Chapter 7
Daniel stared at the disconnected phone.
“My father’s basement?”
Margaret still lived in the house where Daniel and Ethan grew up.
The same house Richard ruled for thirty-eight years.
Three floors.
Twelve bedrooms.
Wine cellar.
Office.
And a basement nobody used except Richard.
When Daniel was a child, the basement door was always locked.
Richard called it storage.
Daniel never questioned him.
Now Ethan was supposedly tied up down there.
Moreno was already moving.
He called tactical officers.
“Margaret needs to leave the property.”
Daniel grabbed his coat.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“That’s my brother.”
“And someone may be holding him at gunpoint.”
“I know the house.”
“So do our diagrams in thirty seconds.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Detective, my mother may still be inside.”
Moreno stared at him.
Daniel did not move.
Finally Moreno swore.
“You stay behind the entry team.”
Daniel nodded.
They left Lily with two officers and a female detective.
Daniel knelt beside her.
“I have to help Uncle Ethan.”
Lily looked frightened.
“Is Nora coming?”
“No.”
“Promise?”
Daniel hesitated.
Then chose the truth.
“I’m going to do everything I can to keep you safe.”
Lily hugged him.
“Come back.”
“I will.”
The ride to Margaret’s house felt endless.
Police vehicles approached without sirens.
Lights off.
Margaret had been told to walk calmly outside.
She waited near the gate in a coat over her nightgown.
When Daniel saw her, he barely recognized her.
She looked twenty years older.
“Where is Ethan?” she asked.
Daniel did not answer.
Officers entered.
The basement door was locked.
They forced it.
Daniel waited behind them.
The smell hit first.
Dust.
Damp concrete.
Old wood.
Then something metallic.
Blood.
They moved downstairs.
A chair lay overturned near the back wall.
Rope on the floor.
Blood on the seat.
But no Ethan.
Margaret covered her mouth.
“Oh God.”
Moreno searched.
Daniel noticed scratches on the concrete.
Fresh.
Near a shelving unit.
He stepped closer.
The shelf looked wrong.
Too clean along one edge.
“Wait.”
Officers stopped him.
Daniel pointed.
“That wasn’t there when I was a kid.”
They moved the shelf.
Behind it stood a narrow steel door.
Margaret stared.
“I’ve never seen that.”
Daniel believed her.
The lock had already been broken.
Police entered.
A hidden room.
Inside were filing cabinets.
Monitors.
A desk.
Boxes.
And photographs.
Hundreds.
Richard had created an archive beneath his own home.
Daniel walked inside slowly.
His father’s secret life covered the walls.
Pictures of business rivals.
Employees.
Public officials.
Family members.
Daniel.
Margaret.
Ethan.
Sarah.
Even Lily as a toddler.
“This is insane.”
Moreno opened a cabinet.
Financial records.
Private investigation reports.
Audio transcripts.
Blackmail material.
Richard had collected secrets on everyone around him.
Daniel saw a folder labeled ETHAN.
He opened it.
Casino debts.
Affair photographs.
Drug test results.
Records of money Ethan stole from the company.
Then another file.
SARAH.
Daniel’s hands trembled.
He opened it.
The first page was an instruction.
Monitor subject. Recover all copied financial materials. Avoid public confrontation.
Signed R.C.
A second sheet.
Report from Caleb Mercer.
Subject met Ethan Carter. Envelope exchanged.
Then a note in Richard’s handwriting.
Ethan compromised. Use his debts.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Richard had blackmailed Ethan after discovering he helped Sarah.
That was the control.
Moreno found another paper.
“Daniel.”
A payment authorization.
$50,000 to Mercer.
Dated three days before Sarah’s death.
Purpose field blank.
Daniel stared at it.
Proof was becoming harder to deny.
A sound came from deeper in the room.
Everyone froze.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
An officer raised his weapon.
“Police!”
Tap.
Tap.
They followed the sound.
Behind another door, they found Ethan.
Hands bound.
Mouth taped.
Blood dried along his forehead.
Alive.
Margaret screamed his name.
Paramedics rushed down.
Daniel stood several feet away.
He did not know whether to hug his brother or hit him.
Ethan saw him.
His eyes filled with tears.
After the tape was removed, he coughed.
“Lily?”
“Safe.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Thank God.”
Daniel’s anger returned.
“You planned to kill me.”
Ethan shook his head.
“I helped Nora.”
“That’s the same thing.”
“No.”
Daniel grabbed the back of the chair.
“Your messages are on her phone.”
“I know.”
“You told her tonight was the last chance.”
“I was buying time.”
“For what?”
“To get the card.”
Daniel stared.
“You knew Sarah hid it.”
“Not until Dad died.”
“How?”
Ethan looked toward the secret room.
“His files.”
“You found this place?”
“Eighteen months ago.”
“And said nothing.”
Ethan looked ashamed.
“I was scared.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Apparently that runs in the family.”
Margaret lowered her head.
Ethan continued.
“I found a note saying Sarah made a digital copy and hid it somewhere connected to Lily.”
“The rabbit.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“But Nora did?”
“She overheard me talking to Wade.”
Daniel froze.
“You were working with Wade.”
“At first.”
Margaret gasped.
Ethan looked at her.
“I wanted Dad’s evidence.”
“To sell it.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Daniel stepped back in disgust.
“Unbelievable.”
“I was drowning.”
“In debt?”
“In everything.”
Ethan looked at Daniel.
“You always got to be the good son.”
Daniel almost exploded.
“This is about jealousy?”
“No!”
Ethan tried to sit up.
Paramedic stopped him.
“It’s about Dad destroying us differently.”
“He blackmailed you because you helped Sarah.”
Ethan’s eyes widened.
“You found the file.”
“I found enough.”
Ethan stared at the floor.
“Sarah came to me because she knew Dad watched her.”
“Why you?”
“Because I hated him.”
Daniel said nothing.
Ethan continued.
“I gave her account records. She copied everything.”
“Did Dad kill her?”
Ethan’s face changed.
“I don’t know.”
“Stop saying that.”
“I don’t!”
His voice cracked.
“I knew Dad hired Wade to follow her. I knew he wanted the files back. I never knew he planned to hurt her.”
“What happened the night she died?”
Ethan began crying.
“She called me.”
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
“Ten minutes before the crash.”
Daniel forgot how to breathe.
“She called you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She said a black car was following her.”
Daniel felt the floor shift.
“What did you do?”
“I told her to drive to a police station.”
“Did you call the police?”
Ethan looked away.
Daniel understood.
“You didn’t.”
“I was afraid Dad would find out I helped her.”
Daniel slammed his hand against the desk.
Margaret screamed.
“My wife died because everybody in this family was afraid!”
Ethan sobbed.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I’ve lived with it every day.”
Daniel grabbed him by the shirt.
Paramedics moved forward.
Moreno stepped between them.
“Daniel.”
Daniel released Ethan.
He walked away, shaking.
Ethan spoke behind him.
“That’s why I called you yesterday.”
Daniel turned.
“You were helping Nora kill me.”
“I was trying to make her believe I was.”
“Why?”
“Because Nora found Dad’s file about the card.”
“How?”
“She was sleeping with you and searching your office.”
The cruelty of the sentence hit.
Ethan flinched.
“I’m sorry.”
“Were you sleeping with her?”
Silence.
Daniel laughed once.
“Answer.”
“Yes.”
Margaret covered her mouth again.
Daniel stared at his brother.
Ethan whispered.
“It started months ago.”
Daniel’s eyes filled with tears, but anger burned through them.
“You slept with my wife. You stole from my company. You helped her plan my death.”
“I never planned to let her do it.”
“Lily stopped her, not you.”
Ethan had no answer.
Daniel stepped closer.
“My six-year-old daughter did what you couldn’t.”
Ethan cried harder.
Daniel turned away.
Moreno asked Ethan about Nora.
“I don’t know where she is.”
“What about Wade?”
“He caught me after I left the airport.”
“He tied you here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He thought I had the memory card.”
“What does he want?”
“To destroy it.”
“Why not sell it?”
Ethan shook his head.
“Wade isn’t protecting Dad.”
“Then who?”
Ethan looked frightened.
“Himself.”
Moreno frowned.
“What’s on the card?”
“I don’t know all of it.”
“Tell us what you know.”
Ethan swallowed.
“Sarah recorded a conversation.”
Daniel turned.
“What conversation?”
“Dad and Wade.”
The room went silent.
Ethan’s voice dropped.
“She recorded them talking about her.”
Daniel felt sick.
“What did they say?”
“I never heard the recording.”
“But?”
Ethan looked directly at him.
“According to Dad’s notes, Sarah caught Wade admitting he had been paid to arrange an accident.”
Margaret collapsed into a chair.
Daniel stood frozen.
There it was.
Sarah had not died because of rain.
Or speed.
Or an argument with Daniel.
She had been murdered.
Moreno asked the next question.
“Why did Wade take Nora?”
Ethan looked confused.
“He took Nora?”
“She called Daniel. Wade found her.”
Ethan’s face drained of color.
“Then she’s dead.”
Daniel stared.
“How do you know?”
“Because Nora knows where Wade keeps his money.”
“What money?”
“Dad paid him for years.”
“Where?”
Ethan shook his head.
“Nora found an account.”
Moreno leaned closer.
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
Ethan suddenly looked at Daniel.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“Nora once said if everything went wrong, she had insurance.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“What kind?”
“A video.”
“Of what?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
“When did she make it?”
“Last month.”
Daniel’s phone rang.
The female detective watching Lily.
He answered immediately.
“What happened?”
Her voice was urgent.
“Daniel, Lily is fine.”
He exhaled.
“But someone left something outside the house.”
“What?”
“A package.”
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
“From who?”
“No name.”
“What’s inside?”
Silence.
May you like
Then:
“Lily’s stuffed rabbit.”
