Chapter 4
I thought I had misunderstood her.
“Our what?”
Melissa stood at the bottom of the stairs, one hand gripping the railing.
“Our sister.”
I looked at the photograph again.
My father.
The unknown woman.
The baby.
“No.”
Melissa laughed without humor.
“That was my reaction too.”
Sarah came down one step.
“How long have you known?”
Melissa looked at her.
“Long enough.”
“How long?”
“Two years.”
I stared at my sister.
“You knew for two years?”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
“It wasn’t my secret.”
I almost shouted.
“It was our family!”
Melissa flinched.
The police officer stepped between us.
“Everyone keep your voices down.”
I pointed at the photograph.
“Who is the woman?”
“Laura’s mother.”
“Name.”
“Catherine Bennett.”
“Was Dad having an affair?”
Melissa swallowed.
“Yes.”
Sarah looked at the financial records.
“And he has been sending Laura money.”
Melissa nodded.
“That’s what Mom discovered.”
My anger shifted.
“If you knew, why did Mom write that you would lie?”
Melissa looked away.
“Because I helped Dad.”
The room went silent.
“How?”
“At first, I only helped him hide the transfers.”
My stomach twisted.
“You moved Mom’s money?”
“I thought it was Dad’s.”
Sarah held up the documents.
“You signed two of these.”
Melissa’s face changed.
“You went through everything?”
“That’s why we’re here.”
Melissa stepped closer.
“Give those to me.”
“No.”
“Sarah—”
“No.”
I came downstairs.
“Why did you sign them?”
Melissa looked at me.
“Dad said Laura was sick.”
“With what?”
“He never told me.”
“And you just gave her hundreds of thousands of dollars?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Then explain it.”
Melissa’s eyes filled.
“Dad told me Laura had spent her whole life without him. He said Mom knew about her years ago and forced him to stay away.”
“Did Mom?”
“I believed him.”
That answer sounded familiar.
Dad said.
I believed him.
Our entire family had lived by those words.
Sarah picked up another document.
“This account belongs to Evelyn alone.”
Melissa’s shoulders dropped.
“I know that now.”
“When did you find out?”
“Last winter.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
I stared at her.
“Nothing?”
“I confronted Dad.”
“And?”
“He told me Mom was trying to destroy him.”
“And you believed him again?”
Melissa shouted.
“He’s my father!”
“So he’s mine!”
My voice echoed through the house.
“But Mom is our mother.”
Melissa started crying.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
She wiped her face.
“You think you understand because you walked into one hospital room tonight.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you weren’t here.”
“For what?”
“For any of it.”
I stared at her.
Melissa had lived twenty minutes from our parents.
I lived nearly an hour away.
She had been the one taking Mom to appointments.
Helping with groceries.
Checking on the house.
I suddenly realized how much access she had.
My voice dropped.
“What happened the day Mom collapsed?”
Melissa went still.
Sarah noticed.
“Tell him.”
Melissa looked at her.
“Shut up.”
“Tell him.”
“Sarah.”
“Did you see Evelyn before she collapsed?”
Melissa’s lips parted.
The officer looked between them.
Melissa finally nodded.
“Yes.”
My heart sank.
“Where?”
“At the house.”
“What time?”
“Around four.”
Mom had collapsed after six.
“What happened?”
“Dad called me.”
“Why?”
“He said Mom was hysterical.”
“About what?”
“The divorce.”
I felt sick.
Melissa continued.
“When I got there, they were fighting.”
“About Laura?”
“About everything.”
“Did Mom look sick?”
“No.”
“Confused?”
“No.”
“Drugged?”
Melissa hesitated.
“No.”
Sarah folded her arms.
“What did Richard ask you to do?”
Melissa looked at her.
“Nothing.”
“You’re lying.”
“Stop.”
“You went to the hospital today. Evelyn had unexplained sedatives in her system.”
Melissa stepped toward Sarah.
“I said stop.”
I moved between them.
“Answer her.”
Melissa stared at me.
“I didn’t give Mom anything.”
“Then who did?”
“Ask Dad.”
“I did.”
“He’ll lie.”
The words came out before she could stop them.
I stared at her.
“So you know he drugged her.”
Melissa covered her face.
“I know he gave her something that night.”
My chest tightened.
“What?”
“He said it would calm her down.”
Sarah’s voice cracked with anger.
“And you let him?”
“I didn’t know what it was!”
“What happened after he gave it to her?”
Melissa shook her head.
“She got sleepy.”
“And then?”
“Dad told me to leave.”
“When did she collapse?”
“Maybe an hour later.”
I felt like the floor shifted beneath me.
“You left her with him.”
“I thought she was sleeping!”
“She nearly died.”
Melissa started sobbing.
“You think I don’t know that?”
I looked at the officer.
“Can you document everything she just said?”
Melissa’s head snapped up.
“Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“You’re going to the police against Dad?”
“I’m going to protect Mom.”
“You don’t understand what that will do.”
I laughed.
“Do you hear yourself?”
She grabbed my sleeve.
“If Dad goes down, the company goes down.”
“So?”
“Half the family’s money is tied to it.”
“There it is.”
Her face hardened.
“You think money doesn’t matter because you built your own life.”
“I think Mom matters more.”
“You have no idea what happens if those accounts get frozen.”
Sarah stepped closer.
“Maybe that’s why Evelyn removed you from the will.”
Melissa turned on her.
“You don’t get to say her name like you loved her.”
Sarah froze.
Melissa continued.
“You hated her.”
“I did.”
“Exactly.”
“And then I learned why.”
“What does that mean?”
Sarah’s eyes watered.
“Your father spent years making both of us believe the worst about each other.”
Melissa shook her head.
“Convenient.”
“Evelyn knew things about my marriage that I had only told Daniel.”
I stared at Sarah.
“What things?”
Sarah looked at me.
“Our miscarriage.”
My chest stopped.
We had lost a pregnancy three years earlier.
We had told almost nobody.
Only my parents.
Sarah’s voice trembled.
“Your mother once used it against me during an argument.”
I remembered.
Sarah had refused to attend Thanksgiving.
She never told me exactly why.
“What did Mom say?”
“She said maybe motherhood wasn’t meant for me.”
I closed my eyes.
That sounded cruel enough to be my mother in those years.
“But when she came to apologize in May, she brought it up.”
Sarah swallowed.
“She said she had never known we lost a baby until Richard told her.”
I opened my eyes.
“What?”
“She said Richard told her I blamed her for the miscarriage.”
I stared at the floor.
“That’s not true.”
“I know.”
“Why would he say that?”
“To keep us hating each other.”
Melissa looked shaken.
Sarah continued.
“Then Evelyn started telling me things Richard had claimed I said about her.”
“What kind of things?” Melissa asked.
“That I called her controlling. That I wanted Daniel to stop seeing her. That I laughed about her health problems.”
Melissa looked down.
Sarah’s voice softened.
“Some of it sounded believable because we were already angry. That was the point.”
My father had not simply lied.
He had engineered distance.
For years.
Why?
The answer sat in the steel box.
If we weren’t speaking honestly, no one compared stories.
No one compared finances.
No one asked why Mom was afraid.
I picked up the flash drive.
“What’s on this?”
Melissa stared at it.
“I don’t know.”
“Dad does?”
Her silence answered.
I looked around.
“We need a computer.”
The old house had nothing useful.
The officer suggested we take the box back to Boston and turn copies over to investigators.
Then headlights swept across the windows.
A car pulled into the driveway.
Melissa’s face drained.
“Who did you call?”
“No one.”
Sarah moved toward the window.
A black sedan stopped outside.
My father stepped out.
Melissa whispered, “Oh God.”
The officer went to the front door.
Richard saw him and stopped.
Then he looked through the window.
His eyes found me.
Then the steel box.
He didn’t try to run.
He walked straight toward the porch.
The officer opened the door but blocked him.
“This is private property.”
Richard smiled.
“My wife owns this house.”
I stepped into view.
“Then she can invite you when she wakes up.”
His smile vanished.
“What did you find?”
I held up the photograph.
For the first time in my life, my father looked old.
“Who told you?” he asked.
“Melissa.”
His head turned sharply toward her.
“You stupid girl.”
Melissa recoiled.
I stared at him.
“Don’t talk to her like that.”
Richard laughed.
“Now you’re defending her?”
“She told the truth.”
“No, she told you enough truth to make herself look innocent.”
Melissa’s face changed.
“Dad.”
Richard pointed at her.
“Tell Daniel why Evelyn removed you from the will.”
She said nothing.
“Dad, stop.”
“Tell him.”
Sarah stepped closer to Melissa.
“What did you do?”
Richard smiled coldly.
“She didn’t just help move money.”
Melissa started shaking.
“Please.”
“She borrowed against your mother’s house.”
My jaw dropped.
Richard continued.
“Then she forged Evelyn’s signature to do it.”
I stared at my sister.
“Is that true?”
Melissa cried harder.
“It was temporary.”
“How much?”
She couldn’t answer.
Richard did.
“Four hundred thousand dollars.”
I took a step backward.
“For what?”
Melissa’s silence lasted too long.
Then she whispered.
“My husband.”
Her husband, Jason, had supposedly left her a year earlier.
“What did Jason need four hundred thousand dollars for?”
Melissa closed her eyes.
“Debt.”
“What kind of debt?”
Richard smiled bitterly.
“The kind you don’t tell your brother about.”
Sarah stared at Melissa.
“Evelyn found out.”
Melissa nodded.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“And threatened to report you?”
Another nod.
Everything became clearer.
Dad had a reason to silence Mom.
Melissa had one too.
I looked between them.
“Which one of you drugged her?”
Richard’s smile disappeared.
Melissa whispered, “I didn’t.”
My father said nothing.
Then Sarah picked up the flash drive.
“Maybe Evelyn answered that herself.”
Richard moved so fast the officer barely stopped him.
“Give me that!”
The officer shoved him back.
My father lost control.
“You have no idea what is on there!”
I stared at him.
“Then tell me.”
Richard looked at me.
And for the first time all night, there was something in his face beyond anger.
May you like
Fear.
“If you open that,” he said, “you will never forgive your mother either.”
