Amelia stood slowly.
“Who is this?”
The man ignored the question.
“Listen carefully. Reed isn’t the beginning. He’s the man they used when things got messy.”
“Who are they?”
A pause.
Then the voice said something that made Amelia grip the desk.
“The ledger was never hidden by Martin.”
“Then who hid it?”
The line crackled.
The man breathed once, as if deciding whether to step into the light or disappear forever.
“Rachel did,” he said. “And she hid it with the one person nobody would search.”
Amelia’s eyes moved to the newspaper photo.
To the porch.
To the small shape behind the curtain.
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“Chloe?”
The line went dead.
