Chapter 7
Emily had cried at the orchard three days before she died.
Dennis admitted he was there.
So was Carol.
Raymond arrived later.
I stared at all three across my study.
“Why was nobody ever going to tell me this?”
Carol rolled her eyes.
“It was an argument.”
“What argument?”
Dennis answered.
“Emily found the cellar.”
I frowned.
“What cellar?”
Raymond looked away.
Of course.
Beneath the old packing shed stood a stone storage room built by Emily’s grandfather.
I knew about it.
I thought it stored irrigation equipment.
Apparently Raymond had converted it into something else.
“Take me there.”
Carol stood.
“This is ridiculous.”
I looked at her.
“Then stay.”
She came.
That told me enough.
At the orchard, Madison remained home with my sister.
I opened the packing shed myself.
The cellar door was behind stacked crates.
Inside were empty shelves.
Too clean.
Recently cleared.
I looked at Raymond.
“What was here?”
“Nothing.”
Dennis sighed.
“Ray.”
Raymond snapped.
“Shut up.”
Wrong tone.
I turned.
He calmed immediately.
My father spoke.
“Route ledgers.”
Not legal paperwork.
Operational books.
Names.
Cash drops.
Private loyalties.
Records men like Raymond did not want a boss examining too closely.
“What did Emily find?”
Dennis swallowed.
“One notebook.”
“Where?”
“She took it.”
My breathing slowed.
“Did she give it to me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“She said she would when she understood what it meant.”
I looked at Raymond.
“What did it mean?”
Silence.
Carol finally said:
“It proved certain captains were using your father’s network after you shut it down.”
My jaw tightened.
Without me.
Parallel authority.
Emily had discovered more than trespassing.
She discovered an old Holloway structure continuing behind my back.
“Who was running it?”
Raymond said nothing.
I looked at Dennis.
His eyes moved toward Carol.
Everything inside me stopped.
My mother.
Not Raymond.
He was only one of her men.
May you like
Carol had been protecting more than land.
She had been protecting a private network Emily found before her death.
