CHAPTER 20
THE LEDGER
Mara did not cry in the car.
She didn't cry when Lena opened the passenger door and pulled her into a hug.
She didn't cry when Lena looked at her face and said, "Oh, honey."
She didn't cry when she told her everything.
Not the whole story.
Not every kiss.
Not every night she'd spent wondering whether Adrian was looking at her because she was a client or because he wanted her.
But enough.
Enough for Lena to understand that Mara had fallen in love with the man who had been hired to keep her alive.
Enough for her to understand that he had just tried to send Mara away.
And enough for Lena to know that Mara was furious.
They drove through the Loop in silence.
Rain blurred the city outside.
Lena finally glanced at her.
"You want me to say something?"
"No."
"Okay."
A minute passed.
"You definitely want me to say something."
Mara stared out the window.
"He's impossible."
Lena nodded.
"That I can confirm."
"He thinks he knows what's best."
"That I can also confirm."
"He told me he loved me."
Lena nearly missed the turn.
"He what?"
Mara closed her eyes.
"Exactly."
"Adrian told you he loves you?"
"Yes."
"And then tried to send you away?"
"Yes."
Lena stared at the road.
"Men are exhausting."
Mara laughed despite herself.
It came out small.
Lena smiled.
"There's the girl I know."
Mara looked down at her hands.
"I love him."
"I know."
"I hate that."
"I know."
"He makes me feel safe."
Lena was quiet.
"That's not necessarily a bad thing."
"It is when safety starts feeling like a cage."
Lena nodded.
"Then you were right to leave."
Mara looked at her.
"You think so?"
"I think you get to decide what happens to you."
Mara turned toward the window again.
Chicago passed in fragments.
Traffic.
Coffee shops.
People under umbrellas.
A couple sharing an umbrella at a crosswalk.
Ordinary life.
She had forgotten what ordinary felt like.
The podcast studio appeared ahead.
Lena parked behind the building.
"We shouldn't be here."
"I know."
"Mara."
"I know."
Lena sighed.
"You're impossible too."
Mara grabbed her bag.
"Apparently it's contagious."
They entered through the back.
The studio was dark.
Lena switched on the lights.
Nothing happened.
She tried again.
The overhead lights flickered.
Then came on.
Mara walked toward her desk.
Her laptop was still there.
She opened it.
The screen lit up.
Hundreds of files.
Notes.
Audio recordings.
Interview transcripts.
She stared at the folders.
Then at the black notebook she'd taken from Price's safe.
Something about it bothered her.
She opened it.
The names were written in columns.
Companies.
Accounts.
Dates.
Amounts.
But the last page had no numbers.
Only initials.
G.V.
D.P.
E.E.
Mara froze.
"E.E."
Lena looked over.
"What?"
"My father."
"Edward Ellison?"
Mara nodded.
She flipped backward.
Her father's initials appeared several times.
But beside one entry was a word.
REFUSED.
She stared.
"Refused what?"
Lena came closer.
Mara kept turning pages.
Then stopped.
A tiny notation sat beneath a date.
Second ledger.
Her eyes narrowed.
"There's another one."
Lena frowned.
"What?"
"The ledger."
Mara looked around the studio.
"The notebook Price had wasn't the ledger. It was a record of people looking for it."
"Where's the actual ledger?"
"I don't know."
She grabbed her laptop.
"Then we find it."
They searched everything.
Cloud folders.
Old interviews.
Raw audio.
Mara's private research.
Nothing.
She opened an old interview with her father.
The file was six years old.
She remembered the day.
He had agreed to speak on record after the first rumors about Ellison Financial.
Then canceled.
Then disappeared.
Mara had always assumed he was afraid.
Now she listened again.
Her father's voice filled the studio.
Calm.
Measured.
Defensive.
She skipped forward.
"Why did you resign?"
Her younger voice came through the recording.
Her father paused.
"I didn't resign."
Mara stopped.
Lena looked at her.
"Play that again."
She did.
"I didn't resign."
Mara's fingers moved over the keyboard.
The next section had been cut.
She checked the original file.
There was a gap of thirty-seven seconds.
"Someone edited this."
"Can you recover it?"
"Maybe."
She opened the backup archive.
Nothing.
Then another folder.
ELLISON PERSONAL.
Mara stared at the screen.
She had never seen it before.
"What's that?"
"I don't know."
She opened it.
There were three files.
One photograph.
One scanned document.
One audio file.
She clicked the audio.
Static.
Then her father's voice.
"If you're hearing this, I didn't get the chance to explain."
Mara stopped breathing for a second.
Lena reached for her hand.
Her father's voice continued.
"The money was never mine."
Mara closed her eyes.
"I was told to sign the transfer documents. I refused."
A pause.
"They threatened your mother."
Mara's eyes opened.
Lena looked at her.
"The scandal was manufactured."
Mara stared at the screen.
Her father continued.
"They needed someone to blame. Someone with enough credibility to make the story believable."
Mara whispered, "Me."
"No."
Lena squeezed her hand.
The recording continued.
"Not you. Never you."
Mara's eyes filled.
She looked away.
Her father had left.
She had spent years turning that absence into a verdict.
He chose himself.
He abandoned them.
He didn't fight.
But now his voice was telling her something else.
He had tried.
Maybe not enough.
Maybe not bravely enough.
But he had tried.
The recording continued.
"The second ledger is not digital. I hid it where they would never search."
Mara leaned closer.
"Where?"
Static swallowed the next words.
She rewound.
Played it again.
Nothing.
The recording ended.
Lena looked at her.
"Can you recover the damaged section?"
"I can try."
Mara opened the audio software.
She isolated the waveform.
Thirty-seven seconds.
The file wasn't empty.
It had been overwritten.
She adjusted the filters.
Static.
A faint click.
Then a voice.
Her father's.
"...where nobody thinks to look."
Mara froze.
She looked at the photograph beside the computer.
The family picture.
The words on the back.
Some things are safer where nobody thinks to look.
"The photograph."
Lena frowned.
"What?"
"My father left the clue."
Mara turned it over.
She examined the photograph again.
Nothing.
Then she noticed the frame.
The photograph had been taken at their old house.
The house had been sold years ago.
But the frame itself was old.
Wood.
Heavy.
She remembered it.
It had sat on her mother's desk for years.
Mara grabbed her phone.
She called her mother.
Celia answered after three rings.
"Sweetheart?"
"Mom, where's the old family photograph?"
"What photograph?"
"The one from our old house. You had it in a wooden frame."
There was a pause.
"I think I gave it to you."
"No. The frame."
"Oh."
Another pause.
"I still have it."
Mara's pulse jumped.
"Where?"
"Storage."
"Where is the storage?"
"At my house."
Mara stood.
"Lena."
"I'm already getting my coat."
Celia's voice came through the phone.
"Mara, what's happening?"
"I'll explain when I see you."
"Are you safe?"
Mara looked at Lena.
Then at the dark studio windows.
"I think so."
Lena gave her a look.
Mara corrected herself.
"We're being careful."
"Good."
Mara hung up.
She opened the laptop again.
"We need the photograph."
"Then let's get it."
Mara hesitated.
"What?"
"Adrian."
Lena watched her.
"You want to call him."
"No."
"You definitely want to call him."
"He'll try to stop me."
"Maybe."
"He'll tell me it's too dangerous."
"Probably."
Mara looked at her phone.
Her thumb hovered over his name.
She could call him.
She could tell him about her father.
She could tell him about the second ledger.
She could ask him to come.
Instead, she locked the phone.
"I'm doing this myself."
Lena nodded.
"Okay."
They packed the files.
Mara copied the recovered recording to two drives.
Then she sent one encrypted copy to an investigative journalist she trusted.
She paused before pressing send.
Once the file left her computer, she couldn't take it back.
Lena stood beside her.
"Ready?"
Mara clicked send.
Upload complete.
She looked at the screen.
For the first time, she felt like she was finally doing something instead of reacting.
Then every light in the studio went out.
Lena froze.
"Mara?"
"I'm here."
A second later, the emergency lights failed too.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Lena reached for her phone.
"No signal."
Mara pulled hers out.
Nothing.
She looked toward the studio door.
The electronic lock displayed no light.
Then she heard it.
A soft mechanical click.
The door locked.
Mara stared at it.
Lena whispered, "Tell me that was automatic."
Mara couldn't answer.
Her phone vibrated.
One message appeared.
You should have left the ledger alone.
Mara's fingers went cold.
A sound came from the hallway.
One slow step.
Then another.
Someone was outside.
And they had locked them in.