Chapter 3: The Account
I didn’t open the attachment again.
I already knew what I had seen.
My mother’s signature.
Her looping R.
The tiny slash through the lowercase t.
The habit she had of pressing so hard on the final line of a signature that the paper sometimes tore.
I had watched her sign hundreds of birthday cards.
There was no mistaking it.
But she had died when I was twenty-four.
Eleven years ago.
I stared at the clouds outside the window until they stopped looking like clouds and started looking like walls.
“Rachel.””
I turned.
Daniel was standing in the aisle again.
“You shouldn’t keep getting up,” I said.
“I needed to know whether you received it.””
“I did.””
He sat across from me.
For once, he looked genuinely frightened.
“Where did you get that?””
He nodded toward my phone.
“From the same file your father found.””
“You had it?””
“I had copies.””
“And you kept them for three years?””
“I was scared.””
“Of what?””
He looked at me.
“Of the people who killed him.””
The sentence sat between us.
I lowered my voice.
“You just said people.””
Daniel looked away.
“I shouldn’t have said that.””
“You absolutely should have.””
“Rachel, listen to me.””
“No. You listen to me.””
He stopped.
“You testified in court that my father had no evidence of financial misconduct. Then you testified that I had never been part of the company’s finances. Both were lies.””
“Yes.””
“You helped destroy my reputation.””
“Yes.””
“You watched me lose my company.””
His voice cracked.
“Yes.””
“And now you’re telling me my father was investigating stolen money?””
“Yes.””
I leaned back.
“Why should I believe a word you say?””
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Because I have the evidence now.””
He reached inside his jacket.
Captain Reed appeared at the end of the aisle.
“Sir.””
Daniel stopped.
Captain Reed pointed to his seat.
Daniel nodded.
“I’ll show her after we land.””
“Show me what?””
Daniel said nothing.
Captain Reed looked at me.
“I’m sorry.””
“For what?””
He glanced at Daniel.
“For bringing old ghosts onto a plane.””
Then he walked away.
I looked back at Daniel.
“What does he know?””
“Enough to be worried.””
I laughed bitterly.
“Apparently everyone knows something except me.””
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Your father left instructions.””
“What instructions?””
“He said that if anything happened to him, I was supposed to give you a key.””
“A key?””
“Yes.””
“To what?””
“I don’t know.””
“Then where is it?””
Daniel looked toward his jacket.
My eyes followed.
He reached inside.
And his hand stopped.
His face went pale.
“The key is gone.””
“What?””
“I had it when I boarded.””
“You’re sure?””
“Yes.””
He searched his pockets.
Nothing.
He stood and checked his briefcase.
Nothing.
“Someone took it.””
The plane suddenly seemed too small.
“You think someone stole a key from you on this aircraft?””
“I don’t think.””
He looked directly at me.
“I know.””
A woman two rows behind us suddenly stood.
She was blonde, maybe in her forties.
She walked toward the lavatory.
Daniel watched her.
I noticed.
“Who is she?””
“I don’t know.””
“You were watching her.””
“She bumped into me when we boarded.””
My phone buzzed.
Another message.
*Don’t trust Daniel.*
A second came.
*He still has the key.*
I showed him.
He read the messages and went silent.
“Maybe you sent them yourself,” I said.
His face hardened.
“You really think I’d do this?””
“I don’t know what to think anymore.””
The woman returned from the lavatory.
As she passed us, she stopped.
Her perfume was sharp and expensive.
She looked at Daniel.
Then at me.
And whispered, “Your father was right.””
She kept walking.
I stood.
“Excuse me.””
Daniel grabbed my wrist.
“Don’t.””
I looked at him.
“She knows him.””
“Rachel.””
I pulled my hand away.
“I’m done sitting quietly while strangers tell me secrets about my family.””
I followed the woman toward the rear galley.
“Ma’am?””
She kept walking.
“Ma’am, stop.””
She turned.
Her eyes were unexpectedly gentle.
“Your father said you would ask questions.””
“What did he tell you?””
“Not enough.””
“Then why did you say he was right?””
She looked over my shoulder.
Her face changed.
“Because they’re watching you.””
I turned.
Nobody was standing nearby.
The woman stepped closer.
“Listen carefully.””
I held my breath.
“The account isn’t yours.””
“I know.””
“No.””
She shook her head.
“You don’t understand.””
She took a folded piece of paper from her pocket.
“When your father found the account, he discovered the money wasn’t being stolen.””
My mouth went dry.
“Then what was it?””
“Moved.””
“By whom?””
She looked toward Daniel.
“By someone inside your family.””
I turned around.
Daniel was no longer in row four.
His seat was empty.
The paper shook slightly in her hand.
“Where did he go?”” I asked.
She whispered, “You need to get off this plane before he does.””
Then a voice came over the intercom.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please remain seated. We’ll be beginning our descent shortly.””
The woman slipped the paper into my hand.
I opened it.
There were four words written in my father’s handwriting.
*TRUST YOUR MOTHER’S ACCOUNTANT.*
I looked up.
The woman was gone.
And on the paper beneath my father’s handwriting was a second line.
Written much more recently.
*HE IS SITTING IN 4C.*
I slowly turned toward row four.
Daniel Price was back in his seat.
May you like
And next to him was the captain.
Captain Reed was holding Daniel’s missing key.