Chapter 4 - The Man at Margaret’s Door
The stranger stepped inside.
Nathaniel moved in front of Rebecca.
“Who are you?”
The man ignored him.
His eyes remained fixed on Rebecca.
“My name is Samuel Hale.”
Rebecca stared.
“Hale?”
“Daniel was my brother.”
Andrew still held the ledger.
Margaret whispered, “You shouldn’t be here.”
Samuel looked at her.
“You said that twenty years ago.”
Nathaniel turned toward his mother.
“You know him.”
Margaret said nothing.
Samuel removed his wet coat.
“I was Daniel’s attorney.”
Rebecca’s breathing was shallow.
“You said my father is alive.”
Samuel’s expression softened.
“I said he didn’t die that night.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
“Then tell me where he is.”
Samuel glanced toward Margaret.
“She deserves the truth.”
Margaret’s jaw tightened.
“It’s not your decision.”
“It became my decision when you tried to bury Daniel’s evidence.”
Nathaniel looked at Andrew.
“The ledger.”
Andrew took another step back.
Samuel pointed toward it.
“That book contains part of the evidence.”
Andrew suddenly opened the ledger.
Nathaniel expected numbers.
Instead, Andrew pulled something from inside the back cover.
A flash drive.
Then he ran toward the side hallway.
Nathaniel chased him.
Andrew reached the garage door.
Nathaniel grabbed his jacket.
They collided against the wall.
The flash drive fell.
Rebecca rushed forward and picked it up.
Andrew froze.
“Give me that.”
Rebecca stepped back.
“No.”
“Rebecca, you have no idea what’s on it.”
“That seems to be the sentence everyone keeps telling me.”
Andrew looked at Nathaniel.
“Brother, listen to me.”
“I’ve been listening.”
“You can’t open it.”
“Why?”
Andrew’s eyes filled with panic.
“Because Dad left it for you.”
Nathaniel stopped.
“What?”
Andrew looked toward Margaret.
“He told me if Nate ever started asking questions, I was supposed to destroy it.”
Nathaniel’s voice dropped.
“How old were you?”
“Twenty.”
“You were twenty when Dad gave this to you?”
Andrew nodded.
“He knew?”
“Knew what?”
“That someday all this would come out.”
Andrew looked away.
Margaret suddenly sat down.
She looked older.
Samuel approached Rebecca.
“Your father found evidence that Charles and Daniel had been manipulating Hale’s books.”
Rebecca stared at him.
“Why would my father be involved?”
“He wasn’t.”
Samuel looked toward Margaret.
“He discovered it.”
Nathaniel felt sick.
Samuel continued.
“Thomas Miller was a junior accountant who noticed money being moved through dummy vendors. He went to Daniel.”
Rebecca whispered, “And?”
“Daniel confronted Charles.”
Nathaniel could barely process hearing his father’s name.
“What happened?”
“Charles claimed it was temporary. He said the money was being used to protect the company during a liquidity crisis.”
Margaret suddenly said, “That’s what he told me.”
Samuel ignored her.
“Thomas didn’t believe him. He copied records.”
“And the warehouse?” Nathaniel asked.
Samuel looked at the photograph.
“That picture was taken the night Daniel planned to go to federal investigators.”
Rebecca’s hand trembled around the flash drive.
“My father?”
“He came because he had the records.”
“What happened?”
Samuel paused.
“There was an accident.”
Nathaniel nearly laughed.
“That word again.”
Samuel’s eyes hardened.
“Thomas’s car went off a bridge.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“That’s how he died.”
Samuel shook his head.
“No body was found.”
“But my mother—”
“Your mother was told he was dead.”
“By whom?”
Samuel looked at Margaret.
Rebecca turned slowly.
Margaret whispered, “For your protection.”
Rebecca stared at her.
“You told my mother my father was dead?”
Margaret’s eyes filled.
“We thought he had died.”
“Thought?”
Samuel answered.
“Thomas survived.”
Rebecca made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob.
Nathaniel put an arm around her.
“Where is he?”
Samuel looked at her.
“I don’t know.”
Rebecca stared.
“You came here and told me my father survived twenty years ago, and you don’t know where he is?”
“He disappeared.”
“Why?”
Samuel looked at the flash drive.
“Because someone tried to finish what the bridge didn’t.”
Nathaniel’s skin went cold.
“Who?”
“I never proved it.”
Margaret stood.
“That’s enough.”
Samuel laughed bitterly.
“You’ve been saying that for twenty years.”
Margaret faced Nathaniel.
“Your father was not a murderer.”
“Did he order someone to hurt Thomas?”
“No.”
Samuel said, “You don’t know that.”
“I knew my husband.”
Nathaniel snapped.
“Did you?”
Margaret stopped.
He stepped toward her.
“You lied about Rebecca’s father.”
“To protect her.”
“You excluded my wife.”
Margaret looked at Rebecca.
“That was Caroline.”
Caroline flinched.
Nathaniel turned.
Caroline’s eyes widened.
“Mother.”
Margaret continued.
“I never told anyone to make Rebecca eat alone.”
Caroline said, “You said she should understand her place.”
“I meant within foundation matters.”
“You knew what you were saying.”
Margaret looked away.
Nathaniel’s voice became deadly quiet.
“For three months my wife sat in a kitchen while my family ate in my dining room.”
Nobody answered.
He looked at Andrew.
“You knew?”
Andrew said nothing.
“That’s a yes.”
Nathaniel faced Caroline.
“You knew.”
Caroline wiped her eyes.
Nathaniel laughed softly.
“I traveled around the country buying companies because I thought success meant protecting the people I loved.”
He looked at Rebecca.
“And I didn’t even know what was happening in my own house.”
Rebecca squeezed his hand.
“This isn’t your fault.”
“It happened under my roof.”
Samuel cleared his throat.
“We still need to open the drive.”
Andrew immediately said, “No.”
Everyone looked at him.
Andrew swallowed.
Nathaniel noticed the fear.
“Why are you so afraid?”
Andrew said, “Because I already opened it.”
Margaret stared.
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
Nathaniel remembered.
Their father had died six years ago.
“After Dad died?”
Andrew nodded.
“What did you see?”
Andrew’s eyes moved toward Nathaniel.
“A video.”
“Of Dad?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Andrew shook his head.
“I’m not telling you.”
Nathaniel stepped forward.
Andrew shouted.
“He said someone in this family killed Thomas Miller!”
Rebecca froze.
Samuel’s face changed.
Margaret whispered, “No.”
Andrew looked at Rebecca.
“And he named the person.”
Rebecca clutched the flash drive.
Nathaniel held out his hand.
“Give it to me.”
She handed it over.
Andrew backed away.
Nathaniel walked toward the library computer.
Then all the lights went out.
The mansion fell into darkness.
Rebecca screamed.
Glass shattered.
Nathaniel heard footsteps running.
Then a car engine started outside.
Emergency lights flickered on.
Andrew was gone.
So was the flash drive.
Nathaniel looked down at his empty hand.
Someone had taken it in the darkness.
Then Samuel pointed toward the open front door.
May you like
A trail of blood led across the marble floor.
And at the end of it lay Margaret’s pearl necklace.
