Chapter 35 - Elaine’s Locked Drawer
The letter wasn't in my fraud file.
I checked three times.
Nick checked twice.
Agent Cho checked once, which somehow felt more official.
Gone.
“I know I kept it,” I said.
Nick leaned against the desk.
“Maybe we threw it away later.”
“No.”
“How sure?”
“Nick, I still have your receipt from the first crib.”
“That is concerning.”
“It proves my point.”
Elaine cleared her throat from the doorway.
Everyone turned.
She held her cane in one hand.
Her expression looked suspiciously guilty.
“Oh no,” Nick said.
“What?”
“You have that face.”
“What face?”
“The face you made when I was sixteen and you found beer under my bed.”
“That was disappointment.”
“That is exactly the face.”
Elaine sighed.
“I have the letter.”
Silence.
I stared at her.
“What?”
“When I moved into the condo, Anna gave me several boxes.”
“Yes.”
“The fraud documents were mixed with family papers.”
My stomach tightened.
“I found the Marcus letter.”
“And?”
“I took it.”
“Why?”
Elaine looked at Nick.
“Because I was afraid Nora would find it when she found the ledger.”
Nora appeared behind us.
“Grandma.”
Elaine winced.
“I was thirteen.”
“Yes.”
“And you thought I could handle pawn slips but not a letter?”
“Children are inconsistent.”
“You are impossible.”
“Also true.”
The original Marcus letter sat inside a locked drawer in Elaine’s condo.
Agent Cho arranged an escort.
Nobody wanted Elaine going.
Elaine insisted.
“It is my condo.”
“Mom,” Nick said, “a criminal is looking for the letter.”
“He can get in line.”
“Mom.”
At eighty-seven, Elaine had lost none of her ability to terrify grown men.
We compromised.
Agent Cho sent two officers first.
Then Nick and I accompanied Elaine.
The condo looked untouched.
No forced entry.
No broken windows.
Elaine marched toward her bedroom.
She unlocked a small walnut desk.
The letter was inside.
Agent Cho photographed every page before anyone moved it.
Nothing looked unusual.
Handwriting.
Prison return address.
Ordinary paper.
Then one technician used ultraviolet light.
Numbers appeared along the margins.
Faint.
Nearly invisible.
Nick stared.
“You have got to be kidding me.”
Agent Cho smiled grimly.
“Lemon-juice chemistry would be dramatic. This is more sophisticated.”
The hidden markings formed groups of words and numbers.
Possibly a cipher.
Possibly wallet recovery data.
Leon had been telling the truth.
At least partly.
Then Elaine said something strange.
“There were two letters.”
We all turned.
“What?”
“Marcus wrote again.”
Nick frowned.
“Yes. We destroyed those.”
“No. One came directly to me.”
My heart jumped.
“When?”
“After Arthur died.”
Nick's face changed.
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“Because it was addressed to me.”
“What did it say?”
Elaine stared toward the window.
“He apologized.”
“For what?”
“For using our family.”
Nick whispered, “Mom.”
“He said Arthur had frightened him.”
That surprised everyone.
Elaine continued.
“Apparently Arthur visited Marcus in prison once.”
Nick stared.
“Dad did what?”
“I found out afterward.”
“Why?”
“To tell Marcus never to contact you again.”
That sounded exactly like Arthur.
“What else did the letter say?”
Elaine hesitated.
“He warned me that Leon Voss might return someday.”
Agent Cho stepped closer.
“Do you still have that letter?”
Elaine looked offended.
“Obviously.”
Of course she did.
It was tucked inside Arthur’s old union Bible.
The letter was shorter.
Marcus apologized.
He claimed Voss had always been more dangerous.
Then the final paragraph:
LEON THINKS THE MONEY IS THE MOST VALUABLE THING I HID. HE IS WRONG. IF HE RETURNS, THE NAMES MATTER MORE THAN THE COINS.
Agent Cho read it twice.
“What names?” I asked.
She didn't answer immediately.
Then she said, “Possibly additional victims.”
Nick shook his head.
“Marcus had victims everywhere.”
“Or accomplices.”
Silence.
The technician examined the second letter under ultraviolet light.
More coded markings appeared.
Agent Cho photographed them.
Then her phone rang.
She listened.
Her expression changed.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Send it now.”
She looked at us.
“Someone broke into the federal evidence archive associated with the old Hale case last night.”
Nick’s face hardened.
“What was taken?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s good.”
“No.”
Agent Cho turned her phone around.
Security footage showed a man entering a restricted storage corridor wearing maintenance clothes.
His face was partially visible.
Older.
Gray hair.
Thin.
But Nick recognized him.
He whispered one word.
“Leon.”
May you like
The ghost from thirty years ago had finally stepped into the light.
And now the FBI knew exactly what he looked like.
