Chương 6
The room went quiet.
Caleb looked at Rachel.
“This is why Daniel wanted everyone together.”
Rachel felt anger rise.
“At Thanksgiving?”
“No.”
The answer caught her.
“He didn’t plan this.”
“Then what did he plan?”
“A meeting after his death if the letter led you to call me.”
“Why didn’t you call us?”
“Because Daniel expressly asked me not to unless one of three things happened.”
Rachel waited.
“Someone challenged the transactions. Someone attempted to sell the house quickly. Or Rachel contacted me using the card.”
Brian’s head snapped up.
Claire whispered, “Sell the house.”
Rachel looked at Brian.
“When does it close?”
Brian did not answer.
“Brian.”
“January.”
“What date?”
“The ninth.”
Claire stared.
“You already have a buyer?”
“It’s under contract.”
“You said you were thinking about selling.”
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“I just did.”
“No. Rachel found out from Marcy Collins at Kroger.”
Rachel closed her eyes briefly.
That was true.
She had run into their father’s neighbor while buying wine that morning. Marcy had asked whether Rachel was “sad about losing the old place.”
Rachel had laughed because she thought Marcy meant Daniel.
Then Marcy explained.
The For Sale sign had gone up Tuesday.
Rachel had driven to the house already angry.
The letter question had started after Margaret noticed the sign too.
Caleb asked Brian, “Have you provided the closing attorney with full information about the pending review?”
“There is no pending review.”
“There has been one since February.”
“Dad is dead.”
“The records aren’t.”
Brian stood again.
“What do you want from me?”
Caleb’s voice softened.
“I don’t want anything from you.”
“Then stop talking like you’re building a case.”
“I’m trying to prevent this family from making irreversible mistakes before everyone understands the facts.”
“You think I stole from him.”
“I think Daniel believed money was used without his authorization.”
“He was my father.”
“Yes.”
“I gave up two years of my life.”
No one answered.
Brian’s voice cracked.
Not much.
Enough.
“I drove him everywhere. I missed jobs. I lost customers because he’d call and say he couldn’t breathe, then by the time I got here he was fine. I slept on that couch for three weeks after his surgery.”
Claire’s anger dimmed slightly.
Not forgiveness.
Recognition.
“I know,” she said.
“No, you don’t.”
“I came too.”
“You came with casseroles.”
“That is unfair.”
“I was here at three in the morning.”
Claire’s eyes filled, but she did not cry.
“I had a seven-year-old at home.”
“And I had a business.”
Rachel watched Brian’s hands.
They were trembling.
The grief in the room was becoming inconvenient.
That made it more believable.
If Brian had simply been a thief, everyone could have arranged themselves around him.
But he had also been the son who stayed.
He had been tired.
He had been resentful.
He had done things no one thanked him enough for.
None of that explained seventy-eight thousand dollars.
It complicated it.
Rachel asked, “Did Dad promise to pay you for taking care of him?”
Brian looked at her.
A long pause.
“Yes.”
Margaret’s brow furrowed.
“How much?”
“He didn’t put a number on it.”
“Then what did he say?”
Brian rubbed his hands together.
“He said the house would be mine.”
Claire stared.
“Dad said that?”
“He said I was the one keeping it together and there’d be no point dividing it three ways.”
Rachel noticed the word.
“Three?”
Brian looked confused.
“Yes.”
“There are four people in the will?”
Brian stopped.
Caleb said quietly, “Interesting.”
Brian turned. “What?”
Rachel looked at Caleb.
“Who is the fourth?”
Caleb did not answer.
“I’m not discussing the estate document. Mr. Kline can do that.”
Rachel felt frustration spike.
“Then why are you here?”
“To discuss Daniel’s separate instructions and the missing letter.”
“Which apparently points to some other thing you won’t describe.”
“I’ll describe it when I know whether it still exists.”
Brian swore.
Caleb looked at him.
“Where is the letter?”
“I don’t know.”
“You knew it was there.”
“I knew Dad left something.”
“How?”
Brian hesitated.
Rachel saw the answer before he gave it.
“You heard him tell Grandma.”
“No.”
“You found the card?”
“No.”
“Then how?”
Brian looked toward the hallway.
The movement was tiny.
Rachel followed his gaze.
Their father’s bedroom.
She stood.
Brian said, “Rachel.”
“What’s in there?”
“Nothing.”
She walked toward the hall.
Brian moved after her.
Caleb stood.
“Do not touch her.”
Brian stopped.
Rachel opened the bedroom door.
The room had been half emptied since May.
The hospital bed was gone. The oxygen concentrator was gone. The plastic organizer that once held fourteen prescription bottles was gone.
The dresser remained.
So did Daniel’s old desk.
Rachel had spent two nights in this room when she came after the funeral. She had noticed the desk drawers were unusually empty.
At the time she thought Brian had cleaned them.
Now she looked at the floor.
One corner of the rug had been folded back.
Under it, nearly hidden by shadow, was a scratch in the hardwood.
A fresh one.
Rachel crouched.
“What are you doing?” Claire asked from the doorway.
Rachel touched the scratch.
“Something heavy moved.”
Brian remained in the hall.
Rachel looked at the closet.
At first she saw nothing.
Then she noticed four screw holes in the baseboard behind a row of hanging shirts.
Something had once been mounted there.
“Caleb.”
The lawyer came closer.
“Was there a lockbox in this room?”
His expression answered.
Brian said, “Don’t.”
Claire turned.
“Brian.”
He backed toward the living room.
Rachel stood.
“The thing Dad didn’t want removed.”
Caleb nodded.
“A small fire safe.”
Claire looked around the empty closet.
“Where is it?”
No one answered.
Rachel walked back into the living room.
Brian was standing near the front door.
Not leaving.
Thinking about it.
Rachel stopped twelve feet away.
“Where’s the safe?”
“I moved it.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Claire whispered, “Oh my God.”
Brian raised both hands.
May you like
“Dad asked me to.”
Caleb said, “When?”
