Chapter 6 - The Second Recording
Lucas replayed the footage.
"What did he give her?"
Mrs. Gable zoomed in.
A small object rested in Gracie's hand.
Sabrina leaned toward the screen.
"That's a flash drive."
Lucas turned.
"Why would Peter give Gracie a flash drive?"
"I don't know."
Lucas immediately thought of the bear.
The paper.
If Gracie had hidden one thing, perhaps she'd hidden another.
He returned to the safe location where Gracie was staying.
He sat beside her.
"Sweetheart, do you remember Peter?"
She frowned.
"The man with glasses?"
"Yes."
"Grandma's friend."
"What did he give you?"
Gracie looked at the bear.
Lucas followed her eyes.
"Is it inside?"
She shook her head.
"Where is it?"
"My room."
"Where?"
She hesitated.
"Promise Mom won't get mad?"
Lucas's chest tightened.
"You don't have to protect adults from the consequences of their choices."
Gracie considered that.
Then she whispered:
"Under the loose floor piece in my closet."
Lucas didn't return alone.
The appropriate people accompanied him.
The house felt strange.
Not because anything had physically changed.
Because Lucas had.
Gracie's bedroom looked exactly as he'd left it before Pittsburgh.
Pink blanket.
Books.
Drawings.
A plastic horse on the windowsill.
And the closet.
Lucas stared at it.
The place where his daughter had been hurt.
He forced himself to focus.
A loose piece of flooring sat beneath a storage box.
Under it was the flash drive.
It was preserved and handled appropriately.
Later, after the contents could be reviewed lawfully, Lucas learned what Peter had placed on it.
Files.
Financial records.
Emails.
Copies of communications.
Peter hadn't given the drive to Gracie because he trusted her.
He had given it to her because he knew Sabrina would panic if she found it.
It was leverage hidden inside a family.
But Peter had underestimated a seven-year-old.
Gracie had understood one thing perfectly:
Adults were behaving strangely because of papers.
So she had hidden the strange object too.
The records helped establish a pattern of deceptive financial activity surrounding Peter's investment operation.
But one file mattered to Lucas personally.
An audio recording.
Sabrina's voice.
Peter's voice.
The recording had apparently been made during an earlier meeting.
Peter said, "You don't need Lucas to cooperate. You need him frightened."
Sabrina replied, "Leave my daughter out of this."
Peter laughed.
"I'm not interested in your daughter."
"Then stop coming to my house."
"Pay what you owe."
"I don't have it."
"Then give me the Prescott acquisition material."
"I can't."
"You mean you won't."
"I won't."
Lucas listened without moving.
Sabrina had made terrible choices.
She had lied.
Hidden money.
Covered up Gracie's injury.
But she had refused Peter's demand.
The truth was uglier and more complicated than Lucas wanted.
People could be victims in one part of a story and responsible for harm in another.
One did not erase the other.
That evening, Sabrina asked to speak with Lucas.
He agreed only under controlled circumstances.
She sat across from him.
"I heard they found the drive."
"Yes."
"Then you heard the recording."
"Yes."
She nodded.
"I don't expect that to change what I did to Gracie."
"It doesn't."
Sabrina cried quietly.
"I love her."
Lucas didn't soften the truth.
"Then you should have protected her."
"I know."
"You hurt her, then made her responsible for keeping your secret."
Sabrina wiped her face.
"I know."
"Stop saying you know."
She looked at him.
"Then tell me what to say."
"The truth."
So Sabrina did.
Not the polished version.
Not the defensive version.
The whole humiliating truth.
She had felt lonely during Lucas's frequent travel.
She had resented how easily he seemed to move between work and home while she felt trapped inside routines she never admitted she hated.
She began investing privately because she wanted something that belonged only to her.
Peter promised enormous returns.
At first, she made money.
Then she invested more.
Then lost it.
Then borrowed.
Then lied.
Lorraine tried to help.
The guardianship paperwork had originally been part of Lorraine's misguided attempt to give Sabrina reassurance that if the marriage collapsed, Gracie couldn't simply be taken away.
Peter discovered the paperwork.
He altered copies.
He used them to frighten Sabrina.
Sabrina became more volatile.
Then Gracie found the page.
Then came the orange juice.
Then the closet.
"I saw her hit it," Sabrina whispered.
Lucas looked away.
"I knew immediately."
"And still didn't get help."
"I thought if I took her in, they'd ask questions."
"They should have."
"I know."
Lucas stood.
"This conversation is over."
"Lucas."
He stopped.
"I am going to do whatever they ask me to do."
He turned.
Sabrina's face was wet.
"Counseling. Parenting classes. Supervision. Anything. I'm not asking you to forgive me."
"Good."
"I'm asking you not to tell Gracie I don't love her."
Lucas stared at her for several seconds.
"I won't lie to our daughter about what happened."
"I understand."
"But I also won't tell her how you feel. That's something you'll have to prove to her over time."
Sabrina nodded.
Lucas walked away.
That night, Gracie slept better.
Lucas didn't.
At 1:08 A.M., his phone rang.
Mrs. Gable.
"Lucas?"
Something in her voice brought him upright.
"What happened?"
"Someone's outside."
"Call the police."
"I did."
"Stay inside."
"I am."
Then he heard glass break through the phone.
Mrs. Gable gasped.
Lucas stood.
"Evelyn?"
No response.
"Evelyn!"
A sound came from her side.
Footsteps.
Then a door creaked.
Mrs. Gable whispered:
"They're inside."
The call suddenly went silent.
Lucas stared at the phone.
Then one final text arrived from Mrs. Gable's number.
May you like
It contained only two words.
NOT PETER.
