Chapter 18 - MY FATHER’S VOICE
The federal investigation recovered one final recording from my father’s files.
Rachel called me immediately.
“You need to hear this.”
Luka came with me.
The recording had been made six days before Dad died.
His face appeared on the screen.
Older than in the photograph Luka had shown me.
Tired.
Afraid.
But still my father.
“Ava.”
I covered my mouth.
“If you are watching this, then circumstances have gone further than I hoped.”
He looked down for several seconds.
“I need you to know one thing before anything else.”
“None of this began with you.”
“You were never responsible for what people chose to do with my work, my investigation, or my mistakes.”
Tears blurred the screen.
Dad continued.
“I met Luka Moretti because his stolen medical material became the clearest proof of what Hale was doing.”
“He was angry.”
“Very angry.”
Beside me, Luka muttered.
“That’s generous.”
Despite myself, I smiled.
Dad continued.
“But he was also honorable when it mattered.”
“I asked him for a promise no young man should have had to make.”
“If my investigation ever reached my daughter, he was to protect her long enough for her to protect herself.”
I looked at Luka.
His eyes remained fixed on the screen.
Then Dad said something that broke us both.
“Luka, if you are watching with her, stop hovering.”
“You cannot protect Ava by deciding everything for her.”
I laughed through my tears.
Luka leaned back.
“I liked your father better before this video.”
Dad smiled as if he could hear him.
“And Ava.”
His expression softened.
“You always asked me how you would know whether someone was good.”
“I gave you complicated answers.”
“The real answer is simpler.”
“Watch what they do when protecting you costs them something.”
My heart squeezed.
“People reveal themselves when goodness becomes expensive.”
The recording ended.
For a long time, neither Luka nor I spoke.
Then Rachel entered.
“There’s one more development.”
I wiped my face.
“What?”
“The investigator who photographed your father’s car.”
I stared at her.
“You said he disappeared.”
“He did.”
“He was placed in federal witness protection after giving evidence in another case.”
“He’s alive.”
My knees weakened.
“And he can testify?”
Rachel smiled.
“He already has.”
Two months later, Victor Hale was formally charged in connection with my father’s death.
The news showed him leaving court in handcuffs.
I watched for only a few seconds.
Then I turned off the television.
Mia was asleep against my chest.
Luka sat across the room.
“You waited seven years for that.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you want to watch?”
He looked at Mia.
“No.”
May you like
“I waited seven years to know Michael didn’t die for nothing.”
“This is better.”
