Chương 7
“What happened?”
“Daniel confronted him.”
“About the messages?”
“Yes.”
My eyes moved to the papers.
“What messages?”
“Daniel found out Miles had been stealing money.”
I already knew that part.
But Thomas continued.
“It wasn’t random.”
“What do you mean?”
“Miles wasn’t taking money because he wanted things.”
I felt cold.
“Then why?”
“He was paying someone.”
The words changed everything.
“Who?”
Thomas hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I knew the name.”
My grip tightened.
“But I didn’t know the person.”
“Tell me.”
Thomas’s voice dropped.
“Victor Hale.”
The name meant nothing.
I hated that.
After all these years, I wanted the answers to arrive already connected.
I wanted the truth to be clean.
But truth rarely works that way.
It comes in pieces.
Broken pieces.
Pieces you have to hold even when they cut you.
“Who is Victor Hale?”
“He worked with Daniel years ago.”
“Daniel never mentioned him.”
“That was intentional.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor was dangerous.”
I looked toward the hallway.
The house felt suddenly unfamiliar.
“Was he involved with the company?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Thomas paused.
“Before Daniel built Carter Industries, he had a partner.”
I frowned.
“I thought Daniel started it alone.”
“He wanted everyone to think that.”
I sat down again.
“Why?”
“Because the partnership ended badly.”
“What happened?”
Thomas did not answer immediately.
Then:
“Daniel accused Victor of stealing from the company.”
I looked at the papers.
The list of names.
The missing pieces.
“And Victor blamed Daniel?”
“Yes.”
A sound came from outside.
A car door closing.
I turned toward the window.
Nobody was there.
“Thomas.”
“Yes?”
“Why did Daniel never tell me any of this?”
“Because he thought he was keeping you safe.”
I almost became angry.
Everyone always used that explanation.
Keeping you safe.
Protecting you.
Loving you.
People could use those words to justify almost anything.
“He lied to me.”
“Yes.”
The answer surprised me.
“He did.”
I waited.
“Daniel made mistakes, Eleanor.”
That hurt.
Because it sounded like the first honest thing anyone had said about my husband.
“He was not perfect.”
“I know.”
“He believed he could fix things alone.”
I looked at the photograph of Daniel on the desk.
“That sounds like him.”
“He believed if he could reach Miles, he could stop everything.”
My throat tightened.
“And could he?”
Thomas was silent.
“No.”
I looked down.
The answer was enough.
“Where is Victor Hale now?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“He disappeared after Daniel died.”
The same pattern.
Another person gone.
Another person carrying a secret.
“Thomas.”
“Yes?”
“If you knew all this, why didn’t you come forward when Miles accused me?”
A long pause.
Then he said:
“Because I was afraid he would do to me what he did to Daniel.”
I stood still.
Not because I believed him completely.
Because I understood fear.
“What did he threaten you with?”
Thomas did not answer.
“Thomas.”
“He reminded me that I helped him.”
The words were barely audible.
“He said if I ever spoke, he would make sure everyone knew I helped cover up Daniel’s death.”
I looked at the phone.
My son had not only hidden the truth.
He had built a cage around everyone who knew it.
“Where are you now?”
“I left town.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Why?”
“Because Miles came to see me.”
The room went cold.
“What did he say?”
Thomas breathed in.
“He asked if I still had a conscience.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“And?”
“He said if I wanted to keep my life peaceful, I should stay quiet.”
A small silence followed.
Then Thomas said something that made my blood run cold.
“But he made one mistake.”
“What?”
“He thought I was still the same man who helped him thirty years ago.”
I waited.
“I kept something from that night.”
The phone suddenly felt heavier.
“What?”
“The reason Daniel knew Miles was planning something.”
My heart stopped.
“What reason?”
Thomas whispered:
“Because Miles had already tried it once before.”
I held the phone away from my ear for a moment.
The words stayed there between us.
Miles had already tried it once before.
I looked around Daniel’s office.
At the papers scattered across the desk.
At the chair where he used to sit late at night pretending he was only working while I knew he was carrying something heavier.
“What do you mean?”
Thomas was quiet.
“Before the fire, there was another incident.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“Where?”
“The lake house.”
The answer made no sense.
“The fire was the first incident at the lake house.”
“No.”
My heartbeat changed.
“Eleanor, that was the second time.”
I looked toward the hallway.
For thirty years, I had remembered the lake house as one terrible night.
One explosion.
One mistake.
One tragedy.
But now every memory felt like it had another room hidden behind it.
“What happened the first time?”
Thomas sighed.
“Miles tried to burn the place.”
I stood completely still.
“When?”
“Six weeks before Daniel died.”
My mind searched through the past.
Six weeks.
I remembered that.
I remembered the small fire near the back porch.
The one Daniel told everyone was caused by faulty wiring.
The one he repaired himself.
The one I barely thought about because nothing serious happened.
Nothing serious except apparently everything.
“Why didn’t Daniel tell me?”
“Because he found out Miles was involved.”
My voice became quiet.
“He knew?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did he stay?”
Thomas did not answer immediately.
Because there was no easy answer.
Because Daniel had been a father.
Because love could make intelligent people do things that looked impossible from the outside.
“He believed Miles was asking for help.”
I closed my eyes.
Of course he did.
Daniel always looked for the person underneath the damage.
Even when the damage was caused by that person.
“He thought if he gave him a chance, Miles would admit what he was doing.”
“And did he?”
“No.”
The answer was soft.
May you like
“He became better at hiding it.”
I sat at the desk.
