Chương 12
There was that lawyer discipline again.
No comfort she could not defend later.
“Evelyn.”
“Yes?”
“Shawn says Daniel has blank signature pages.”
“Then I want every original trust document secured.”
“At my house.”
“Do not go there alone.”
I looked at Miller.
He nodded.
“I can have a deputy meet you there after we finish here.”
I said, “Thank you.”
Shawn’s voice suddenly came through the other phone.
“Walter.”
Miller lifted it.
I had forgotten the call was still connected.
“I’m here.”
“Don’t go home.”
Every person on the porch went still.
Miller said, “Why?”
Shawn did not answer him.
“Walter, don’t.”
I felt the hair rise on my arms.
“What is at my house?”
“Nothing.”
“That is not how you warn somebody.”
“I mean don’t go alone.”
“You just heard the deputy say I wouldn’t.”
Another silence.
Miller said, “Shawn, is anyone currently at Walter Miller’s residence?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who might be?”
“Daniel.”
Brenda whispered, “Oh, God.”
I said, “Why would Daniel be there?”
“Because I called him this morning.”
“What time?”
“After I left home.”
“Why?”
“I told him everything was falling apart.”
“And?”
“He said we needed to clean up.”
The phrase landed badly.
Miller asked, “Define clean up.”
“Documents.”
“At Walter’s residence?”
“Yes.”
“You told Daniel where they were?”
“He already knew.”
I closed my eyes.
“How?”
“I showed him.”
“When?”
“Months ago.”
“You brought him into my house?”
“No.”
“Then how did you show him?”
“Video call.”
That somehow felt worse.
The intimacy of it.
My study displayed remotely to a stranger while Shawn stood inside.
My desk drawers.
My files.
My wife’s handwriting.
“What did you show him?”
“The trust binder.”
“Where it was kept?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
“He asked about old signatures.”
My throat tightened.
“What old signatures?”
“Checks.”
I looked at the lake again.
Susan’s checks.
She had kept a box of canceled checks from before the bank moved everything online.
Some bore her full signature.
Some mine.
Some both.
“Did you show him those?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He said he needed examples.”
“For forgery.”
“He called it verification.”
I laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
“Of course he did.”
Miller was already speaking into his radio.
I heard my address.
Then a request for deputies to check the property and not enter unless circumstances justified it.
Evelyn said, “Walter, do not touch anything when you get there.”
“I heard you.”
“No, I mean anything.”
“I understand.”
“If there has been unlawful entry, you need clean documentation.”
Miller ended the radio call.
“They’re sending a unit.”
“How long?”
“Unknown.”
I hated that answer.
Shawn said, “Daniel won’t hurt anybody.”
Miller turned back toward the phone.
“How do you know?”
“He’s not like that.”
“What is he like?”
“Smart.”
“That isn’t reassuring.”
“He panics.”
“That’s even less reassuring.”
Shawn breathed out.
“I shouldn’t have called him.”
“No,” I said.
“You shouldn’t have called him.”
“I was trying to fix it.”
“No.”
The words came easily now.
“You keep using that sentence when what you mean is hide it.”
He went silent.
I continued.
“Fixing something means the person you hurt gets to know what happened.”
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“After the September payment.”
“And if you had paid it?”
“I would’ve reversed the deed.”
“With Susan’s signature still on the record?”
“We could have filed another transfer.”
“We.”
He said nothing.
“You still hear yourself as part of a team with Daniel.”
“I’m not.”
“You called him this morning.”
“I panicked.”
“Exactly.”
I looked at Greg.
He was crying now.
Quietly.
Not dramatically.
He wiped his cheek with the back of his wrist as though annoyed by the inconvenience.
“Your father is here.”
Shawn’s breathing changed.
“Don’t.”
“He’s listening.”
“Walter.”
“Why not?”
“Please don’t put him on.”
Greg stood.
“Shawn.”
The name came out rough.
On the phone, nothing.
Greg stepped closer.
“Son.”
“Dad, don’t.”
Brenda started crying again.
Greg gripped the railing.
“You need to come out of there.”
“I know.”
“Then do it.”
“You don’t understand.”
“No.”
Greg swallowed.
“I think maybe I finally do.”
Shawn made a soft sound.
Greg continued.
“I kept telling myself you were unlucky.”
“Dad.”
“I said everybody makes mistakes.”
“Stop.”
“I said you were young.”
“Stop.”
“Then I said you were under pressure.”
Shawn’s voice sharpened.
“I said stop.”
Greg did.
For a few seconds, the only sound was road noise through the phone and cicadas around the porch.
Then Greg said, “I’m not coming to save you.”
Brenda turned her face away.
Shawn did not answer.
Greg’s grip tightened on the railing until his knuckles whitened.
“I love you.”
His voice broke on the last word.
“That’s why I’m not doing it again.”
Shawn started crying.
Not loudly.
It sounded like someone trying to breathe through a closed throat.
Miller watched Greg carefully.
I did too.
Greg looked at me and then away.
“I’m sorry, Walter.”
This apology was different from Brenda’s.
Not better.
Just heavier.
I did not tell him it was all right.
It wasn’t.
He nodded as if I had answered anyway.
Miller spoke toward the phone.
“Shawn, Sergeant Hale needs you to follow his instructions now.”
“I want to talk to Hannah.”
“You can request that after you exit safely.”
“I need to tell her—”
“You can tell her later.”
“What if she won’t talk to me?”
Nobody answered that.
Not even Greg.
Hale’s voice came faintly through the connection.
“Shawn, stand up slowly.”
We heard movement.
A scrape.
A chair maybe.
Then Hale again.
“Keep your hands visible.”
Shawn whispered, “Walter.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry about Susan.”
My jaw tightened.
I said nothing.
“I know you won’t believe me.”
“You’re right.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Come outside.”
That was all I had left for him.
Hale started giving directions.
Three steps toward the door.
Stop.
Turn the lock.
Open it with the left hand.
Step backward.
May you like
Hands above shoulder level.
I could hear each instruction twice, once from Hale and once echoed faintly by another deputy farther away.
