family?”

Victoria’s eyes hardened.

“You taught me family was something you used.”

She looked at Gabriel.

“I think I would like to learn something else.”

She walked out.

Evelyn did not follow.

Gabriel’s phone rang.

One of the investigators.

He answered.

We watched his expression change.

“Where?”

Pause.

“Are you sure?”

Another pause.

Gabriel looked at Joseph.

Then at Evelyn.

He ended the call.

Marcus had been found.

At a private airfield forty miles away.

Two passports in his bag.

Cash.

Transfer documents.

And one final envelope.

Addressed to Gabriel.

Joseph looked at his son.

“What does it say?”

Gabriel shook his head.

“They’re bringing it here.”

Evelyn whispered:

“Don’t read it.”

Gabriel looked at her.

“Why?”

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For the first time, Evelyn looked afraid.

“Because Marcus never writes anything unless he thinks it can still hurt someone.”