Chapter 23

Laura sat stiffly on the couch beside Remington as Sergeant Sanders passed out mugs of tea. She accepted the steaming cup without a word as she waited for her father to give her an explanation. She was becoming more impatient the longer time passed.

"Thanks, mate," Remington accepted the mug with a half-smile before he dropped his free hand back onto Harry's head. As soon as Remington sat down, the dog perched himself between Laura and Remington, leaning against Remington's long legs, and his furry head resting on his knees. Sergeant Sanders started to call Harry off, but Remington insisted it was fine.

"All right, I want an explanation," Laura huffed indignantly. She tapped her short nails off the side of the porcelain mug.

John took a healthy swig of his tea before he spoke. "I need you to understand, Laura, when this began, I had no idea what was really happening. I had just started my own bookkeeping office… you remember… down on Sunset. That little one-room space above the laundromat," he recalled.

Laura sighed and responded with a subtle nod of her head.

"Anyway, one of my first clients was the owner of the laundromat, Jack Dragna," John continued.

"The mob boss?" Laura questioned.

John nodded, "Yes, but I didn't know that at the time. You were young when I started the business, and Jack was at the end of his reign. But he said he trusted me and he introduced me to a few of his friends. They trusted me, and before I knew it, I was knee-deep in the business, only it was the business I should never have gotten involved in."

Laura couldn't hide the grunt of indignation that escaped her lips.

"Laura, please! You have to understand… I worked that business for ten years before things got complicated. I really didn't know what was happening under my own nose. You see, they needed someone that was completely legit running their books. That was me," John explained. "I found everything out by accident. One month the runner for the Old Man dropped off the wrong book. I was halfway through the entries when he showed up demanding I give it back to him. I just played dumb and pretended I never even saw it. I mean, what else was I going to do, right?"

Remington gave the man a sympathetic look. He knew Laura's cold shoulder treatment was much worse than the bite of her words. "So, John, what happened after that," he encouraged.

John took another sip of his tea and continued, "I had already transcribed half the book, so I started making comparisons and found the pattern. Then it was easy to see it in the other businesses as well. They didn't know I knew, so I reached out to the local FBI field office to see what I should do with the information."

Special Agent Molloy stood and interjected, "What John had in those notebooks was way more than we ever got on our own. He pieced together the money laundering schemes we couldn't touch, not to mention payoffs for certain governmental officials."

Remington couldn't help but smile and nudge Laura, "Officials on the take… just like old times, eh, Laura." She gave him a weak smile in return.

"But as soon as I did that, it was like… I don't know… paranoia set in. Or they knew… but I felt like I was being watched, followed, everywhere I went. I tried to tell your mother about it… I wanted to get us all into safety, but she was just argue I was ridiculous or I made the whole thing up," John shook his head as the memories flooded back.

"We did everything we could to keep the arguing to a minimum around you and Frances, but-" John stated.

"No, you didn't! We heard every word. You think hiding behind closed doors worked? Well, it didn't!" Laura snapped.

John pushed himself to his feet and stood in front of Laura. "I'm sorry. If I could have changed everything, I would," he cried. "But all I knew is I had to leave and leave fast because one night I was being followed. I'm not sure who it was, but I was scared. I didn't even go home that night. Instead, I headed to a local bar and stayed there until they closed. Then I slept in my car at Los Amantes Lookout, and the next day I drove right to the FBI's main offices. They told me they would put me under protection if I could provide them with all the information I had. So, I went to the office and packed everything up. I headed home to pack a bag, and I remembered I forgot my weekly deposit back at the office, so I went back to get it thinking I was going to need the cash…" He paused to bend down eye level with Laura, "When I went back, my office was completely destroyed. I mean, papers everywhere. I knew the deposit was locked up tight in the small safe I had, so I grabbed that, and as I headed down the back stairs, I smelled the fire. I figured it was set on purpose, you know."

Laura stared at her father, and for the first time, she saw the lines of age on his face, creasing his forehead. She noticed the grey peppered through his auburn hair, the same shade as her own. She saw the freckles that dotted his skin enlarged with age spots from spending too much time in the sun. And she saw the pain in his deep brown eyes as they stared back at her. She immediately broke eye contact and waited for him to continue.

"I figured whoever it was that set the fire didn't know I had the books, so I thought it would be better if I could hide everything first, just in case someone caught up with me before I had a chance," John stood.

"And that's when you went to the bank?" Remington surmised.

John crossed the room and leaned against the heavy fireplace mantle, "Yes. I thought if I hid the books there, then I had nothing for anyone to tie me to them. I went home, and thanks to some grace of God or something, but Abigail had taken you, girls, to visit my mother for the day."

"So you packed everything and left us," Laura muttered, her voice devoid of emotion as the memories of that day filled her mind.

"I spent the rest of the day putting my life and memories in storage and hiding those damn keys so that one day… I could go back home with my family, where I belonged," John cried. A silent tear drifted down his cheek until he wiped it away with the back of his hand.

Remington nudged Harry to move as he stood and asked, "Why did it take so long for anyone to go looking for the information you had? I mean, don't get me wrong, I understand you were only looking out for your family, but that was a long time ago."

Special Agent Molloy stepped beside John and stated, "I can answer that. Our first goal was to be sure that Mr. Holt was safe. He took a big risk coming to us, and we wanted to ensure he was going to be around long enough to return to his family. As we began our own investigation into his claims based on the information he remembered, we discovered several corrupt agents and judges in our very departments. There are only a select number of men who actually know John Holt is alive and the only ones who know where he is are in this room."

Remington glanced at the box of ledgers and asked, "But why didn't any of you get those? I'm sure you could have gotten a court order to release the box."

"And with that, we would have put Mr. Holt in danger. The mob has men everywhere. We chose to wait it out. We tried several times to find the hidden keys to make things easier, but we never could," Special Agent Molloy explained.

"Why didn't you have him get the key? A good disguise would have worked easily," Laura suggested.

"We tried that," Agent Murphy interjected. "Only we couldn't get near the tunnels at that point. We had just had that earthquake back in seventy-three, and they were working on restructuring. We kept our fingers crossed that section of the tunnel was intact, but again, once we were able to get in there and search, we couldn't find anything."

John pointed at Laura, "I knew you'd find it, though. I knew you wouldn't stop looking until you found it, and you'd remember that day we played in the tunnels. Remember, we put the markers up, so we knew how to get back out."

Laura's face went white as the memories flooded back in full force. "Hide and seek… only it wasn't just a game. You said you always wanted me to remember the safe way out because you knew I was going to go down there alone."

"It was your idea to paint the red and white circles," John reminded her as he knelt before her once again.

"Because you said no one would ever know the true meaning behind it but us," Laura whispered.

John gave her a weak smile as he began, "Red and white… just like-"

"A circus tent," Laura finished for him before she reached out and held his hands tightly as her tears streamed down her face.