Even when it's inconvenient, especially then. I love you both more than any case ever mattered. Whatever you decide to do with what's in this box, do it together. You are always stronger side by side than apart. Even when you fought about it, tell Frank I never blamed him for anything.
He carried enough on his own. Take care of each other. That's the only order I have left to give. Neither sister speaks for a long while after that. Addie wipes her eyes quickly, embarrassed, though nobody is there to see it but Josie.
He knew. She finally says he knew this might happen to him and he still kept asking the questions. That's who he was. Josie says softly all the way to the end. They sit together on the cold vault floor a few minutes longer.
Just breathing, just letting the weight of it settle where it needed to. Frank waiting upstairs doesn't ask what they found. He just sees their faces when they come back up and understands enough. He left something for you, too, Josie tells him quietly. She hands him a small folded note.
Frank reads it once, hand pressed briefly to his mouth and says nothing at all. Some words don't need an answer. They just need to finally be received. That afternoon, a knock comes at Frank's door. He opens it to find the same tiredeyed man from the sedan standing on his porch step, hat in his hands, looking older than his years.
Sam Puit, the man says. I think it's time we talk properly. Frank studies him a long moment before stepping back to let him in. Inside over coffee, neither of them drinks, Sam tells his story. He'd worked as Whitmore Constructions bookkeeper for 12 years.
Back when Walter Mallister started asking his questions, "I kept two sets of books, " Sam admits, shame heavy in his voice. The real ones and the ones Everett wanted the county to see. Sheriff Mallister found out came to me directly, asked me to testify. I told him I needed time. I was scared I had a family.
Two weeks later, he was dead. I never got the chance to decide. Josie sitting across the table keeps her voice gentle despite the weight in it. Why now after for all this time? I watched you walk into that diner.
Sam says, "Saw your father's eyes in yours. I've been driving past that place every night since trying to work up the nerve. I'm done being scared. " He says, "I still have the real records, every page. " He sets a worn leather satchel on the table between them.
Land deeds, altered permits, everything Everett Whitmore paid me to hide. I want to make it right, however late that is. Addie reaches across the table and takes his hand. It's not too late, she says. It matters more than you know.
Sam studies both sisters for a long moment, something loosening in his shoulders. You have his eyes, he says quietly. Both of you, it's strange seeing them again. He used to bring me coffee sometimes back when he was still asking questions. Never made me feel like a suspect.