Chapter 10 - Rosa's Secret
We found Rosa before the police did.
She was sitting in the twenty-four-hour laundromat three miles away, still wearing her Christmas apron beneath Charles's old winter coat.
When she saw me, she started crying.
"I'm sorry. I got scared."
I sat beside her.
"You have nothing to apologize for."
She looked at my bandaged hand and shook her head.
"I should have spoken years ago."
Charles stood behind us. "About David?"
Rosa nodded.
She had worked part-time for my father before joining the Bennetts. The night Dad died, she had delivered files to his office. Victor Sloan was there.
"They were fighting," she said. "Your father said, 'If Emily ever learns what you did, you're finished.'"
"What did Victor do?"
"I don't know. But Mr. Morgan had a red folder. Victor wanted it."
My pulse sped up.
"Did Victor leave before my dad?"
"No. They left together."
The official report said Dad had been alone when his car left the highway.
Rosa twisted her hands.
"The next morning, Mrs. Diane came to me. She said if I told anyone Victor had been there, Mr. Charles would lose the company and everyone would lose their jobs."
Charles looked shattered.
"Diane knew?"
"Yes."
"For nine years?"
Rosa nodded.
Then she told us where the stolen papers were.
Ryan owned a storage unit under North Ridge Consulting.
"I heard them say they were taking the originals there until Monday."
Monica immediately called the detective handling the fraud report.
By afternoon, police had a warrant request underway.
Then Rosa touched my arm.
"There is one more thing."
She reached inside her coat and pulled out a small brass key.
"Your father gave me this the week before he died. He said if anything happened to him, I was to give it to you when you were strong enough to stop protecting people who hurt you."
A number was stamped into the metal.
214.
Charles recognized it.
"Union Station lockers."
May you like
I stared at the key.
Whatever Dad had hidden, he had expected danger before he died.
