Chương 7
“Probably not.”
“Dad might not have heard the recording.”
Mara held his gaze.
“He would have eventually.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
She pressed the cold towel to her cheek.
“I also don’t know how long I would have kept protecting everyone from it.”
Daniel looked down.
That was not an accusation he could argue with.
The apartment settled around them.
A car horn sounded on the street.
Someone in the unit above dropped something heavy and muttered loudly enough for the words to blur through the ceiling.
Daniel’s phone buzzed twice.
He reached for it too quickly.
Neither message was from Richard.
One was from Claire.
The other came from Matthew.
Daniel opened Claire’s first.
Mara watched his eyebrows rise.
“What?”
“She says Mom called her.”
“When?”
“Just now.”
“What did she say?”
Daniel read.
“She told Claire not to believe anything Dad says tonight.”
Mara lowered the towel.
“Anything else?”
“She says Dad has been unstable for months.”
Daniel looked at her.
Mara felt a cold, familiar disgust.
“There it is.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“What?”
“The next version.”
He stared at the message again.
“She’s setting up a reason he shouldn’t be believed.”
Daniel called Claire.
She answered immediately.
“Aunt Claire, don’t repeat that to anyone.”
Mara could hear Claire protesting.
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I’m not telling you to lie.”
Claire spoke over him.
“No, listen to me.”
His voice sharpened.
“Did you personally see Dad behaving strangely?”
A pause.
“Then don’t say you did.”
Claire answered.
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“I know she’s your sister.”
Another pause.
“I know.”
Mara watched his expression soften despite himself.
Claire was crying.
Daniel’s anger drained into fatigue.
“No, I’m not asking you to choose.”
He glanced at Mara and corrected himself.
“Actually, maybe I am.”
Claire went quiet.
Daniel swallowed.
“I’m asking you not to help somebody destroy another person because you’re uncomfortable saying no.”
Mara looked at him.
He heard himself too.
His face changed.
Claire said something softer.
Daniel nodded though she could not see him.
“Okay.”
He ended the call.
For several seconds he said nothing.
Then, “That sounded familiar.”
Mara almost smiled.
“Yes.”
He looked toward the wedding photograph again.
“I’m beginning to hate how educational today is.”
That did make her smile, barely.
The movement hurt.
Daniel noticed.
“Sorry.”
“You didn’t hit me.”
He flinched anyway.
Mara regretted the sentence as soon as it left her mouth, though it was true.
Daniel stood and went to the kitchen.
This time he returned with a proper ice pack from the freezer and wrapped it in a clean dish towel.
He held it out.
Mara looked at it.
“Peace offering?”
“Practical object with no symbolism.”
She took it.
“Good.”
He sat again.
Matthew’s message was longer.
Daniel read it silently.
His expression sharpened halfway through.
“What now?”
“Matthew saw Grant before.”
Mara straightened.
“Where?”
“At my parents’ anniversary party in February.”
“Was he invited?”
“No.”
Daniel scrolled.
“He says he was outside near the side gate.”
Mara’s stomach tightened.
“Did Matthew talk to him?”
“Apparently.”
Daniel read aloud.
“He thought Grant was a neighbor looking for the house next door.”
Mara frowned.
“What did Grant say?”
Daniel typed quickly.
Matthew answered almost immediately.
Daniel read the response.
“He asked whether Richard Bennett lived there.”
Mara stared at him.
“That doesn’t sound like someone who was already casually involved with Evelyn.”
“No.”
“Unless he was checking whether your father was home.”
Daniel’s thumb stopped.
Mara said, “Don’t send that.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
They both understood how quickly suspicion could become fiction.
Mara had been on the receiving end of that machinery less than an hour earlier.
Daniel put the phone down.
“We need facts.”
Mara nodded.
“That would be new for the family.”
He gave her a tired look.
“Was that necessary?”
“No.”
“Okay.”
“But I enjoyed it.”
“Fair.”
The quiet lasted only a minute.
Then Mara’s phone rang.
She expected her editor.
The name on the screen made her body stiffen.
Evelyn.
Daniel saw it.
“Don’t answer.”
Mara looked at him.
He immediately raised both hands.
“Sorry.”
The phone kept ringing.
Mara let it stop.
A second later, a voicemail notification appeared.
Daniel stared at the screen.
“You going to listen?”
Mara hesitated.
“Yes.”
She put it on speaker.
Evelyn’s voice came through calm and controlled.
“Mara, I’m calling because this situation has gotten badly out of hand.”
Mara’s mouth opened slightly.
Daniel looked almost offended by the understatement.
Evelyn continued.
“I regret striking you.”
There was a pause.
“I was under extraordinary emotional pressure, and I reacted in a way I should not have.”
Daniel muttered, “That’s not an apology.”
Mara held up a hand.
The message continued.
“There are private marital issues between Richard and me that you do not understand.”
Evelyn’s voice remained precise.
“You possess a recording made inside my home without my knowledge.”
Mara’s pulse quickened.
“I strongly advise you not to distribute, publish, edit, or share it further.”
Daniel leaned closer.
Evelyn continued.
“Grant has explained that there may be serious legal consequences if private material is misused.”
Mara and Daniel looked at each other.
The message ended with another pause.
Then Evelyn’s tone changed.
Softer.
Almost maternal.
“You have already caused enough damage for one day.”
The voicemail ended.
Daniel stared at the phone.
Mara felt strangely calm.
“She threatened me.”
“Yes.”
“With her boyfriend as the lawyer.”
“Yes.”
Daniel picked up his phone.
“I’m calling Dad.”
Mara stopped him.
“Wait.”
He looked at her.
“We need a copy of that voicemail somewhere safe.”
Daniel nodded.
Mara forwarded the audio file and the original recording to her personal email.
Then she uploaded both to a cloud folder she used for work archives.
Daniel watched without interrupting.
She sent copies to him too.
“Now call.”
Richard answered on the second ring.
Daniel put him on speaker.
“Mom just left Mara a voicemail.”
Richard’s voice sharpened.
“What did she say?”
Mara played it.
May you like
When it ended, Richard was silent.
Then another voice entered from his side of the call.
