Chapter 9 - The Daughter Margaret Sacrificed
Nobody moved.
Nathaniel raised his hands.
“Caroline. Put the gun down.”
She laughed through tears.
“You always say things like that so calmly.”
Andrew stood behind Nathaniel.
Margaret looked at him.
Her face crumpled.
“Andrew…”
He looked away.
Caroline pointed the gun toward the floor.
“Tell them.”
Margaret said nothing.
“Tell them!”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Victor and I had an affair.”
Andrew whispered, “We know.”
Margaret looked at him.
His expression answered the question she hadn’t asked.
“You took a test.”
“Yes.”
Margaret began crying.
Andrew’s voice shook.
“Was Charles ever told?”
“No.”
“So Dad died believing I was his son?”
Margaret nodded.
Andrew laughed bitterly.
“He was more my father than Victor ever could have been.”
Margaret took a step forward.
Caroline raised the gun.
“Don’t.”
Margaret stopped.
Caroline pointed toward the letter.
“Nathaniel, read it.”
He picked it up.
Charles had written it shortly before his death.
Caroline,
I owe you the truth.
Victor married you because Margaret and I believed marriage would keep him controlled.
Nathaniel stopped.
Caroline screamed.
“Keep reading.”
He continued.
Victor had threatened to expose Margaret’s affair.
Worse, Victor knew Andrew was his son.
Margaret feared public scandal.
Charles feared the destruction of the family.
So when Victor became interested in Caroline, they encouraged the relationship.
Nathaniel stared at his mother.
“You let Caroline marry him?”
Margaret sobbed.
“I thought he loved her.”
Caroline laughed.
“You thought he could be managed.”
Margaret lowered her head.
Caroline’s hand trembled.
“For twenty years, I thought my marriage was the one thing in this family that was mine.”
Nathaniel stepped closer.
“It was real to you.”
“Don’t.”
“Caroline.”
“Don’t make excuses for them.”
“I’m not.”
He looked at Margaret.
“What they did was unforgivable.”
Margaret winced.
Nathaniel continued.
“But killing Mom won’t change it.”
Caroline stared at the gun.
“I don’t want to kill her.”
“Then put it down.”
“I wanted her to be afraid.”
Margaret whispered, “I am.”
Caroline looked at her mother.
“For once?”
“Yes.”
Something changed.
The gun lowered.
Andrew moved quickly and took it.
Caroline collapsed.
Rebecca entered quietly.
She knelt beside Caroline.
For months, Caroline had humiliated her.
Excluded her.
Made her feel unwelcome.
Yet Rebecca put her arms around her anyway.
Caroline resisted for one second.
Then broke.
“I’m sorry.”
Rebecca said nothing.
Caroline cried against her shoulder.
Later, police took statements.
No charges were immediately filed because the weapon had not been discharged and Margaret declined to accuse Caroline of assault.
But the family was no longer pretending.
Margaret told everything.
Victor had been violent long before Caroline married him.
He had worked as a private security contractor.
Margaret met him during one of Charles’s early business crises.
Their affair lasted less than a year.
Andrew was conceived near the end.
Victor later became useful to Charles.
Threats.
Intimidation.
Tracking people.
Then Hale Manufacturing collapsed.
Charles asked Victor to frighten Thomas Miller.
Victor sabotaged Thomas’s car.
Margaret claimed she hadn’t known.
Rebecca asked, “Did you pay Victor afterward?”
“Yes.”
“To keep him quiet?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
Margaret looked at Andrew.
“To keep him away from my son.”
Andrew stared at the floor.
Nathaniel asked the hardest question.
“Did you change Dad’s medication?”
Margaret shook her head.
“I asked Eleanor to prescribe something for his anxiety.”
“Without examining him.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know it could interact with his heart medication?”
“No.”
Nathaniel watched her.
He wanted to believe her.
He wasn’t sure he did.
Margaret suddenly looked toward Rebecca.
“There is something you still don’t understand.”
Rebecca waited.
“Thomas came back six years ago.”
Nathaniel froze.
“Before Dad died?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He wanted Charles to confess publicly.”
Rebecca whispered, “Did he see my father?”
“Yes.”
Nathaniel sat.
“What happened?”
“Charles agreed.”
Everyone stared.
Margaret continued.
“He planned to hold a press conference.”
Andrew asked, “Then why didn’t he?”
Margaret’s eyes filled.
“He died the night before.”
Silence.
Rebecca asked, “And my father?”
“Disappeared again.”
“Because?”
“He thought Victor killed Charles.”
Caroline looked up.
“But Victor died three years later.”
Margaret nodded.
Rebecca stepped closer.
“So why didn’t my father come home after Victor died?”
Margaret looked terrified.
“I don’t know.”
Thomas did.
His phone call had proven he was alive.
Nathaniel pulled out his phone.
“Call him.”
Rebecca tried.
Voicemail.
Again.
Voicemail.
Samuel Hale arrived an hour later.
He had been helping police search the upstate property.
Nathaniel told him everything.
Samuel listened.
Then said, “There’s one person none of you are considering.”
“Who?” Nathaniel asked.
Samuel looked at Margaret.
“Daniel.”
Rebecca frowned.
“Daniel Hale is dead.”
Samuel’s face went still.
“So was Charles.”
Nathaniel stared.
Samuel continued.
“My brother’s body was never released to us.”
“What?”
“We were told the state required an immediate cremation because of identification issues after the accident.”
Nathaniel looked at Rebecca.
Another missing body.
Another death accepted because someone powerful had said it was true.
Samuel reached into his coat.
“I received this today.”
An envelope.
Inside was a recent photograph.
Thomas Miller sitting at a diner.
Across from him sat another older man.
The photograph was blurry.
But Samuel recognized him.
“My brother.”
Rebecca stared.
“Daniel Hale is alive?”
Samuel nodded slowly.
“And according to the timestamp, this picture was taken yesterday.”
Then Nathaniel noticed something reflected in the diner window.
A woman standing outside.
Watching the two men.
He enlarged the photograph.
Margaret whispered the name.
“Eleanor.”
May you like
Dr. Eleanor Price.
The physician who had changed Charles Carter’s medication.
