Chapter 13: The Name on the Last Page
The headlights outside the workshop went dark.
Nobody moved.
Jason stood between Robert and the door, gripping the leather ledger so tightly that its edges pressed into his palms.
Laura whispered, “How many exits are there?””
“Two,” Jason answered.
“The front door and the garage.””
Robert shook his head.
“The garage won't help. Daniel knows this property better than you think.””
A car door slammed outside.
Then came three sharp knocks.
“Jason!”” Daniel called.
“Open the door.””
Jason looked at Robert.
The old man pointed toward a narrow storage cupboard behind the workbench.
“There's a second passage. Your father built it when he renovated the garage.””
Jason frowned.
“I've never seen it.””
“Because he covered it with shelving.””
Daniel knocked again.
“I'm not leaving until we talk!””
Laura took out her phone.
“I'm calling the police.””
Robert grabbed her wrist.
“Not from here. He'll see the signal if he's watching the windows.””
“That's ridiculous,” Jason whispered.
“Maybe. But I've spent twenty years being careful.””
Robert pulled aside a wooden shelf, revealing a narrow door.
“Get the ledger out first.””
Jason hesitated.
“What about you?””
“I'll hold them off.””
“No.””
Robert looked at him.
“Your father gave me one chance to make things right. I'm not wasting it.””
A heavy impact shook the workshop door.
Daniel shouted again.
“Open it!””
Laura slipped through the narrow passage first. Jason followed, holding the ledger beneath his jacket.
Robert remained behind.
Just before Jason closed the hidden door, Robert caught his arm.
“One more thing. Don't read the last page without Margaret present.””
“Why?””
“Because the person named there is powerful enough to make evidence disappear.””
The hidden door closed.
Jason and Laura crawled through the narrow passage and emerged inside the garage.
They heard the workshop door splinter behind them.
Then Daniel's voice.
“Where is he?””
Jason opened the garage's side entrance.
They ran toward the street.
A black sedan pulled up beside them.
The driver lowered the passenger window.
It was Margaret Collins.
“Get in!””
Jason and Laura jumped inside.
Margaret accelerated before the doors were fully closed.
“Where's Robert?”” she asked.
“Still inside.””
Margaret's expression tightened.
“Did he give you the ledger?””
Jason held it up.
“Yes.””
“Good. Now we need to get somewhere safe.””
Laura looked back.
A dark SUV had pulled out behind them.
“Margaret, we're being followed.””
“I know.””
She turned sharply onto a side street, then drove through a shopping plaza and onto a busy road.
The SUV disappeared.
Jason opened the ledger.
“I need to know what's on the last page.””
Margaret glanced at him.
“Robert specifically told you not to read it?””
“Yes.””
“Then don't.””
“Why does everyone keep telling me what I can and can't know?””
“Because the last time someone knew the truth, a woman died.””
Jason fell silent.
Margaret continued driving.
They reached her office shortly after six.
She locked the front entrance, closed the blinds, and placed the ledger on her desk.
“Let's start with the account records.””
For nearly an hour, Margaret examined every entry.
The numbers confirmed what Robert had said.
Daniel had diverted rental income, forged documents, and used the property as collateral for loans.
But several payments were listed under a different name.
*Hawthorne Security Consulting.*
Jason pointed at the entries.
“What is that?””
Margaret searched through her computer records.
“An old private security company. It operated in Ohio twenty years ago.””
Laura leaned forward.
“Why would Daniel pay a security company?””
Margaret looked at the dates.
“The payments began three weeks before Katherine's accident.””
Jason's stomach tightened.
“Could they have been hired to follow her?””
“Possibly.””
Laura looked at the ledger.
“My mother knew someone was watching her. She wrote about it in her diary.””
Margaret turned another page.
A small notation appeared beside the final payment.
*Authorization: R.H.*
Jason stared.
“Richard Hale?””
Margaret shook her head.
“Richard's initials are R.H., but he was only a teenager twenty years ago. This could be someone else.””
Laura opened the diary.
“There's another R.H. mentioned here.””
She found an entry and read it aloud.
Robert says the man arranging the meetings is not Daniel. Daniel is only following instructions. I need to find out who is paying him.
Jason leaned closer.
“Who was paying him?””
Laura turned the page.
The entry ended abruptly.
Margaret opened the ledger's back cover.
A folded piece of paper had been tucked inside.
It contained a list of names.
At the bottom was one name written in bold letters.
*HAROLD WHITMORE.*
Jason looked up.
“Who is that?””
Margaret's face changed.
“Harold Whitmore was a county judge twenty years ago.””
“Was?””
“He retired five years ago. He also handled several estate disputes involving your father.””
Laura shook her head.
“Why would a judge be paying Daniel?””
Margaret didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she picked up her phone.
“I need to verify something.””
She made a call and spoke quietly for several minutes.
When she finished, she looked at Jason.
“Harold Whitmore wasn't just connected to your father's estate.””
“What else?””
“He was the judge who approved the original accident report.””
Jason stared at her.
Margaret lowered her voice.
“And according to an old financial disclosure, he received three payments from Hawthorne Security Consulting in the months following Katherine's death.””
Laura covered her mouth.
“So he helped cover it up.””
“That's what it suggests.””
Jason looked down at the ledger.
“Then the last page names him?””
Margaret slowly opened the final sheet.
Her eyes moved across the handwriting.
Then she stopped.
“Jason…”
“What?””
“There's another name.””
She turned the page toward him.
Beside Harold Whitmore's name was a second entry.
*EVELYN CARTER — FINAL AUTHORIZATION.*
Jason felt the room tilt.
“My mother?””
Laura shook her head.
“No. That can't be right.””
Margaret looked at the signature beneath the entry.
It was unmistakably Evelyn's.
May you like
And beneath it was a handwritten note.
*She knew Katherine was still alive when the vehicle left the scene.*
