Thomas sat down.
For the first time since entering the basement, he looked old.
Not tired.
Old.
Grandma stood across from him.
"You were with Frank."
Thomas nodded.
"When?"
"The night before the flight."
"Why?"
"He asked me to meet him."
"About the records?"
"Yes."
"What did he know?"
"Enough."
"Enough for what?"
Thomas rubbed his hands together.
"To understand that my father wasn't the only person involved."
Gene leaned forward.
"Who else?"
Thomas looked at him.
"The person who controlled the money."
Gene frowned.
"Who?"
Thomas looked at Elaine.
She whispered, "Richard."
"No."
He shook his head.
"Richard controlled the operation. Someone else controlled Richard."
Grandma's eyes narrowed.
"Who?"
Thomas didn't answer.
The cassette still sat on the table.
Danny replayed the final seconds.
Frank's voice came first.
Then the sound of a door.
Then footsteps.
Then Thomas's voice.
But beneath it was another voice.
Low.
Older.
Calm.
I listened carefully.
The words were difficult to make out.
Gene moved closer.
"What is he saying?"
I increased the volume.
The voice became clearer.
"You don't understand what you're touching."
Frank answered.
"I understand exactly what I'm touching."
The other man said something.
Then Frank laughed.
A short, bitter laugh.
"You're afraid."
The voice replied.
"I'm protecting the company."
Grandma looked at Gene.
"Who was that?"
Gene's face had gone pale.
"I know that voice."
"Who?"
He didn't answer.
I looked at the waveform on the recorder.
The conversation continued.
Frank said, "You can't bury this forever."
The other man replied, "I don't need forever."
A pause.
"I only need you to disappear."
Grandma stood.
"Who?"
Gene finally spoke.
"Harold Mercer."
Elaine froze.
"My grandfather."
Gene nodded.
"Yes."
Thomas closed his eyes.
Grandma looked at Elaine.
"Your grandfather?"
Elaine shook her head.
"I didn't know."
Thomas spoke quietly.
"He ran the legal department before you."
Gene nodded.
"He was the one who controlled the internal investigations."
Grandma's face tightened.
"Then Elaine inherited everything from him."
"Yes."
"And she didn't know?"
"No."
Elaine looked at Thomas.
"You knew."
"I knew pieces."
"You lied to me."
"I was trying to keep you alive."
She stared at him.
"Alive?"
Thomas nodded.
"My grandfather threatened anyone who tried to expose him."
"Did he threaten Frank?"
"Yes."
"Did he kill him?"
Thomas shook his head.
"No."
Grandma waited.
"Then who did?"
Thomas looked at the floor.
"Nobody."
Her expression changed.
"What?"
"Frank died of a heart attack."
Gene nodded.
"But the circumstances around his death were manipulated."
Thomas looked at Grandma.
"His death wasn't planned."
"The cover-up was."
Silence.
Grandma sat down.
She looked devastated.
"Why?"
Thomas answered.
"Because Frank had discovered something that would have destroyed the entire network."
"What?"
"Not the stolen parts."
Everyone looked at him.
"The money."
Gene frowned.
"What money?"
"The payments."
Thomas pointed to the bank statement.
"Those payments weren't meant to make Frank look guilty."
"Then what were they?"
"They were payments to people who had access to his identity."
Grandma looked at the statement.
"How many?"
"Dozens."
"Over how long?"
"Twenty years."
Gene's expression hardened.
"Then Frank's identity was being used for twenty years after his death."
Thomas nodded.
"Yes."
I looked at Elaine.
"Did you know?"
She shook her head.
"No."
"Then who did?"
Thomas looked at her.
"Your grandfather."
Elaine closed her eyes.
Grandma stared at the table.
"He used Frank's name."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because Frank had become useful."
"How?"
"People trusted him."
Gene understood.
"His name was clean."
Thomas nodded.
"Exactly."
Grandma whispered, "He turned my husband's name into a shield."
"Yes."
"And you let him."
Thomas looked at her.
"I was twenty-nine."
"You knew."
"Yes."
"You could have stopped it."
"I was afraid."
Grandma stared at him.
"Frank was afraid too."
Thomas nodded.
"But he did something I couldn't."
"What?"
"He refused."
The basement fell silent.
Thomas looked toward the photograph of Frank.
"That was the difference."
He reached into his coat again.
This time he removed a small envelope.
"I kept this."
Grandma stared.
"What is it?"
"Frank gave it to me."
"When?"
"The night before the flight."
"Why?"
"Because he knew I was afraid."
She held out her hand.
Thomas gave it to her.
Inside was a single photograph.
Frank and Thomas stood together outside the airport.
Thomas looked much younger.
Frank had one hand on his shoulder.
On the back was a sentence.
You still have time to choose.
Thomas looked away.
"I didn't understand."
Grandma asked, "Do you now?"
He nodded.
"Yes."
"Then why did you wait twenty-seven years?"
"Because I was ashamed."
"That isn't enough."
"I know."
Grandma stood.
"What changed?"
Thomas looked at Danny.
"His name."
Danny frowned.
"My name?"
"Your father spent years believing Frank's death had been meaningless."
Danny's face tightened.
"He knew?"
"He knew Frank had discovered the records."
"But he didn't know about me."
"No."
Thomas looked at Grandma.
"Then I saw Danny become a pilot."
Danny looked away.
"I realized the story wasn't finished."
Grandma shook her head.
"It was never finished."
Thomas nodded.
"No."
He pointed toward the shelves.
"The evidence is here."
Gene opened another file.
Inside were dozens of financial records.
He spread them across the table.
"This could establish a pattern."
Elaine leaned over them.
"It can establish more than that."
She pointed at a series of transfers.
"These dates correspond to internal legal reviews."
Gene looked closer.
"They were paying people during investigations."
"Exactly."
"Bribes?"
"Possibly."
Elaine hesitated.
"At minimum, unexplained payments."
Grandma looked at her.
"Would that be enough?"
"Not by itself."
"Then what is?"
Elaine pointed toward the cassette.
"The recording."
Gene nodded.
"And the original maintenance records."
"Which are here."
Grandma looked at the shelves.
"Then why hasn't anyone exposed this?"
Thomas answered.
"Because nobody had everything."
"Now we do."
He nodded.
"Yes."
Danny stepped toward the shelves.
"There is one problem."
"What?"
He held up a folder.
"The original archive is incomplete."
Grandma frowned.
"What's missing?"
"One ledger."
Gene's face changed.
"The payment ledger."
Thomas nodded.
"The one that connects the money to the names."
"Where is it?"
Thomas looked at Elaine.
She shook her head.
"I don't have it."
He looked at Grandma.
"Frank did."
My grandmother went still.
"Where?"
Thomas pointed to the silver wings.
"With you."
She looked down at the pin on her purse.
"What?"
Thomas nodded.
"Frank hid the ledger inside the original wing display."
Grandma opened the wooden box.
The silver wings from Gene sat inside.
She picked them up.
"These?"
"No."
Thomas shook his head.
"The wings Frank gave Danny."
Danny touched his uniform.
"The ones I still have?"
"Yes."
Danny removed the small silver wings from his pocket.
Thomas looked at them.
"The ledger was hidden in the backing."
Danny stared.
"You're saying I've carried it for twenty-seven years?"
Thomas nodded.
"Frank made sure it would travel with you."
Danny turned the wings over.
There was a tiny screw on the back.
He looked at Gene.
"Do we open it?"
Grandma answered.
"Yes."
Danny carefully removed the backing.
A tiny strip of folded paper slid out.
Then another.
Then a thin microfilm cartridge.
Gene stared.
"That's it."
Grandma's voice trembled.
"What?"
"The payment ledger."
Danny held the cartridge up to the light.
A tiny handwritten mark was visible.
R.W.
Grandma whispered, "Ruth Walsh."
Gene nodded.
Frank had not hidden the evidence in a safe.
He had hidden it in the one object nobody would think to destroy.
A child's wings.
Grandma looked at Danny.
"Frank trusted you."
Danny's eyes filled.
"He knew I would keep them."
The basement door suddenly slammed shut.
Everyone turned.
The lock clicked from the outside.
Elaine ran toward it.
"Thomas."
Thomas stared.
"I didn't do that."
Gene grabbed the handle.
Locked.
Then the smell reached us.
Smoke.
Danny looked toward the ceiling.
"Fire."
Grandma stood.
"Someone set the house on fire."
The smoke began pouring beneath the door.
Thomas looked at the shelves.
"Take the ledger."
Gene grabbed the files.
Danny took the microfilm.
Elaine reached for Grandma.
"We need to get out."
Grandma looked at the photograph of Frank.
Then at the burning shelves.
She picked up the cassette.
"We're not leaving him here again."
Click here to continue reading: PART 11: The Fire Turned the Hidden Archive Into a Race Against Time, and Grandma Refused to Leave Until Frank’s Last Promise Was Finally Kept
She Had Waited Twenty-Seven Years to Fly Again, So Why Was She Willingly Giving Away the Seat I Had Sacrificed to Buy?
Part 10 of 12
