Chapter 8 - What Maria Saw That Night

At 5:42 p.m., Maria entered the lake house alone.

At least Thomas believed she did.

Sebastian was in the woods behind the property.

I was with Dr. Levin in a surveillance van two hundred yards away.

Federal agents knew.

But Maria had asked for fifteen minutes.

Not to negotiate.

To make Thomas talk.

Natalie stayed with her father.

She had finally chosen distance from the Vale family.

Inside the lake house, Thomas waited near the fireplace.

He had the music box.

Maria looked at it.

“You kept it.”

Thomas smiled.

“Harold always was sentimental.”

“Where are the records?”

“Inside.”

“Open it.”

“No.”

Maria stood ten feet away.

“You called me here.”

“I wanted to see whether you still looked afraid.”

“Do I?”

Thomas studied her.

“No.”

“Disappointed?”

“A little.”

Maria looked at the windows.

“You killed Luca.”

Thomas smiled.

“I drove a car.”

“You aimed it at him.”

“At both brothers.”

Sebastian heard every word through the microphone hidden beneath Maria’s collar.

Thomas poured himself a drink.

“Anthony was supposed to die too.”

“Because he agreed to testify.”

Thomas stopped.

Then laughed.

“Luca told you.”

“Yes.”

“Anthony begged my father for another chance that morning.”

Maria’s face changed.

“What?”

Thomas took a drink.

“He changed his mind.”

Sebastian listened from the woods.

Maria said:

“Anthony was not going to testify?”

“Not by the time they got in the car.”

Thomas smiled.

“He had already warned Edwin.”

Maria stared.

Thomas continued.

“Anthony told us Luca had copies.”

“So Anthony betrayed him again.”

“Yes.”

“Then why try to kill Anthony?”

“Loose ends.”

Maria looked sick.

Thomas enjoyed it.

“My father never trusted him.”

“You still failed.”

“Luca died.”

“Anthony lived.”

“Unfortunately.”

“And I lived.”

Thomas’s smile disappeared.

“That was Harold.”

Maria nodded.

“Judge Cross saved me.”

“He ruined everything.”

“No.”

Maria’s voice sharpened.

“He preserved the witness you forgot.”

Thomas placed the glass down.

“You saw nothing.”

“I saw you leave your car.”

He froze.

“I saw you walk to Luca’s wreck.”

Silence.

“I saw Anthony climbing out.”

Thomas’s face hardened.

“You were not there.”

“I was behind them.”

“No.”

“Luca called me from the road.”

Thomas stepped closer.

Maria continued.

“He said Anthony wanted to talk.”

“You are lying.”

“I followed.”

Thomas stared.

Maria said:

“You opened Luca’s door.”

He said nothing.

“You checked whether he was breathing.”

Nothing.

“And Anthony asked you for help.”

Thomas’s jaw tightened.

Maria’s voice broke.

“You pulled Anthony out.”

Thomas looked away.

“You left Luca there.”

A long silence.

Then Thomas whispered:

“Luca was already dead.”

Maria’s eyes filled.

“No.”

Thomas looked at her.

“He was.”

“No.”

“You want me to say I watched him die?”

Maria stepped closer.

“I want you to remember what you actually did.”

Thomas’s breathing changed.

Maria continued.

“Luca was alive.”

Thomas said nothing.

“He said my name.”

Thomas’s eyes narrowed.

“He could barely speak.”

“But he spoke.”

Maria’s tears fell.

“And you closed the door.”

Sebastian shut his eyes in the woods.

Thomas looked toward the fireplace.

Then finally said:

“My father told me not to leave witnesses.”

Maria’s voice became almost a whisper.

“So you left him to burn.”

“Yes.”

The word was small.

But it ended twenty-three years of uncertainty.

Sebastian moved toward the house.

Federal agents moved with him.

Inside, Thomas heard something outside.

He grabbed the music box.

Maria stepped back.

“Thomas.”

He opened the fireplace.

“You want the records?”

“No.”

He threw the music box toward the flames.

The front door exploded inward.

Sebastian entered.

He caught Thomas’s wrist before the box left his hand.

Thomas swung.

Sebastian blocked him.

Agents entered behind.

“Federal agents!”

Thomas reached toward his waistband.

Maria shouted:

“Sebastian!”

Sebastian stepped away.

An agent disarmed Thomas.

Seconds later, he was on the floor.

Handcuffed.

The music box lay near the fireplace.

Unburned.

Sebastian picked it up.

He handed it to Maria.

“You open it.”

Maria shook her head.

“It belongs to Natalie.”

So Sebastian did not open it.

That surprised everyone.

He carried it back to the city.

Natalie was waiting at Dr. Levin’s house.

Sebastian placed the box in front of her.

“Your father gave it to you.”

She stared.

“And you did not open it?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m done taking choices away from people and calling it protection.”

Natalie looked at him.

Then opened the music box.

Inside the base was a hidden compartment.

Microfilm.

Bank records.

A signed statement from Edwin Vale.

And one letter.

Addressed to Sebastian.

Not from Luca.

From Anthony.

Dated twenty-three years earlier.

Sebastian unfolded it.

The first line:

I betrayed your father before Thomas killed him.

Sebastian stopped reading.

Maria touched his shoulder.

He continued.

Anthony had written the letter after the crash.

He confessed everything.

He planned to turn himself in.

Then the letter ended abruptly.

No signature.

No explanation.

Natalie looked at Judge Cross.

“Why did my grandfather have this?”

Judge Cross answered:

“Because Anthony gave it to Edwin.”

Sebastian stared.

“Why?”

“Fear.”

Judge Cross looked ashamed.

“He wrote the truth.”

Then gave it to the man who owned him.

Sebastian folded the letter.

Maria asked:

“What will you do?”

Sebastian looked toward the window.

“Visit him.”

“Anthony?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Sebastian held the unfinished confession.

“Because before I decide whether he was ever my family…”

He looked at the words.

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