Chương 12
“He spent my whole life measuring me against what he built.”
I said nothing.
Curtis stepped toward the desk, but this time slowly.
“Every business idea I had was stupid until it made money.”
“Did this one?”
“No.”
“Then maybe that isn’t the example you want.”
He flinched.
“I knew you’d do that.”
“Do what?”
“Take his side.”
“I changed his sheets.”
“You worshipped him.”
“I watched him vomit into a plastic basin.”
“You made him into some kind of saint.”
“No.”
My voice was quieter now.
“He could be mean.”
Curtis stared at me.
“He was controlling.”
“Yes.”
“Judgmental.”
“Yes.”
“Impossible.”
“Frequently.”
“Then why are you defending him?”
“I’m not.”
I looked at the papers between us.
“I’m trying to understand what you did.”
Curtis sat back down.
For several seconds, he watched the carpet.
“When the second project collapsed, the others wanted cash.”
“What others?”
“The investors.”
“How much?”
“More than I had.”
“So you took from Arthur.”
“I borrowed.”
“Without asking.”
His silence returned.
Daniel sealed the notebook inside a transparent sleeve.
He photographed the flash drive before bagging it separately.
Curtis watched him.
“Those recordings are private.”
“Your attorney can raise that issue.”
“What if they’re inadmissible?”
Daniel shrugged.
“That’s a question for later.”
“What if they have nothing to do with the will?”
“Then that will matter too.”
I picked up Arthur’s letter again.
The final line seemed different now.
What is there will explain why I changed the will.
Not punish Curtis.
Not reward Vanessa.
Explain.
Arthur had not trusted money in Curtis’s hands because Curtis had already shown him what panic could make him do.
I looked at my husband.
“How much do you still owe?”
Curtis did not answer.
Daniel turned toward him.
“Don’t.”
Curtis gave him a bitter smile.
“Now you want me quiet?”
“I always wanted you quiet.”
I almost smiled despite myself.
Curtis looked at me.
Then he said, “About two million.”
My stomach dropped.
“To the investment group?”
“Partly.”
“What’s the rest?”
He hesitated.
“Private loans.”
“From whom?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why?”
His eyes moved toward the window.
For the first time that afternoon, fear entered his face in a way that had nothing to do with the trust.
“They are not patient people.”
Daniel stopped packing the documents.
“What does that mean?”
Curtis shook his head.
“Nothing.”
“No.”
Daniel’s voice changed.
“Now it means something.”
Curtis stood.
“I’m done.”
I watched him walk toward the doorway.
“Did Arthur know?”
He stopped.
“About the loans?”
Curtis did not turn around.
“Yes.”
“Is that why he was afraid you’d do something reckless?”
His shoulders remained rigid.
“Yes.”
“Are those people why you needed the inheritance immediately?”
He closed his eyes.
When he opened them, he looked back at me.
“Yes.”
The anger inside me shifted.
It did not disappear.
It made room for something colder.
Curtis had not merely thrown me out because he imagined a better life.
He had been racing toward money because something was already chasing him.
Daniel seemed to reach the same conclusion.
“How soon are these debts due?”
Curtis looked at him.
“They were due before my father died.”
A car door slammed somewhere outside.
Curtis flinched.
I noticed.
So did Daniel.
Then the doorbell rang.
Curtis went completely still.
I had lived with him for ten years and had seen him irritated, drunk, arrogant, ashamed, grieving, and cruel.
I had never seen him afraid of a doorbell.
It rang again.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Are you expecting someone?”
Curtis stared toward the hallway.
“No.”
A third ring came, longer this time.
Then someone knocked.
Not politely.
Three hard blows struck the front door.
Curtis whispered one word.
“Damn.”
I felt the brass key still pressed into my palm.
Daniel moved toward the study door and quietly shut it.
Before the latch caught, a man’s voice carried through the foyer.
“Curtis, we know you’re home.”
Curtis closed his eyes for half a second.
Daniel held up one hand, signaling me to stay where I was.
The knocking came again.
“Curtis.”
The voice was calm now.
That was worse.
Curtis moved toward the study door.
Daniel blocked him.
“Who is that?”
“I told you I don’t know.”
“You know enough to be scared.”
“I’m not scared.”
The lie was so thin that none of us bothered pretending to believe it.
The man outside knocked once more.
“Open the door.”
Curtis looked at me.
“Stay here.”
I almost laughed.
Three weeks earlier, he had ordered me out of this house.
Now he was trying to protect me inside it.
“Who is he?”
Curtis did not answer.
Daniel stepped closer.
“If there is an immediate threat, we call the police.”
“No.”
The refusal came too fast.
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“That was not reassuring.”
“They’re not criminals.”
“Then the police shouldn’t bother them.”
Curtis ran a hand over his mouth.
“It’ll make things worse.”
“For whom?”
“For me.”
The honesty of that surprised me.
The doorbell rang again.
I looked at Daniel.
“Call.”
Curtis turned sharply.
“Vanessa.”
“I’m not getting trapped in this house because you borrowed money from people who pound on doors.”
“They won’t hurt you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“They don’t even know who you are.”
A pause followed.
Then his face changed.
Daniel saw it too.
“They know who she is, don’t they?”
Curtis said nothing.
The room felt smaller.
I heard the refrigerator hum faintly from the kitchen and a truck pass outside.
Ordinary sounds kept happening around fear.
That offended me.
“What did you tell them about me?”
“Nothing important.”
“Curtis.”
“I said my wife was handling Dad.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
He looked away.
Daniel already had his phone out.
“I’m calling.”
Curtis grabbed his wrist.
Daniel pulled free immediately.
“Touch me again and I add that to the call.”
“I’m trying to keep this from becoming a scene.”
“It already is one.”
The man outside spoke again.
May you like
“We only want to talk.”
A second male voice answered him, too low for me to make out.
