Chương 13
For the first week, he and Claire texted only about practical things.
The mail.
A plumber.
A dinner invitation they needed to decline.
Her mother’s birthday gift, which Daniel had ordered months earlier and forgotten.
On the ninth day Claire wrote:
Your watch is in the freezer again.
Daniel stared at the message.
Then he checked.
It was.
He sent back:
This seems targeted.
Claire replied:
By whom?
Daniel:
Frozen peas.
She sent a single laughing face.
He hated how much better it made him feel.
They did not discuss the marriage that night.
Two months after North Crown, Daniel met Michael for lunch at a diner their father disliked because the coffee was bad.
Michael arrived ten minutes late.
Daniel pointed at the clock.
“You’re forty-four.”
“I know how old I am.”
“Then why are you still late?”
“Because personal growth has limits.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Michael looked healthier. He had been sober for nearly six years, a fact Daniel had somehow managed to treat as irrelevant because resentment preferred old information.
They ordered burgers.
Halfway through lunch Michael said, “Dad wants to see you.”
Daniel put down a french fry.
“No.”
“He asked me to tell you.”
“Interesting choice of messenger.”
“He’s running out.”
Daniel looked through the window.
Traffic moved slowly in dirty spring rain.
“What does he want?”
“To explain.”
“He explained.”
“He wants to apologize.”
Daniel laughed quietly.
“Dad doesn’t apologize.”
“He’s expanding his skill set.”
“Good for him.”
Michael drank coffee and grimaced.
“This is terrible.”
“I warned you.”
“No, you said Dad hated it. That usually means something is good.”
Daniel smiled despite himself.
Michael grew serious.
“You don’t owe him a meeting.”
“I know.”
“But I think you owe yourself the option.”
Daniel looked at him.
“That sounds suspiciously healthy.”
“I have a sponsor who talks too much.”
They finished lunch.
Daniel did not promise anything.
Three days later he drove to his father’s house.
Charles answered the door himself.
He had lost weight.
Not dramatically.
Enough.
They sat in the study where Daniel had done homework as a child while his father worked late.
Charles poured coffee instead of whiskey.
Daniel noticed.
Neither mentioned it.
For almost ten minutes they discussed nothing important.
A roof leak.
A former employee’s retirement.
The terrible season of the Denver baseball team.
Daniel wondered whether his father was delaying.
Then he realized he was delaying too.
Finally Charles said, “The district attorney offered a plea discussion.”
Daniel stared at him.
“For what?”
“Leaving the scene. Obstruction. Evidence tampering. They’re still evaluating vehicular charges.”
“And the financial case?”
“Separate.”
Daniel nodded.
Charles looked at his coffee.
“I’m going to accept responsibility.”
The phrasing irritated Daniel.
“For which part?”
“All of it that’s mine.”
“That’s still careful.”
“I have lawyers.”
“You also have a mouth.”
Charles looked up.
For a second the old anger appeared.
Then faded.
“I caused the collision.”
Daniel went still.
His father continued.
“I don’t know whether the contact alone caused her to lose control. The road was icy. She accelerated. The investigators can argue physics for the next year.”
Daniel said nothing.
Charles’s hand tightened around the coffee cup.
“But I caused the situation. I followed her. I tried to force her to stop. I left after I heard the crash because I was afraid. Then I lied.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
Charles looked older than seventy-two.
“I told myself I was protecting the company. Then I told myself I was protecting you. Then Michael. Then employees. Every year I found a better person to protect than myself.”
Daniel looked down.
“That sounds almost self-aware.”
Charles gave a dry laugh.
“I’ve had a bad few months.”
They sat in silence.
Finally Daniel asked, “Did Rebecca die because she was trying to expose you?”
Charles looked toward the window.
“Yes.”
The word entered the room quietly.
Daniel’s eyes burned.
“Did she call me because she was scared?”
“I don’t know.”
“You must have talked to her.”
“She was furious.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“No.”
Charles swallowed.
“She said you’d hate her.”
Daniel looked up.
“For what?”
“For forcing you to choose.”
A pressure built behind Daniel’s ribs.
“What did you say?”
“I said you’d choose me.”
Daniel stared at his father.
Charles’s voice broke slightly.
“I believed it.”
Daniel stood.
He walked to the bookshelf.
As a child he had believed the room smelled like intelligence because of the leather and paper.
Now it smelled like dust.
He looked at a framed photograph of himself and Michael skiing at sixteen and nineteen. Charles stood between them, one arm around each boy.
Daniel turned.
“You were probably right.”
Charles looked at him.
“If she had come home and told me you were stealing from the company, I might have defended you.”
His father closed his eyes.
“That’s why she didn’t trust me.”
Daniel’s voice grew rough.
“I have to live with that.”
“No.”
Charles stood.
“No, you don’t get to take my part.”
Daniel laughed sharply.
“I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. I know you. You’re going to turn this into a different version of missing her phone call.”
Daniel stopped.
Charles approached but kept distance between them.
“She called you because she loved you. You didn’t answer because you were at dinner. That is an ordinary mistake. I followed her on an icy road because I wanted to frighten her into silence.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“Don’t make me feel better.”
“I’m not trying to.”
“Then what are you trying to do?”
Charles looked at him.
“For once? Tell the truth before it helps me.”
Daniel left fifteen minutes later.
He did not forgive his father.
He also did not hate him cleanly.
That would have been easier.
Charles eventually pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a fatal accident, obstruction, and evidence tampering while prosecutors continued litigating the more serious vehicle-related charge. The financial case produced additional charges months later.
There were hearings.
Delays.
Motions.
May you like
Arguments over evidence.
Experts disagreed about whether the contact between the vehicles directly caused Rebecca’s Range Rover to leave the road or whether ice and speed contributed.
