PART 6— THE NAME ON THE LIST
Hailey couldn't move.
“My name?”
Walter nodded.
“You were never supposed to find out.”
Carter, still bleeding, leaned against the wall.
“Don't listen to him.”
Walter smiled.
“You're exactly like your mother.”
Hailey looked at Sarah.
“What does my name mean?”
Sarah's face crumpled.
“I wanted to tell you.”
“When?”
“When it was safe.”
Hailey laughed bitterly.
“It was never safe.”
“No.”
Sarah wiped her tears.
“But I believed it could be.”
Walter raised the gun again.
“Enough.”
Before he could aim, the corridor lights suddenly came alive.
Bright white.
A dozen armed officers appeared at the top of the stairs.
“DROP THE WEAPON!”
Walter froze.
Carter stared.
Hailey turned toward Sarah.
“You called them?”
Sarah shook her head.
Edith smiled.
“I did.”
Hailey stared at her.
“How?”
Edith pointed toward her wrist.
A tiny emergency transmitter was hidden beneath her bracelet.
“I pressed it when we entered the tunnel.”
Walter looked around.
For the first time, genuine fear appeared in his eyes.
The police rushed forward.
“On your knees!”
Walter slowly lowered himself.
The gun dropped.
Two officers handcuffed him.
Carter was immediately surrounded by paramedics.
Hailey stood frozen.
The nightmare that had controlled Edith for forty years was finally ending.
Or so she thought.
A detective approached Edith.
“Mrs. Ledbetter?”
“Yes?”
“We need to talk about the ledger.”
Edith looked at Hailey.
“Not yet.”
The detective frowned.
“Why?”
“Because there is something you need to understand.”
She looked at Hailey.
“The ledger isn't the most important evidence.”
“What is?”
Edith slowly turned.
“Her.”
Hailey stared.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
The detective looked confused.
Edith continued.
“Walter spent forty years believing my daughter had hidden the ledger.”
“But?”
“She didn't.”
“Then where is it?”
Edith looked at Hailey.
“Inside the music box.”
Hailey's eyes widened.
“I thought it was empty.”
Sarah shook her head.
“It was never empty.”
“What was inside?”
“A memory card.”
Hailey suddenly remembered.
The tiny brass key.
The broken music box.
Her mother had given it to her on her eighth birthday.
She had kept it in a box of childhood belongings.
But two years ago, it disappeared during a house move.
Hailey whispered:
“Someone stole it.”
Sarah nodded.
“Walter.”
“But if he had it…”
“He didn't know how to open it.”
Edith smiled.
“Because the key isn't for the music box.”
Hailey looked at her.
“Then what is it for?”
Edith reached into her pocket.
She pulled out a tiny brass key.
“This.”
Hailey stared.
It was identical to the one she remembered.
“Where did you get that?”
“Your mother gave it to me twenty years ago.”
Sarah shook her head.
“I thought you lost it.”
“No.”
Edith handed it to Hailey.
“I protected it.”
Hailey held the key.
“What does it open?”
Edith looked toward the police.
“The original vault.”
The detective stepped closer.
“Where?”
Edith whispered:
“Beneath Ledbetter Industries.”
The detective's expression changed.
“That building was demolished twelve years ago.”
Edith smiled.
“The building was.”
“The vault?”
“Wasn't.”
Everyone fell silent.
Hailey looked at Walter.
He was being escorted toward the stairs.
But suddenly he stopped.
He turned.
His eyes locked onto Hailey.
And he smiled.
Not the smile of a defeated man.
The smile of someone who knew something she didn't.
“Ask your mother,” he said.
Hailey frowned.
“Ask her what?”
Walter looked at Sarah.
“Ask her who your real father was.”
Sarah went completely still.
Hailey felt her heart stop.
“Walter…”
He laughed.
“I'm not the only man who could have fathered you.”
The police dragged him away.
Hailey slowly turned toward Sarah.
“Mom?”
Sarah couldn't look at her.
“Is he lying?”
Sarah's silence was answer enough.
Hailey stepped backward.
“No.”
Edith closed her eyes.
“Hailey…”
“You told me Walter was my biological father.”
“I told you what you needed to believe.”
“What does that mean?”
Sarah finally looked at her.
Tears streamed down her face.
“Your father was Jonathan.”
Hailey stared.
“Jonathan Morgan?”
“Yes.”
“But Walter…”
“Walter thought you were his daughter.”
“And you let him believe it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Sarah whispered:
“Because Jonathan was the only man Walter was afraid of.”
Hailey looked toward the stairs.
“Then why did Jonathan disappear?”
Sarah's voice broke.
“Because he sacrificed himself to protect you.”
Hailey looked at Edith.
“Is that why you knew me before I came to Oakridge?”
Edith nodded.
“Jonathan asked me to watch over you.”
“Why?”
Edith looked at the scars on her back.
“Because one day, Walter would come for the ledger.”
She touched Hailey's hand.
“And when he did…”
Her voice became almost inaudible.
“…you would be the only person capable of opening the vault.”
Hailey looked down at the brass key.
“What is inside?”
Edith stared toward the dark staircase.
“Everything Walter spent forty years trying to destroy.”
The detective asked:
“Should we go there?”
Edith nodded.
“But we won't go alone.”
Hailey looked at her.
“Who else?”
Edith pointed toward Carter.
Despite his injury, he had risen from the stretcher.
He looked at Hailey.
“I’m coming.”
Hailey stared at him.
“Why?”
Carter looked toward the stairs.
“Because I spent half my life believing my father was protecting me.”
He swallowed.
“And now I want to know what he was really protecting.”
The detective checked his weapon.
“Then let's finish this.”
As they climbed the stairs, Hailey's phone vibrated.
One final message appeared.
Unknown number.
THE VAULT IS OPEN.
Then another.
AND SOMEONE IS ALREADY INSIDE.
Hailey stopped.
Edith looked at her.
“What is it?”
Hailey slowly raised the phone.
Her face had gone pale.
“Someone got there before us.”
She looked toward the darkness above.
“And they know exactly what we're coming for.”
