Chương 6
Unless he believed telling Daniel would make things worse.
The thought made Daniel close his eyes.
He remembered the last argument they had.
Not the words.
The silence afterward.
Eli had stood in the factory parking lot while rain soaked through his jacket.
"You don't listen when the answer makes you uncomfortable," Eli had said.
Daniel had been angry.
"You think because you notice problems, everyone else is blind?"
"No."
Eli had looked at him.
"I think you see them and decide they aren't worth fighting about."
Daniel had driven away.
Three weeks later, Eli was dead.
The memory arrived without permission.
Not as a lesson.
Not as some perfect emotional revelation.
Just as an old moment that still hurt.
Daniel put the photograph down.
His phone buzzed.
He expected Rachel.
Instead, it was Marcus.
You need to come back.
Daniel called immediately.
Marcus answered on the second ring.
"What happened?"
"Where are you?"
"At the factory."
"Why?"
"Because your accountant is here."
Daniel went still.
"Victor?"
"No."
Marcus paused.
"Someone from his office."
"What does that mean?"
"It means people are starting to panic."
Daniel grabbed the notebook.
"What happened?"
"The bank froze one of the company accounts."
The room felt smaller.
"Why?"
"Because someone reported suspicious activity."
Daniel looked at the papers spread across the table.
A cold feeling moved through him.
The investigation was no longer about something that had already happened.
It was happening now.
"Who reported it?"
Marcus was quiet.
"That's the part you're not going to like."
Daniel waited.
"Your brother."
The words did not make sense.
"What?"
"Daniel."
"No."
"Listen."
"No, Marcus, that doesn't make sense."
"I know."
"Eli has been dead almost a year."
"I know."
"Then how did he report anything?"
Marcus exhaled.
"I don't know."
Daniel looked at the notebook.
The photograph.
The emails.
Everything Eli had left behind.
A thought appeared that he did not want.
Maybe Eli had not only been investigating the company.
Maybe he had been trying to stop something before he died.
And maybe someone else had been trying to continue the investigation after him.
"Did the bank say when the report was filed?"
"Yesterday."
Daniel looked at the date on Eli's notes.
Yesterday.
His hands tightened around the phone.
"Marcus, don't tell anyone about the locker."
A pause.
"Why?"
"Because if Eli hid this, there was a reason."
"And if someone else knows?"
Daniel looked at the photograph again.
At the four people sitting together.
At his brother's face.
"Then they know more than we do."
When Daniel arrived at the factory, the mood had changed.
The whispers were gone.
Whispers meant people were uncertain.
Now people were afraid.
Employees stood in small groups near the entrance.
Some were checking messages.
Some were calling family members.
Nobody looked at Daniel the same way.
He found Marcus near the office hallway.
Victor Hale stood inside Daniel's office.
That alone felt wrong.
Victor had always waited outside.
Always knocked.
Always acted careful around Daniel.
Now he was sitting behind the desk.
Daniel stopped in the doorway.
Victor looked up.
For a moment, neither man spoke.
Then Victor slowly stood.
"Daniel."
"Why are you in my office?"
Victor glanced at Marcus.
"I think we need to talk privately."
Daniel almost laughed.
"That stopped being possible when you walked into my office after my company started investigating me."
Victor's jaw tightened.
A small reaction.
But Daniel noticed.
"You know about the investigation," Daniel said.
"Of course I do."
"How?"
Victor looked away for half a second.
Another small reaction.
Another piece.
"I work here," Victor said.
"That isn't an answer."
The silence between them lasted longer than it should have.
Then Victor reached into his briefcase.
He pulled out a folder.
Not a thick folder.
Not something dramatic.
Just enough pages to matter.
"I think you need to see what your brother was doing before you decide he was protecting you."
Daniel did not take it.
"What does that mean?"
Victor looked exhausted.
Not angry.
Not confident.
Exhausted.
"It means Eli was not the only person looking into those accounts."
Daniel stared at him.
"Who else was?"
Victor held his gaze.
"Me."
For the first time all day, Daniel had no response.
Because if Victor was telling the truth, then one of two things was possible.
Victor had been trying to expose the same problem.
Or Victor had known about it from the beginning.
And Daniel was about to find out which one.
Daniel did not reach for the folder.
He looked at Victor the way he used to look at damaged furniture before deciding whether it could be repaired or needed to be thrown away.
"You were investigating my company?"
Victor sat back down slowly.
"I was investigating what was happening inside it."
"That is a very careful way to say the same thing."
"It is a different thing."
Daniel hated that Victor sounded reasonable.
Reasonable had always been Victor's greatest weapon.
He never raised his voice.
He never rushed.
Even when other people were losing control, Victor looked like a man standing outside a burning building, calmly reading the instructions on a fire extinguisher.
"How long?" Daniel asked.
Victor looked at the folder.
"Eight months."
The answer landed harder than Daniel expected.
"Eight months."
"Yes."
"And you never told me."
"I tried."
Daniel laughed once.
It was not because anything was funny.
It was the kind of laugh that escaped when anger had nowhere else to go.
"When?"
Victor looked away.
"Several times."
"That is not an answer."
"It is the only honest one."
Daniel stepped farther into the office.
"Did you talk to Eli?"
Victor's expression changed.
Not much.
But enough.
Daniel noticed.
"You did."
Victor pressed his lips together.
"Yes."
"When?"
"Before he died."
The factory noise outside continued.
Machines.
Footsteps.
Phones ringing.
Normal sounds from a place that suddenly did not feel normal anymore.
Daniel stared at Victor.
"You knew my brother was investigating."
"Yes."
"You knew something was wrong."
May you like
"Yes."
"And you let me sit here thinking I was losing my company because of mistakes I made."
