Chương 12
“Did she find mismatches?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“Enough to scare Dad.”
“Yes.”
“Enough to scare Garrett?”
“Yes.”
I reached my truck.
“Why didn’t anyone destroy the documents?”
My mother gave a tired laugh.
“Walter tried.”
“What?”
“Not literally.”
“That’s not reassuring.”
“He told everyone involved to clean out legacy records.”
“When?”
“After Rebecca started asking questions.”
“Company records?”
“Yes.”
“Emails?”
“Yes.”
“Invoices?”
“Some.”
“That sounds literal enough.”
“I know.”
I unlocked the truck but stayed outside.
“Did Rebecca know?”
“I think she suspected.”
“And my old notebooks?”
“I never knew about them.”
“Did Dad?”
“Not then.”
“Why now?”
“I don’t know.”
“He sent payroll after me the day after June’s birthday.”
“Yes.”
“That was not random.”
“No.”
“What changed?”
My mother said nothing.
I knew before she answered.
“The box.”
My mouth went dry.
“How does he know about the box?”
“He doesn’t know what is in it.”
“That was not my question.”
“He knows Rebecca kept things.”
“Everybody knows Rebecca kept things.”
“He knows you still have her files.”
“How?”
“Because I told him.”
I shut my eyes.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
I pressed my forehead against the truck roof.
“Why?”
“He was furious.”
“So you gave him information.”
“I was trying to calm him down.”
“How does telling him I have Rebecca’s files calm him down?”
“I said you probably had nothing.”
“That is not calming.”
“I know that now.”
I stepped away from the truck.
“Does he know where I live because of you?”
“He already knew.”
“The security contractor?”
“I didn’t know about that until this morning.”
“What exactly is he trying to find?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop saying that.”
“I don’t know.”
Her voice broke.
“Walter stopped telling me things years ago.”
“Why?”
“Because I stopped signing.”
That changed something.
“When?”
“After Rebecca got sick.”
“You refused?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He moved everything he could out of North Ridge.”
“To where?”
“One of the holding companies.”
“Owned by?”
“Blake.”
I went still.
“You said Blake doesn’t own much.”
“He owns shares through a trust.”
“What trust?”
“I don’t understand all of it.”
“Who controls it?”
“Walter.”
“For Blake?”
“Yes.”
“And me?”
Silence.
“Mom.”
“There was one for you.”
Was.
I sat down on the edge of the truck seat.
“What happened to it?”
“Walter dissolved it.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
My chest tightened.
“Before Saturday?”
“Yes.”
“How many years?”
“Almost five.”
I did the math automatically.
Rebecca had died six years ago.
“After Rebecca died.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He said you were leaving the family anyway.”
“I wasn’t.”
“I know.”
“I came to every holiday.”
“I know.”
“I brought June every Sunday for months after Rebecca died because you said Dad needed to see us.”
“I know.”
“So what did he mean?”
My mother was crying again.
“I don’t know.”
This time I believed her.
A strange numbness settled over me.
The inheritance threat on Saturday had been theater.
At least partly.
Walter had threatened to take something he had already taken.
That meant the threat was never about money.
It was about submission.
“Did Blake know my trust was dissolved?”
“I think so.”
“Before June’s birthday?”
“Yes.”
I stared through the windshield at nothing.
“He was laughing because he knew.”
“I don’t know what he knew in that moment.”
“He knew Dad could threaten me with something that was already gone.”
“Maybe.”
“That is why he wasn’t surprised.”
“Ethan.”
“What?”
“Do not make Blake smarter than he is.”
Despite everything, I almost laughed.
My mother sniffed.
“I’m serious.”
“I know.”
“He knows pieces.”
“What pieces?”
“He knows your father favored him in the restructuring.”
“That must have been devastating.”
“Don’t.”
The word had steel in it.
I stopped.
“He knows Walter expects him to take over.”
“I know.”
“He knows certain ownership interests were moved for his benefit.”
“Does he know why?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Because of the fraud?”
“I don’t know.”
“Because Dad was hiding assets?”
“I don’t know.”
“Because Rebecca found something?”
“No.”
That answer came immediately.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Blake hated Rebecca.”
I stood.
“What?”
“He did.”
“No, he didn’t.”
“He did not like her.”
“That is different.”
“He resented her.”
“For what?”
“For seeing through him.”
I almost dismissed it.
Then I remembered Blake at Rebecca’s funeral, restless during the receiving line, irritated that I refused to leave early for a family dinner.
I remembered Rebecca once saying, “Your brother acts like every room is grading him.”
At the time I thought she was being unkind.
“What did she see?”
“That he was careless.”
“With money?”
“With everything.”
“That is not exactly a revelation.”
“Walter covered for him.”
“I know.”
“More than you know.”
A cold feeling moved through me.
“What did Blake do?”
“There was a job in Columbus.”
“When?”
“About ten years ago.”
I started searching memory.
I had already left Mercer by then.
“What happened?”
“Blake approved a subcontractor.”
“So?”
“The subcontractor was his friend.”
“Okay.”
“The friend did not have the required insurance.”
“That’s bad, not criminal.”
“There was an accident.”
My grip tightened.
“What kind?”
“A worker fell.”
“Was he killed?”
“No.”
“Seriously hurt?”
“Yes.”
“What did Mercer do?”
“Settled.”
“With the worker?”
“With several people.”
“Why would that matter now?”
“Because North Ridge paid part of it.”
I straightened.
“Why?”
“To keep Mercer’s insurer from seeing certain records.”
“What records?”
“The subcontractor approval.”
“Signed by Blake.”
“Yes.”
I stared into the cab of my truck.
“So Dad used North Ridge to protect him.”
“Yes.”
“Did Rebecca find that too?”
“I think so.”
“You think?”
“She asked me why North Ridge paid a settlement involving a Mercer site.”
“And what did you tell her?”
“The truth.”
“Which was?”
“That Walter told me it was necessary.”
I laughed bitterly.
“That is not the truth.”
“It was mine at the time.”
The sentence stopped me.
For the first time since the birthday, I heard something in my mother other than fear.
May you like
Shame, maybe.
Or exhaustion from carrying a version of her marriage that had stopped making sense years earlier.
