Chapter 12 - The Recipe Book
Rebecca refused to go alone.
Victor expected that.
The second message said:
NATHANIEL CAN COME.
NO POLICE.
Thomas protested.
“You don’t understand him.”
Rebecca looked at her father.
“I understand enough.”
Nathaniel contacted police anyway.
Quiet perimeter.
No visible approach.
Andrew and Caroline stayed with Thomas, Daniel, Samuel, and Margaret.
Before leaving, Caroline stopped Rebecca.
“I need to tell you something.”
Rebecca waited.
Caroline’s face crumpled.
“I was cruel to you.”
Rebecca said nothing.
“I told myself I was protecting my family. Really, I was angry.”
“At me?”
“At everything.”
Caroline wiped her face.
“Victor had died. Mother was cold. Nathaniel was successful. Andrew had secrets. And you…”
“What?”
“You were kind.”
Rebecca looked surprised.
Caroline laughed weakly.
“I hated that you could still be kind.”
Rebecca touched her arm.
“That doesn’t excuse it.”
“I know.”
“But I believe you’re sorry.”
Caroline nodded.
“Come back.”
Rebecca did not promise.
At the mansion, the front door stood open.
Nathaniel entered first.
Rebecca followed.
The formal dining room was dark.
The kitchen light was on.
Victor sat at the turquoise table.
Older.
Scarred from the crash.
But unmistakable.
The recipe book lay before him.
Rebecca stopped.
Victor smiled.
“Welcome home.”
Nathaniel’s voice was cold.
“This isn’t your home.”
Victor laughed.
“It was more mine than hers.”
Rebecca looked at the book.
“Give it to me.”
Victor tapped it.
“Your mother was clever.”
“How did she hide it?”
Victor opened the cover.
Nothing.
He flipped to a recipe for apple pie.
Then sliced the binding with a knife.
A thin stack of folded ledger pages appeared.
Rebecca stared.
Her mother had hidden evidence inside the spine.
Victor picked them up.
“These pages destroyed Hale.”
Nathaniel corrected him.
“No. You people destroyed Hale.”
Victor smiled.
“Still righteous.”
“You tried to kill Thomas.”
“I scared him.”
“You sabotaged his car.”
Victor shrugged.
“He survived.”
Rebecca’s eyes hardened.
“You threatened a sixteen-year-old girl.”
“I threatened an accountant who wouldn’t stay gone.”
Nathaniel took a step.
Victor raised a gun.
“Sit.”
They sat.
Victor looked at Rebecca.
“Do you know why Margaret hated you?”
“She was afraid of what I represented.”
“She was afraid Nathaniel would choose you over the Carters.”
Nathaniel said, “I already did.”
Victor smiled.
“Romantic.”
Rebecca looked toward the doorway.
Victor noticed.
“Police?”
“No.”
He studied her.
“You’ve gotten better at lying.”
“I learned from your family.”
Nathaniel glanced at her.
Not offended.
Proud.
Victor gathered the pages.
“I’m leaving.”
Nathaniel said, “Where?”
“Somewhere rich men disappear.”
“You’re not leaving.”
Victor pointed the gun.
“You think money made you powerful.”
Nathaniel remained calm.
“No.”
“What did?”
“Knowing exactly what you want.”
Victor’s smile faded.
“You want those pages.”
Nathaniel continued.
“And you want us alive long enough to keep police from storming this house.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“So?”
“So your gun isn’t your advantage.”
Nathaniel looked toward the table.
“The ledger is.”
Rebecca understood.
Before Victor could react, she grabbed the mug beside her and threw it.
Victor flinched.
Nathaniel lunged.
The gun fired.
Rebecca screamed.
Nathaniel tackled Victor.
They hit the floor.
The gun slid away.
Rebecca kicked it beneath a cabinet.
Victor struck Nathaniel.
Nathaniel hit back.
Twenty years of family lies seemed to explode in the tiny kitchen.
Victor reached for the ledger pages.
Rebecca grabbed them first.
He shoved Nathaniel aside and moved toward her.
Then another voice filled the kitchen.
“Stop.”
Thomas stood in the doorway.
Gun raised.
Victor froze.
For the first time, fear crossed his face.
“You.”
Thomas’s hand shook.
“You spent twenty years convincing me I was powerless.”
Victor laughed.
“You still are.”
Thomas lowered the gun.
Victor smiled.
Then police flooded the room.
Thomas had never intended to shoot.
He had only needed Victor to look away.
Victor was arrested.
The ledger recovered.
Nathaniel leaned against the table, blood running from his lip.
Rebecca rushed to him.
“You’re hurt.”
“I’ve had worse meetings.”
She laughed through tears.
Then hugged him.
For one moment, it seemed finished.
Until an officer approached.
“Mr. Carter?”
Nathaniel looked up.
“We found something in Victor’s vehicle.”
“What?”
“A file.”
“About?”
The officer glanced at Rebecca.
“Your wife.”
Rebecca froze.
The officer handed Nathaniel a photograph.
It showed Rebecca entering the mansion years earlier.
Before she and Nathaniel had ever met.
May you like
On the back, Victor had written:
SHE CAME BACK FOR THE COMPANY.
