Chương 6
“Was that illegal?”
“I didn't know at first.”
The answer sounded honest.
That was the problem.
Derek had always been bad at lying.
Even when he tried, his face betrayed him.
“What happened after you noticed?”
“I reported it.”
“To William?”
“To my supervisor first.”
“And?”
“They told me I was making mistakes.”
He laughed softly.
“I wasn't.”
I sat down across from him.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Derek looked embarrassed.
“Because you loved that job.”
“That doesn't answer the question.”
“It does.”
“No, it doesn't.”
He looked at me.
“You finally had something good, Alex.”
The words caught me off guard.
“You think I wouldn't want to know?”
“I thought you would choose your job over me.”
I stared at him.
“That is what you believed?”
Derek looked away.
“You were always the responsible one.”
The sentence carried years behind it.
“You think I never made mistakes?”
“You made different mistakes.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means when you messed up, people forgave you.”
He swallowed.
“When I messed up, people remembered.”
I didn't know what to say.
Because there was truth there.
Growing up, Derek was the louder child.
The difficult child.
The one teachers called home about.
The one relatives warned me not to become.
I was the opposite.
The quiet one.
The one who followed rules.
Nobody ever asked if following rules was the only way I knew how to survive.
“What did William do?” I asked.
Derek looked down.
“He made it look like I was stealing.”
The porch suddenly felt smaller.
“What?”
“He created a report showing inventory shortages connected to my account.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It didn't have to make sense.”
Derek's voice tightened.
“People believed it because they wanted to.”
“Did you fight it?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“They offered me a choice.”
“What choice?”
“Resign quietly or face an investigation.”
I felt sick.
“Why didn't you tell Dad?”
“Because Dad was recovering from his stroke.”
“Mom?”
Derek laughed once.
A bitter sound.
“Mom already believed I was the problem.”
I looked through the kitchen window.
My mother's car was gone.
For once, I was grateful.
“Why did Clara get involved?”
Derek took a breath.
“Because she found the same records.”
“How?”
“She noticed something.”
“What?”
“She said your work schedule didn't make sense.”
I frowned.
“My schedule?”
“She thought the company was using certain employee assignments to hide unauthorized shipments.”
I stood up.
“That sounds insane.”
“I know.”
“Then why believe it?”
“Because Clara showed me.”
“What did she show you?”
Derek reached into his jacket pocket.
My whole body tensed.
He noticed.
“Relax.”
He pulled out a small envelope.
“I took this before Mom and Beatrice could find it.”
I stared at it.
“Where was it?”
“Inside Clara's old camera bag.”
My wife barely used that camera anymore.
It had been a gift from me years earlier when Lily was born.
Derek handed it over.
Inside was a flash drive.
No label.
No explanation.
Just a small piece of plastic that somehow felt heavier than it should.
“Why didn't you give this to the police?”
Derek looked at me.
“Because I didn't know who I could trust.”
The answer hurt because I understood it.
I had spent the last two days asking the same question.
I took the flash drive inside and connected it to an old laptop Clara kept in the office.
Nothing happened for several seconds.
Then a folder appeared.
The name was simple.
For Alex.
I stopped breathing.
Derek stood behind me.
“She made that for you.”
I opened the folder.
There were dozens of files.
Documents.
Photos.
Emails.
Audio recordings.
At the top was a text file.
I clicked it.
Alex,
If you are reading this, something happened and I couldn't explain it myself.
Please do not trust the people who tell you they are protecting you.
Protecting you was the reason they gave me when they asked me to stop.
I stared at the screen.
My eyes blurred.
Clara had known.
She had known someone might try to silence her.
The next line appeared below.
The person you should be most careful with is not the person you think.
My hand moved toward the screen.
Then the laptop suddenly went black.
The power light disappeared.
Derek stepped closer.
“What happened?”
I looked around.
The house was silent.
Then I heard something.
A car door closing outside.
Someone had arrived.
The sound of the car door closing came again.
Closer this time.
Derek looked toward the window.
His entire body changed.
Not dramatically.
Not like someone in a movie.
Like someone who had spent years learning exactly what danger sounded like.
“Who is it?” I whispered.
He did not answer.
That scared me more than if he had.
The porch light flickered through the curtains.
A shadow moved across the front window.
Derek reached for the laptop.
“Close it.”
“What?”
“Close it, Alex.”
I shut the screen.
The footsteps stopped at the front door.
Then came three knocks.
Not loud.
Not aggressive.
Polite.
That was somehow worse.
Derek stepped away from the kitchen table.
“Who is there?” I called.
A voice answered.
“Alex, it’s me.”
My mother.
I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding.
Derek did not relax.
“Don't open it yet.”
I looked at him.
“It’s my mother.”
“Exactly.”
The comment irritated me.
“She has been my mother for forty years.”
“And she has been lying to you for at least three days.”
The words hurt because they were possible.
I opened the door halfway.
Teresa stood outside holding a grocery bag.
Her expression was tired.
Not angry.
Not defensive.
Just tired.
“Can I come in?”
I looked behind her.
Her car was parked near the driveway.
No one else was visible.
“Why are you here?”
Her eyes moved past me toward Derek.
That was enough.
She knew he was there.
“I need to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“About Clara.”
May you like
I almost closed the door.
Then I remembered something.
