Chapter 6 - What Elena Found Before She Died

Nobody spoke.

Damian held the phone tighter.

“What does that mean?”

Marcus answered:

“Ask your father where he was nine years ago.”

Damian looked at Victor.

His father’s face had gone pale.

“Where were you?”

Victor did not answer.

Marcus laughed.

“There it is.”

Damian’s voice hardened.

“Where?”

Victor whispered:

“Boston.”

Silence.

Damian stared.

“You came back.”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“Three days before your mother died.”

Julian stood.

“You never told me that.”

Victor looked at him.

“I told no one.”

Damian’s breathing changed.

“Did Mother know?”

“Yes.”

“What happened?”

Victor closed his eyes.

“She contacted me.”

“Why?”

“She found the Zurich file reference in an old letter.”

“So you met.”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“South Station.”

“The same place as the locker.”

“Yes.”

Marcus spoke through the phone.

“And then Elena drove home.”

Damian’s voice dropped.

“What did you do?”

Victor stared at the floor.

“I followed her.”

Damian went still.

“Why?”

“Because she took the file.”

Silence.

Julian whispered:

“Victor.”

Damian’s face emptied.

“You chased my mother.”

“No.”

“You followed her car.”

“Yes.”

“In the rain.”

“Yes.”

“On the road where she died.”

Victor’s eyes filled.

“Yes.”

Damian stepped toward him.

Charles moved but stopped.

Nobody touched Damian.

He looked at his father.

“Did you cause the crash?”

Victor’s voice broke.

“No.”

Marcus laughed through the speaker.

“He is technically telling the truth.”

Damian turned back to the phone.

“What happened?”

Marcus answered:

“I was behind Victor.”

Victor’s head snapped up.

“What?”

“You never saw me.”

Marcus continued.

“Elena had taken something that belonged to me.”

“The file.”

“Yes.”

Damian’s voice became cold.

“So you followed both of them.”

“Yes.”

“What happened?”

Marcus paused.

Then:

“Elena stopped at the overlook.”

Victor stared.

“That is where I lost her.”

“You did not lose her.”

Marcus continued.

“She pulled over.”

Damian looked at Victor.

Victor shook his head.

“I never saw that.”

“Because I blocked the road.”

Silence.

Damian’s jaw tightened.

“What did you do to my mother?”

Marcus did not answer.

Damian repeated:

“What did you do?”

Marcus’s voice lowered.

“I asked for the file.”

“And?”

“She refused.”

Damian closed his eyes.

“And?”

“She drove away.”

Victor stepped forward.

“That is not enough.”

Marcus sighed.

“No.”

“What did you do?”

“I followed.”

Damian stared at the phone.

“The crash?”

Marcus said:

“I hit her car.”

Bianca covered her mouth.

Charles whispered:

“My God.”

Victor’s face changed completely.

Damian did not move.

Marcus continued.

“I did not intend to send her over the barrier.”

Julian sat down.

Victor looked like he might collapse.

Damian’s voice became almost quiet.

“You killed my mother.”

“Yes.”

No excuse.

No denial.

Just yes.

Damian looked at Victor.

“And you spent nine years thinking?”

Victor whispered:

“I thought she lost control because I followed her.”

“So you blamed yourself.”

“Yes.”

“And that is why you stopped trying to come home.”

Victor closed his eyes.

“Yes.”

Marcus laughed softly.

“The perfect ghost.”

Damian looked back at the phone.

“What do you want?”

“The file.”

“Why admit murder?”

“Because once I have the file, I leave.”

“You think that confession helps you leave?”

“It helps you understand I have nothing left to protect.”

Damian stared.

Marcus continued.

“Locker 218.”

“Meet where?”

“South Station.”

Victor shook his head.

Damian ignored him.

“When?”

“Forty minutes.”

The call ended.

Victor stepped forward.

“You are not going.”

Damian looked at him.

“Interesting.”

“Damian.”

“You disappeared because everyone kept deciding for me.”

“This is different.”

“No.”

His voice remained calm.

“It is exactly the same.”

Bianca moved closer.

“He could kill you.”

Damian looked at her.

“He could.”

She swallowed.

“And you are still going.”

“Yes.”

Theodore had been silent.

Now he spoke.

“No.”

Damian turned.

The old archivist held up a small recorder.

“I recorded the call.”

Damian stared.

Theodore continued.

“Marcus confessed to homicide.”

Charles understood.

“We call federal investigators.”

Victor nodded.

Damian looked at them.

“And the file?”

“Leave it in the locker.”

Victor shook his head.

“No.”

Everyone looked at him.

“The locker is not secure.”

“What?”

Victor looked at Damian.

“Marcus already knows the number.”

“Then why has he not taken it?”

“Because the key is not physical.”

Damian frowned.

Victor looked at the passport.

“The machine-readable number.”

Damian took it out.

Michael Grant.

Victor continued.

“The passport number is the access code.”

Damian stared.

“So the passport is the key.”

“Yes.”

Bianca whispered:

“And I tried to destroy it.”

Silence.

Victor looked at her.

“That is why Marcus wanted it gone.”

Damian turned.

“What?”

Victor continued.

“Charles did not ask Theodore to destroy the passport.”

Everyone looked at Charles.

Charles frowned.

“I did not.”

Bianca stared.

“Theodore said my father asked him.”

Theodore slowly shook his head.

“No.”

His face had changed.

“The request came from Charles Laurent’s archive credentials.”

Charles went still.

“I never sent it.”

Damian understood.

“Marcus used them too.”

Theodore nodded.

“Yes.”

The same way he used Julian’s credentials.

Marcus had wanted the passport destroyed.

Not because it proved Victor was alive.

Because it opened the locker.

Damian looked at the old document in his hand.

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For fourteen years, the passport had hidden his father.

Now it held the evidence that could expose everyone.