Chapter 5 - My Father's Last Secret
"You're not going," Marcus said.
"I am."
"No."
"Thomas is there because of me."
"Thomas is there because Daniel kidnapped him."
"And Daniel wants the notebook."
Police were already moving toward the house.
The notebook had been copied, photographed, and secured.
Daniel didn't know that.
Detectives proposed using a replica.
I agreed.
Not because I wanted to confront Daniel.
Because I wanted Thomas alive.
My childhood home had been empty for years.
Daniel had quietly purchased it through a shell company after my mother moved away.
Another piece of my life he had collected.
I wore a wire.
Police surrounded the property.
The replica notebook sat inside my bag.
I entered through the front door.
"Daniel?"
His voice came from the dining room.
"Welcome home."
Thomas sat tied to a chair.
Daniel stood behind him.
No gun.
That surprised me.
Then I saw the knife on the table.
"Evelyn."
Daniel smiled.
"You look different."
"Prison does that."
"You always were dramatic."
I nearly laughed.
"You're holding a man hostage in my dead father's dining room."
"Thomas and I are having a conversation."
Thomas's lip was bleeding.
"Give him the notebook," he said.
Daniel slapped the back of his chair.
"Nobody asked you."
I placed my bag on the floor.
"Let Thomas go."
"Notebook first."
"Why? The accounts are already being investigated."
"Not all of them."
That interested me.
"What's missing?"
Daniel smiled.
"You still think this is about stolen money."
"What else would it be about?"
"Your father."
"My father is dead."
"Yes."
His smile vanished.
"Because of me."
The room became silent.
Police heard every word through my wire.
I forced myself not to react.
"What did you say?"
Daniel stepped closer.
"Richard Monroe destroyed my family."
"You stole from him."
"Thomas stole more."
"That doesn't make you innocent."
"I was twenty-four."
"You were old enough to know."
"He ruined my name. My mother lost her job. My father died believing I was a criminal."
"You were a criminal."
His eyes hardened.
"So was Thomas."
Thomas looked down.
Daniel continued.
"Your father protected him."
"Thomas repaid the money."
"After I took the fall."
"You didn't take his fall. You both stole."
For the first time, Daniel lost composure.
"You sound exactly like Richard."
"Good."
He stepped toward me.
I didn't move.
"You want to know why I married you?"
"I already know."
"No. You know what Claire guessed."
He looked almost proud.
"I wanted your father to watch his daughter marry the man he hated."
"My father was dead before our wedding."
"Not when we met."
I froze.
Daniel had met me eighteen months before my father's death.
"He knew?"
"Oh, yes."
I remembered my father refusing to attend one dinner.
His strange silence whenever Daniel's name came up.
I had believed he was being controlling.
Daniel said, "Richard begged me to stay away from you."
My stomach tightened.
"And you didn't."
"I fell in love with you."
The words were grotesque coming from him.
"No."
"I did."
"You don't do this to someone you love."
"Love changes."
"No. Ownership does."
His jaw tightened.
I saw the truth.
Daniel hadn't loved me.
He had loved being chosen over my father.
My marriage had been revenge disguised as romance.
"What happened to Dad?"
Daniel looked toward Thomas.
"Ask him."
Thomas whispered, "Evelyn, don't."
"Ask him why Richard drove to my apartment the night he died."
My father's death had been ruled a heart attack after his car stopped near an intersection.
I had never questioned it.
Thomas began crying.
"Tell me."
Thomas looked at me.
"Your father found out who Daniel was."
"I know that."
"No. He found out Daniel was seeing you."
My chest tightened.
"He called me. He said he was going to confront Daniel."
Daniel smiled.
"He did."
"What happened?"
"He threatened me."
"And?"
"I told him you loved me."
My father had suffered from heart disease.
Stress could have triggered the attack.
Daniel hadn't killed him.
But he'd watched him collapse.
"What did you do?"
Daniel didn't answer.
Thomas did.
"He didn't call 911."
I stared at my husband.
Former husband.
Stranger.
"You left him?"
"He'd already ruined my life."
"He was dying."
"He made his choices."
"So did you."
Daniel's face changed.
I understood then that he wanted me angry.
Just like three years ago.
He needed Evelyn with the bat.
Not Evelyn with the wire.
I lowered my voice.
"Where is Claire?"
That unsettled him.
"Why?"
"Because she's missing."
"Maybe she finally realized nobody wants her."
"Did you hurt her?"
"No."
"Where is she?"
"I don't know."
I believed that part.
Daniel wanted the notebook because he didn't have Claire.
Which meant she might still be alive.
I reached toward my bag.
Daniel grabbed the knife.
"Slowly."
I removed the replica notebook.
His eyes fixed on it.
"This?"
He stepped forward.
"Put it on the table."
"Release Thomas."
"Notebook."
"Thomas."
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Daniel cut Thomas's restraints.
"Go."
Thomas stumbled toward me.
Daniel took the notebook.
He flipped through it.
His face changed.
"You copied this."
I said nothing.
"You copied it."
Police moved outside.
Daniel heard something.
He grabbed my arm.
The knife came up.
Thomas shouted.
The front door crashed open.
Officers flooded the room.
"DROP IT!"
Daniel held me in front of him.
For one second, I was back in the bedroom.
His hand.
My wrist.
Fear.
But this time I remembered everything.
I didn't fight.
I didn't swing.
I didn't give him the chaos he needed.
I went still.
"Daniel," I whispered.
"What?"
"You lost."
His grip tightened.
"You think prison made you strong?"
"No."
I looked at the officers.
"It taught me patience."
Daniel looked toward the windows.
No escape.
He dropped the knife.
Police pulled him away.
As they handcuffed him, he stared at me.
"This isn't over."
I smiled faintly.
"For you, it is."
Thomas collapsed into a chair.
Paramedics entered.
I stepped outside.
My childhood yard looked smaller than I remembered.
Marcus rushed toward me.
Then a detective approached.
"We found something upstairs."
"What?"
"A room."
My stomach tightened.
"What kind of room?"
He didn't answer.
He led us upstairs.
My father's old study was locked.
Police forced it open.
Inside were boxes.
Photographs.
Financial records.
Copies of my letters from prison.
Daniel had been collecting everything.
Then I saw a corkboard.
Photographs of me covered it.
Dates.
Schedules.
Names.
A timeline beginning before Daniel and I supposedly met.
At the center was a photograph of Claire.
Written beneath it:
PHASE ONE.
Beside it was another photograph.
My mother.
PHASE TWO.
Then another.
Me leaving prison.
PHASE THREE.
My hands went cold.
There had been another stage after my release.
A final plan.
Marcus pulled an envelope from the board.
My name was written across it.
Inside was a printed document.
A life insurance policy.
Ten million dollars.
Insured: Evelyn Lane.
Beneficiary: Daniel Lane.
The policy had been renewed two weeks before my release.
Then the detective found a map.
A route was circled.
The road from the prison to my mother's old house.
A red X marked a bridge.
May you like
Daniel hadn't merely prepared for me to come home.
He had prepared for me never to arrive...
