Chapter 9 - ELENA’S BLUE NOTEBOOK
I called Victor immediately.
“Do you know about Elena’s blue notebook?”
Silence.
“Yes.”
“You found it.”
“After she died.”
“What was in it?”
“Dates.”
“What dates?”
“Security shifts. Cars near the house. Times Elena thought she was being followed.”
My skin prickled.
“Was she?”
“I never proved it.”
“Did police investigate?”
“Yes.”
“What did they find?”
“Nothing conclusive.”
“And the accident?”
“Rain. Speed. Another vehicle changing lanes.”
“So no evidence anyone caused it.”
“No.”
Good.
Not every secret had to become murder.
“Why did Elena think security mattered?”
Victor hesitated.
“One guard had access to Finn’s schedule.”
“And?”
“He had been selling information.”
“To who?”
“A reporter.”
“That’s bad, but why was Elena terrified?”
“She thought he sold Finn’s daycare route.”
My stomach tightened.
“Was he fired?”
“Yes.”
“Charged?”
“Later, for unrelated data theft.”
“And the notebook?”
“In my safe.”
“I want to see it.”
Victor paused.
Then:
“Okay.”
The next morning, with his attorney present, we reviewed it.
Elena had followed my mother’s advice perfectly.
MARJORIE SAYS WRITE FACTS, NOT FEARS.
Dates.
Times.
License fragments.
Then one name appeared repeatedly.
Anthony Reed.
“Who is he?” I asked.
“Former security contractor.”
“The one selling information?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“He reported that guard.”
“So he helped.”
“Yes.”
“Where is he now?”
Victor looked uncomfortable.
“I don’t know.”
“He resigned?”
“Two weeks after Elena died.”
Then I found another note.
A.R. SAYS MARJORIE WILL UNDERSTAND.
My mother knew him.
Then an old security file revealed something stranger.
Anthony Reed’s background record belonged to someone else.
His original name:
Anthony Russo.
Victor went still.
Russo.
His own family surname.
Then the final page of Elena’s notebook:
ANTHONY TOLD ME THE TRUTH.
Below:
HE IS NOT HERE TO WATCH VICTOR.
Then:
HE CAME TO FIND FINN.
Victor stood.
“No.”
I kept reading.
NOT TO TAKE HIM.
TO PROTECT HIM.
Then one last line:
May you like
HE SAYS FINN’S BIRTH RECORD IS WRONG.
And suddenly every person in the room stopped breathing.
