Chapter 9 - THE MAN AT THE FUNERAL HAD NO NAMELenora kept every funeral photograph.
Adrian drove to Charleston the next morning.
For the first time since the investigation began, Theo came with him.
Not because Adrian wanted him involved.
Because Theo had become frightened whenever Adrian disappeared without explanation.
So Adrian changed his approach.
“I’m going to Grandma’s to look at old pictures.”
“About Grandpa?”
“Yes.”
“Can I come?”
Adrian hesitated.
Then:
“You can come, but you don’t have to look at anything you don’t want.”
Theo nodded.
Vivica was suspended from all tutoring duties.
Police had taken a report about the physical restraint.
Adrian had not pressed for immediate criminal charges yet, but child-welfare and legal processes were underway.
Vivica remained available to investigators.
She had sent one message:
I am sorry. I will cooperate with whatever you decide.
Adrian had not replied.
At Lenora’s house, Theo hugged his grandmother.
She held him longer than usual.
Then she looked at Adrian.
“You look like Russell.”
He almost laughed.
“People keep telling me things that make that sound less reassuring.”
Lenora gave him a sad smile.
They opened albums.
Funeral reception.
Church.
Graveside.
Men in dark suits.
Women carrying tissues.
Faces Adrian had forgotten.
Then Theo pointed.
“Who’s that?”
A man stood near the back of one photograph.
Tall.
Mid-forties perhaps.
Dark overcoat.
Not looking at the grave.
Looking at Martin.
Adrian leaned closer.
“Mom?”
Lenora put on glasses.
Her face changed.
“I remember him.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Adrian’s pulse increased.
“But?”
“He came to the house after.”
“When?”
“The evening after the funeral.”
Adrian stared.
“What did he want?”
“To speak to Martin.”
“Not you?”
“No.”
“Did they talk?”
“Outside.”
“Long?”
“Maybe twenty minutes.”
“Did you hear anything?”
Lenora closed her eyes.
“Martin told him he needed to disappear.”
Adrian stopped breathing.
“Exact words?”
“I heard, ‘You need to disappear for a while.’”
“And you never asked?”
“I thought it was company security.”
Adrian almost laughed from pain.
Everything had an innocent explanation when people needed one.
Theo looked between them.
“Is that Graham?”
Adrian turned.
“How do you know that name?”
“You said it in the car.”
Adrian sighed.
“Maybe.”
Theo studied the picture.
Then:
“I’ve seen him.”
Both adults froze.
Adrian crouched.
“What?”
Theo pointed at the photograph.
“Him.”
“Where?”
Theo thought.
“At our house.”
Adrian’s skin went cold.
“When?”
“Before Christmas.”
Three months earlier.
“Inside?”
“No. By the gate.”
Adrian tried to remain calm.
“Who was he talking to?”
Theo answered:
“Vivica.”
Adrian stood slowly.
Lenora whispered:
“Oh my God.”
Adrian took out his phone.
He sent the photograph to Vivica.
Do you know this man?
She called immediately.
Adrian answered.
“Who is he?”
Vivica’s voice shook.
“Where did you get that?”
“Funeral photo.”
Silence.
“Vivica.”
“Graham Sloane.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Alive.
“You know him.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He contacted me.”
“When?”
“Seven months ago.”
Adrian nearly shouted.
“You told me Martin was the only person helping you search.”
“I know.”
“What did Graham want?”
“He said my mother had protected something for him.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you meet him at my house?”
“Outside. Once.”
“Why?”
“He wanted to know whether I’d found the Atlas file.”
Adrian’s anger rose.
“Everyone knew except me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop saying that and answer.”
Vivica cried quietly.
“Graham said Russell hired him to investigate internal theft.”
“Caleb said that too.”
“He also said he had proof the crash was planned.”
Adrian’s pulse hammered.
“Then why didn’t he go to police?”
“He said he tried twelve years ago.”
“And?”
“He was threatened.”
“By Martin?”
“He wouldn’t say.”
Adrian paced.
“What did he want from the Atlas file?”
“A bank-account number.”
“What account?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you find it?”
“No.”
Adrian thought of Russell’s hidden papers.
The Atlas file contained financial summaries.
Maybe one page was still missing.
“What happened after your meeting?”
“Graham disappeared again.”
“Why?”
“He said someone had followed him.”
Adrian remembered the gray sedan outside Caleb’s meeting.
“Did he contact you recently?”
Vivica hesitated.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Yesterday morning.”
Adrian stopped.
Before Theo found the bag.
“What did he say?”
“He told me to get the documents out of your house.”
“Why?”
“He said Martin had figured out I had them.”
“And that’s why your bag was packed.”
“Yes.”
Adrian looked at Theo.
The leather bag had not been casually sitting in the library.
Vivica had been preparing to remove the evidence.
“Were you leaving?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“To meet Graham.”
Adrian felt cold.
“When?”
“Yesterday afternoon.”
“Location?”
“A motel near Fredericksburg.”
“Did you go?”
“No.”
“Because I came home.”
“And Theo found the bag.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“Where is Graham now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Call him.”
“I tried.”
“Again.”
They did.
Phone disconnected.
Adrian looked at the funeral photograph.
A man Russell trusted.
A man Martin told to disappear.
A man who resurfaced twelve years later and somehow knew about the hidden file.
Then Theo pointed at something else in the picture.
“Dad.”
“What?”
“Look at his hand.”
Graham held an envelope.
On the corner was a small red symbol.
A circle with a line through it.
Adrian had seen the same symbol that morning.
On one of Russell’s hidden financial pages.
Beside a bank-account number Adrian had assumed was incomplete.
The symbol wasn’t decoration.
It was a marker.
May you like
And if Graham carried the same mark at Russell’s funeral—
then the mysterious account may have been the reason he vanished.
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