Chapter 6 - STORAGE UNIT 318
Victor did not open Unit 318 himself.
Again, attorneys.
Witnesses.
Documentation.
He was beginning to suspect civilization existed mainly to slow angry men down.
Perhaps that was good.
The storage unit contained three boxes.
One suitcase.
A typewriter.
Old clothes.
And thirty years of letters Victor had never received.
Every envelope carried his name.
None stamped.
None mailed.
Victor sat on the concrete floor.
Beatrice remained near the door.
Evelyn quietly stepped outside.
Victor opened the first.
Son,
I made it to Canada first.
If Bea tells you I’m alive, I will know she broke her promise, which means you were probably impossible.
Victor laughed once through tears.
The letter continued.
I keep imagining you looking for me.
Please don’t.
Arturo watches you because he expects me to return.
I need him believing I chose cowardice.
Victor stopped.
Another.
I saw your photograph in the paper.
You look too much like me when angry.
That is not praise.
I heard you closed the old gambling rooms.
Good.
Your mother would have been proud that you turned the shipping company legitimate.
Less proud of everything else.
Victor smiled despite himself.
Lorenzo had been watching from afar.
Not absent emotionally.
Absent physically.
Which still hurt.
One letter mentioned Beatrice.
Do not blame Bea forever. I gave her an impossible job.
Victor looked toward the door.
Beatrice pretended not to see.
He kept reading.
The most recent letter was dated seven months earlier.
Victor’s heartbeat changed.
Marina had begun investigating eight months earlier.
Timing.
Son,
A woman visited Rockport asking questions about Arturo.
I think his past found me.
I may need to move.
Do not come unless Bea says the old crypt has been opened.
Victor stared.
The old crypt had now been opened.
Lorenzo had planned for this.
Another envelope contained photographs of Marina.
Outside Elias Bell’s house.
Two months earlier.
Marina had visited personally.
Victor’s jaw tightened.
So she knew Lorenzo.
Not only through investigators.
She met him.
The suitcase contained a recorder.
Digital.
One audio file.
Date:
Two months earlier.
Marina’s voice.
“You could end this by signing.”
Lorenzo:
“No.”
“You left the family.”
“I left Arturo.”
“You left Victor.”
Silence.
Then Lorenzo:
“That is the wound I live with.”
Marina sounded colder.
“My father spent his life cleaning up after you.”
Lorenzo laughed.
“Your father spent his life stealing from everyone who trusted him.”
A chair scraped.
Marina:
“If Victor marries me, Legacy Holdings becomes stable.”
Lorenzo:
“For whom?”
“For the family.”
“You sound exactly like Arturo.”
Another silence.
Then Marina:
“If you refuse, I’ll tell Victor you’re alive.”
Lorenzo:
“Good.”
Victor froze.
Marina:
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do.”
Marina:
“He’ll hate you.”
Lorenzo:
“He already has a right to.”
Victor closed his eyes.
Then Marina said the line that explained the wedding threat.
“If I have to open your grave, I will.”
Lorenzo laughed.
“I never had one.”
Victor felt chills.
The exact phrase.
Marina had repeated Lorenzo’s words at the wedding.
The recording continued.
She demanded the brass key.
Lorenzo refused.
She threatened Beatrice.
Lorenzo’s voice changed.
“If you touch my sister, Victor will stop caring what your last name used to mean.”
Marina responded:
“He already loves me.”
Lorenzo:
“No.”
Silence.
Then:
“He trusts the version of you that you built.”
Victor stared.
That hurt because it was true.
Marina left.
The final twenty seconds contained only Lorenzo breathing.
Then:
“Victor, if you ever hear this…”
A pause.
“Do not become me.”
The file ended.
Beatrice entered quietly.
Victor looked up.
“He knew I’d hear it.”
“Yes.”
“Marina knew the key existed.”
“Yes.”
“She needed whatever was in this unit.”
Beatrice looked around.
“What did she think was here?”
Victor held up the leather ledger from the crypt.
“No.”
He frowned.
The ledger had been with Beatrice.
Unit 318 had the letters.
Maybe something else was missing.
Evelyn returned carrying the unit inventory sheet.
“One box is gone.”
Victor stood.
“What?”
“Facility logs show Marina accessed this unit nine days ago.”
Silence.
Using authorization signed by Elias Bell.
Victor stared.
“He authorized her?”
“Apparently.”
Then they checked the signature.
Beatrice looked once.
“That is not Lorenzo’s.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
May you like
Marina had forged access.
And whatever she stole from Unit 318 was important enough for Lorenzo to disappear immediately afterward.
