Chapter 8 - The Empty Grave
The man was Thomas Ward.
Helena had told Nora he died of a heart condition decades earlier. There had been a funeral, a stone, and years of birthday visits to a grave.
Now Daniel had a recent photograph.
Nora’s voice was almost gone. “Why?”
Helena finally answered. “Thomas discovered the theft.”
Roman frowned. “Northstar?”
“Before Northstar. Before you married Nora. Marco was moving money through fake vendors. Thomas threatened to report him.”
“So Marco killed him?” Nora asked.
“No. He paid him to disappear.”
Nora recoiled as if slapped.
Helena continued quickly. “Years later he tried to come back. Marco threatened you. I stopped Thomas from contacting you.”
“You held a funeral for a living man.”
“I thought I was protecting you.”
Nora laughed bitterly. “That sentence should be carved on your cell.”
Roman’s phone buzzed.
An email had appeared in an account Daniel had recovered.
Sender: THOMAS WARD.
Subject: YOU FOUND THE BOXES.
Roman opened it.
I can prove who ordered your arrest. Do not trust Helena. Come alone.
An address followed.
Nora recognized it immediately.
“That’s the cemetery.”
At dawn Roman went there with Brooks following at a distance.
Fog hung between the stones.
Thomas stood beside his own grave.
Older. Thin. Alive.
“You’re Roman,” he said.
“You’re supposed to be under that stone.”
Thomas gave a tired smile. “So are you.”
He handed Roman a recorder.
On it, Marco discussed keeping Roman imprisoned until the company transfer cleared.
Then a woman’s voice asked, “And after the transfer?”
Marco answered, “Nobody cares what happens to him.”
Roman knew the woman’s voice.
May you like
Helena.
Before he could speak, a gunshot cracked through the fog.
