Chương 4
The question seemed to irritate him.
"About what?"
"Do not do that."
His face tightened.
"I don't know what you want me to say."
"The truth would be a start."
Daniel let out a breath and walked farther into the room.
"I know Dad had secrets."
"Everyone knows that," Mara said.
"No."
He looked at her.
"Everyone knows Dad was difficult."
The distinction stopped her.
Daniel continued.
"Everyone knows he worked too much, got angry too fast, and thought he could solve every problem by himself."
He looked at the photograph on the desk.
"But nobody knew what was happening inside his head."
Mara looked at Eleanor.
Her grandmother said nothing.
That silence felt like an invitation.
"What happened after I left?" Mara asked.
Daniel looked away.
"Nothing."
She almost laughed.
"Still using that word?"
His expression changed.
"Fine."
He rubbed his hands together.
"Things got worse."
"How?"
"The company started losing contracts."
"Because Dad was gone."
"Partly."
The answer made Mara focus.
"What does that mean?"
Daniel looked toward the window.
"The company had problems before he died."
"Financial problems?"
"Yes."
"Then why did nobody say that?"
"Because Grandma didn't want people thinking the company was weak."
Eleanor's face hardened.
"That is not the whole reason."
Daniel ignored her.
"People were already looking for reasons to believe the family was falling apart."
Mara looked at the documents.
"And someone used that."
Daniel did not answer.
That was answer enough.
Mara stepped closer.
"Daniel."
He looked at her.
"What?"
"Did you know someone was changing records?"
"No."
"Did you know about the lighter?"
"No."
"Did you know Dad was investigating someone?"
His silence lasted too long.
Mara felt something inside her shift.
Not anger.
Not yet.
Disappointment.
"You did."
Daniel sat down slowly.
"I knew he was worried."
"That's not what I asked."
"I was seventeen."
"I know."
"I didn't understand it."
"Then tell me what you did understand."
Daniel looked at his hands.
"He asked me to keep something safe."
The room went completely still.
Eleanor stepped forward.
"What?"
Daniel looked at her.
"You didn't know?"
"No."
His face changed.
For the first time, Mara saw that he was not protecting a lie.
He was protecting a memory.
"When did he ask you?"
"The night before he died."
Mara felt cold.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
Daniel swallowed.
"Because he told me not to."
"That is your answer?"
"He said if anything happened, I should not give it to anyone unless I knew who I could trust."
Mara looked at the key.
"Was it the lighter?"
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
The answer came quickly.
"Then what was it?"
Daniel looked at Eleanor.
Then at Mara.
"A flash drive."
Mara stared at him.
"Where is it?"
Daniel looked down.
"I don't have it."
"Who does?"
"I don't know."
The old anger returned.
Mara stepped back.
"You spent eleven years knowing something important existed, and you never told me?"
"I tried."
"When?"
"After the funeral."
She stopped.
"What?"
Daniel looked miserable.
"I came to your apartment."
Mara searched her memory.
She remembered the months after Victor's death.
She remembered grief.
Calls she ignored.
Family members leaving messages.
Her own decision to disappear from everyone.
"I don't remember."
"I know."
The answer hurt.
"I knocked for twenty minutes."
Mara looked away.
"I was there."
The words came out before she could stop them.
Daniel stared.
"What?"
"I was there."
She looked toward the floor.
"I didn't answer."
"Why?"
Because she had been angry.
Because she had been exhausted.
Because she had been sitting in the dark listening to her phone ring while the world expected her to care about a family that had made her feel like a failure.
"I thought everyone wanted to tell me what I did wrong."
Daniel's expression softened.
"I wanted to tell you Dad was wrong."
Mara looked at him.
"What does that mean?"
Daniel shook his head.
"I don't know anymore."
The honesty was worse than a lie.
Eleanor walked to the desk and picked up one of the documents.
"Where did your father tell you to keep it?"
Daniel looked at her.
"Grandma."
"Where?"
He hesitated.
Then he answered.
"In his office."
Mara looked at the key.
"Then why isn't it there?"
Nobody answered.
The question stayed in the room.
A few minutes later, the three of them stood outside Victor's old office door.
It was at the end of the second-floor hallway.
Mara remembered it clearly.
As a child, she was not allowed inside unless her father invited her.
The door had always represented something she could not reach.
Now it was only a locked piece of wood.
Daniel stood beside her.
"I haven't been in there since the funeral."
Mara looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because Grandma said nobody should."
Eleanor did not deny it.
"You were grieving."
"So were you."
"Yes."
Daniel looked at the door.
"That doesn't explain why it stayed locked for twenty years."
Eleanor took the key from Mara.
Her hand shook slightly.
That scared Mara more than anything else.
Eleanor had faced business failures, lawsuits, family arguments, and funerals without showing fear.
A small key was different.
She inserted it into the lock.
It turned easily.
Too easily.
Mara noticed.
"Someone opened this recently."
Daniel looked at the lock.
"How do you know?"
"There would be resistance if it had been untouched for years."
Eleanor looked at her.
"You sound like your father."
Mara did not know whether that was a compliment.
The door opened.
The smell hit them first.
Old paper.
Dust.
Wood.
A room preserved by avoidance.
Victor's desk sat near the window.
His chair was pushed back.
Folders filled the shelves.
Nothing looked disturbed.
Which meant someone had been careful.
Mara stepped inside.
She did not feel like she was entering her father's office.
She felt like she was entering the part of him everyone had hidden from her.
Daniel stayed near the door.
Eleanor moved slowly around the room.
May you like
Nobody spoke.
The silence was not peaceful.
