Chương 9
He had been comparing them already.
“Tomorrow,” Daniel said, “we open the storage unit.”
Melissa shook her head.
“We call the police.”
“Fine.”
“Not fine like you're humoring me.”
“I said fine.”
“You have that look.”
“What look?”
“The Carter look.”
Daniel flinched.
Melissa saw it.
“Sorry.”
“No.”
He folded the receipt.
“Maybe I need somebody to say it.”
The storage facility opened at seven.
Ruiz met them there.
So did a forensic technician.
Daniel expected boxes of financial records.
There were three.
But that was not what stopped him at the door.
Against the rear wall stood one of his mother’s old dining chairs.
The green one.
Daniel had not seen it since childhood.
He walked toward it.
The vinyl seat had a tear near one corner.
His mother used to catch her stockings on it.
He touched the backrest.
“Why is this here?”
Melissa shook her head.
“I’ve never been inside.”
Ruiz photographed everything before anyone touched it.
The boxes contained financial records, correspondence, old photographs, and several cassette tapes.
One photograph showed Jack Carter, Martin Vale, and two other men outside the original Carter Construction office.
Another showed Victoria at twenty-four standing beside Linda Carter.
Daniel picked it up after Ruiz cleared it.
His mother was laughing.
Victoria looked terrified of the camera.
On the back, Linda had written:
V says lawyers are allergic to sunlight.
Daniel sat on the green chair.
He stared at his mother’s handwriting.
The room smelled of cardboard and dust.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
Then Ruiz found the envelope.
It was taped beneath the bottom of the third box.
Inside was a handwritten letter from Rachel.
Not to Daniel.
To Victoria.
V—
If Martin comes back, do not give him the accident file. Not because I believe Jack was innocent. Because Martin has started talking as if uncertainty is betrayal. He needs Jack to have killed Linda. I need evidence to decide that.
If anything happens to me before this is settled, Daniel deserves the documents, but he deserves them with context. Please don't let guilt make you choose for him again.
Daniel read the final sentence twice.
“Again?”
Ruiz looked at him.
“Looks important.”
Daniel turned to Melissa.
“Do you know what it means?”
“No.”
He called Victoria.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Ruiz said, “Don't chase her.”
“I’m calling her.”
“You’re about to do more than that.”
Daniel looked at her.
She was right.
He hated that too.
“Let us find her.”
“She’s been hiding things for thirty years.”
“And if you corner her while you're angry?”
Daniel looked at the letter.
He remembered the steel tool in his hand.
His father’s bloodstained shirt.
“I’ll wait.”
It took six hours.
Victoria came to the station voluntarily.
Daniel sat across from her in a small conference room with Ruiz present.
Victoria looked older than she had two nights earlier.
No designer coat.
No pearls.
Just a gray sweater and black trousers.
Daniel placed Rachel’s letter on the table.
“What did you choose for me?”
Victoria read the sentence.
She removed her glasses.
“Your mother wanted to leave Jack.”
“I know that.”
“She had enough documentation to destroy him financially.”
“Then why didn’t she?”
“Because I advised her to wait.”
Daniel stared.
“Why?”
“I thought we needed stronger evidence.”
“Did we?”
“No.”
The word came quietly.
“I was twenty-four. Jack threatened to report me to my firm for mishandling confidential corporate material. Some of what Linda brought me belonged to the company. I panicked.”
“You abandoned her.”
“Yes.”
Daniel had expected an excuse.
The absence of one left him with nowhere easy to put his anger.
“What happened after?”
“Linda went back to him.”
“And then she died.”
“Yes.”
“Did my father kill her?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you think he did?”
“For years.”
“Why?”
“Because the mechanic who serviced her brakes received money from one of Jack’s companies.”
“Was anything wrong with the brakes?”
“The original accident report said brake failure was possible but not established.”
“Where’s the report?”
“In those boxes.”
“Was the mechanic investigated?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He said the payment was for unrelated work.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel leaned back.
“Then why did Rachel say you chose for me?”
Victoria looked at the table.
“After Jack died, I could have told you.”
“You didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because your company was collapsing. You had employees who would lose their jobs. You had just married Rachel. You were trying to be different from him.”
“So you decided I couldn’t handle it.”
“Yes.”
Daniel nodded.
It hurt more because she said it plainly.
“You invested in my company out of guilt.”
“At first.”
“At first?”
“I expected to lose the money.”
“Comforting.”
“You asked.”
“Then what changed?”
“You did.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You paid suppliers before yourself. You sold your house rather than miss payroll. You fired your father’s old operations manager when he offered you a kickback arrangement. You were terrible at negotiating rent.”
Despite himself, Daniel said, “I’m still terrible at that.”
“Yes.”
A tiny pause.
Then Victoria continued.
“I stopped seeing you as Linda’s son.”
Daniel’s throat tightened.
“And started seeing me as what?”
“Daniel.”
He looked away.
That was almost enough to make forgiveness tempting.
Almost.
“Did Rachel trust you?”
“Less after she found out I had withheld the history.”
“Did she forgive you?”
“No.”
That surprised him.
“Never?”
“We were working on it.”
Daniel looked at Rachel’s letter.
That sounded like Rachel too.
Forgiveness had never been a switch with her.
It was work.
Sometimes unfinished work.
“Who hired Tara Mills?”
“I don’t know.”
“Martin says you do.”
“Martin wants you to distrust me.”
“Maybe he doesn't have to work that hard.”
Victoria accepted that.
Ruiz leaned forward.
“Ms. Hale, did anyone else know about the storage unit?”
Victoria hesitated.
“Yes.”
Daniel stared.
“Who?”
“Martin.”
Ruiz’s expression sharpened.
“How?”
“Rachel told him before their relationship deteriorated.”
“Why?”
“Because some of his records were there.”
May you like
Daniel stood.
“You let us walk into that unit?”
