Chương 8
“What is this?” Daniel asked again.
His voice was quieter now.
That frightened him more than shouting would have.
Marcus watched him carefully.
“I do not know exactly.”
Daniel looked up.
“You really enjoy that answer.”
“I do not.”
“Then stop using it.”
Marcus accepted the anger.
“I know what the list means.”
“Then tell me.”
Marcus looked toward the front windows.
“Not here.”
Rachel immediately shook her head.
“No.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
“We cannot just leave with him.”
Marcus looked at her.
“You have another idea?”
Rachel did not answer.
That bothered Daniel.
Because for the first time since she entered his house, she looked uncertain.
Not about Marcus.
About what to do next.
Daniel folded the paper and held it tightly.
“No one is making decisions for me anymore.”
Both of them looked at him.
He hated that he needed to say it.
He hated that he had to remind people he was still the person whose life had been turned upside down.
“I am going to ask questions.”
Marcus nodded.
“Good.”
“And you are going to answer them.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“No.”
The word surprised both men.
“You are going to answer what you know.”
Marcus studied him.
Then gave a small nod.
“That is fair.”
Daniel looked at Rachel.
“And you.”
She straightened slightly.
“I know.”
“No more half-truths.”
Rachel looked down.
“That is not good enough.”
She met his eyes.
After a moment, she nodded.
“Okay.”
The agreement did not make Daniel trust either of them.
But it was the first thing that had happened all morning that felt like his choice.
He walked into the kitchen and grabbed his coat from the back of a chair.
The coffee cup Rachel had placed on the counter was still there.
A small ordinary object in the middle of something that no longer felt ordinary.
He picked it up.
“Whose coffee is this?”
Rachel looked at the cup.
“Mine.”
“You made coffee while you were waiting?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She hesitated.
“Because I did not know how long I would have to wait.”
Daniel looked at her.
“For what?”
“For you to come home.”
The answer was strange enough that he almost asked more.
Then he noticed something.
The cup was barely touched.
Rachel had been nervous enough that she forgot to drink it.
A tiny detail.
A human detail.
It made her feel less like an intruder and more like someone who had been afraid of the same morning he had.
Daniel put the cup down.
“Where are we going?”
Marcus reached for the door.
“My office.”
Rachel immediately stepped forward.
“No.”
Marcus stopped.
Daniel noticed the reaction.
“What?”
Rachel looked at Marcus.
“You cannot take him there.”
“Why?”
“Because if someone is watching the office, you are leading him directly to them.”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“And where would you suggest?”
Rachel looked around the house.
Daniel followed her eyes.
The kitchen.
The hallway.
The stairs.
His home.
The place where his wife had hidden a life from him.
“We need somewhere public,” she said.
Marcus shook his head.
“Public places are where people get seen.”
“Exactly.”
“That is the point.”
Daniel interrupted.
“Stop.”
They both stopped.
He was beginning to understand something about them.
They had spent so long fighting around Claire that they forgot there was another person in the room.
Him.
“We are not going anywhere until I understand one thing.”
Marcus waited.
Daniel looked at the paper.
“Why is my name on that list?”
Marcus did not answer immediately.
That was the longest silence yet.
Daniel felt the answer coming before the words arrived.
“Because Claire was worried about you.”
Rachel looked at Marcus.
“No.”
Marcus continued.
“She thought the people involved might use you to get to her.”
Daniel felt his stomach tighten.
“Use me how?”
“She did not know.”
Rachel turned toward Marcus.
“You are making it sound like she trusted you.”
Marcus looked at her.
“She did.”
“After everything?”
“Yes.”
Rachel’s expression changed.
Pain.
Anger.
Something older.
“You do not get to say that.”
Marcus looked away.
Daniel noticed.
There was history between them that had nothing to do with him.
But somehow everything to do with Claire.
“What happened between you three?” Daniel asked.
Neither answered.
The silence became its own answer.
“Fine,” Daniel said.
“Then tell me this.”
He held up the paper.
“Who are these names?”
Marcus looked at the list.
“People connected to Westbridge.”
“Employees?”
“Some.”
“Investors?”
“Some.”
“Victims?”
Marcus did not answer.
Daniel felt a chill.
Rachel did not look surprised.
That bothered him.
“You knew.”
Rachel looked at him.
“I suspected.”
“You suspected people were being hurt and you said nothing?”
Her face tightened.
“I tried.”
“That is not the same.”
“No.”
She looked down.
“It is not.”
Daniel wanted to stay angry.
Anger was easier than uncertainty.
But he was beginning to see the difference between someone hiding something because they were selfish and someone hiding something because they were afraid.
Neither was acceptable.
But they were not the same.
Marcus moved toward the door.
“We need to leave.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Why now?”
“Because whoever sent that message knows we are still here.”
As if responding to the words, Daniel’s phone vibrated.
All three of them froze.
The phone was in his pocket.
He pulled it out slowly.
Unknown number.
One new message.
Rachel watched his face.
“What does it say?”
Daniel opened it.
The message contained only one sentence.
You should have asked your wife why she chose you.
The room became silent.
Daniel read it again.
His fingers tightened around the phone.
Marcus saw the screen.
His expression changed for the first time since entering the house.
Not fear.
Recognition.
“You know who sent that,” Daniel said.
Marcus did not respond.
Daniel stepped closer.
“You know.”
Marcus looked at the message.
“I know who would want you to think that.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No.”
Marcus looked at him.
“It is a warning.”
May you like
Daniel felt anger rise.
“Everything is a warning with you people.”
