Chapter 7 - THE DRIVER WHO REMEMBERED LAURA
The delivery driver’s name was Samuel Reed.
He was sixty-three, wore a faded blue cap, and recognized Harper before she reached the van.
“You’re Laura Hale’s girl.”
Harper grabbed the passenger door.
“Please drive.”
Samuel looked toward the black car behind her.
Evelyn flashed the headlights.
“Are you in danger?”
“I don’t know.”
It was the truth.
Samuel unlocked the door.
Harper climbed in.
Evelyn’s car stopped across the road, blocking the van’s path.
She stepped out.
Her cream trousers were covered in cellar dust, and a red scratch marked one hand.
“Harper,” she called. “Come home.”
Samuel lowered his window.
“Everything all right, Mrs. Bennett?”
“My stepdaughter became frightened after an argument. She has emotional difficulties.”
Harper stared at him.
“That’s not true.”
Evelyn smiled sadly.
“You see?”
Samuel studied them both.
Then he noticed Harper’s torn dress.
“How did that happen?”
“She fell in the greenhouse.”
“You grabbed me,” Harper said.
Evelyn approached the van.
“Samuel, this is a family matter.”
He frowned.
“You know my name?”
“You delivered supplies when Laura was alive.”
Samuel’s expression changed at the mention of Laura.
Harper held up the recorder.
“My mom hid this.”
Evelyn’s eyes locked onto it.
“Give that to me.”
Samuel immediately raised his window.
“Seat belt,” he told Harper.
Evelyn struck the glass with her palm.
“Do not take her anywhere.”
Samuel reversed onto the grass, drove around the black car, and accelerated down the road.
Harper twisted in her seat.
Evelyn stood in the middle of the street, calling someone.
“Where can I take you?” Samuel asked.
“My grandmother.”
“Margaret Vale?”
“You know her?”
“I knew your mother.”
“Did you know Victor Shaw?”
Samuel’s hands tightened on the wheel.
“That’s not a name a child should know.”
“He wants our house.”
“He wanted more than the house.”
Harper placed the recorder on her lap.
Samuel glanced at it.
“Where did you find that?”
“In the cellar.”
“Laura showed me that recorder once.”
“What’s on it?”
“She never said.”
“Can we listen?”
Samuel hesitated, then turned onto a quiet side road and parked near an empty churchyard.
The recorder’s battery was nearly dead.
Harper pressed play.
Static filled the van.
Then Laura’s voice emerged.
“July seventeenth. Victor visited again. He claims the east parcel has become more valuable because of the underground water survey. Bennett does not know. I have not told him because his company is already under pressure, and Victor has begun approaching his investors.”
The recording jumped.
“August second. Evelyn Mercer offered to help organize my medical accounts. I do not trust her interest in the property documents.”
Harper looked at Samuel.
“Mercer?”
“Evelyn’s name before she married your father.”
Laura continued.
“August ninth. My medication count was wrong again. The nurse believes I forgot a dose, but I did not.”
Harper stopped breathing.
Another recording began.
“August twelfth. I asked Samuel Reed to witness the locked cabinet. If anything happens to me before I speak with Margaret, Samuel can confirm that I was afraid.”
Samuel covered his mouth.
Harper stared at him.
“You knew she was afraid.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell Dad?”
“I tried.”
“What happened?”
“He called me a liar.”
“My dad?”
“No. Victor intercepted me outside your father’s office. Two men followed me home. The next morning, my delivery contract with Bennett’s company was canceled.”
Harper looked down at the recorder.
“You stopped trying.”
Samuel’s face filled with shame.
“Yes.”
Evelyn’s car appeared at the far end of the road.
Samuel started the engine.
“She tracked the tablet,” Harper said.
“The tablet was broken.”
“The memory card might have a location chip.”
“Take it out.”
Harper removed the card from her pocket.
Samuel drove toward town.
“Margaret’s old number may still be in my phone,” he said. “But we shouldn’t call while Evelyn can track us.”
They stopped outside a small repair shop owned by Samuel’s brother. Inside, Samuel found an old wired telephone.
He dialed Margaret Vale.
A woman answered after six rings.
“Hello?”
Harper knew the voice immediately, though it had been months.
“Grandma?”
There was a sharp intake of breath.
“Harper?”
“I need help.”
“Where are you?”
Harper looked at Samuel.
Before she could answer, the shop door opened.
Two police officers entered.
Evelyn stood behind them.
She had changed her clothes and cleaned the scratch from her hand. Bennett was beside her, pale with worry.
“There she is,” Evelyn said.
One officer approached Samuel.
“Sir, step away from the child.”
Harper clung to the phone.
“Grandma, don’t hang up.”
Evelyn crossed the room.
“Harper stole private property and ran away with a stranger.”
“He knew Mom.”
“That doesn’t make him safe.”
Bennett reached for Harper.
“Bug, come here.”
She stepped back.
“Did you call the police on me?”
“I thought you’d been taken.”
“I called you from the road,” Evelyn said. “You refused to answer.”
“You were chasing me.”
“Because you ran into traffic.”
“That’s a lie.”
The officers exchanged a look.
Samuel lifted both hands.
“The child asked me for help. She had a torn dress and appeared frightened.”
Evelyn pointed at the recorder.
“She stole that from a locked storage area.”
Bennett saw it.
His face changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“Mom left it.”
Evelyn moved faster than Harper expected.
She grabbed the recorder and crushed it beneath her heel.
The plastic casing cracked.
Harper screamed.
But Samuel had already removed the memory chip while they were in the van.
It rested inside his shirt pocket.
He met Harper’s eyes and said nothing.
Through the dangling telephone receiver, Margaret’s voice continued calling Harper’s name.
One police officer picked it up.
“Ma’am, who are you?”
May you like
Margaret answered loudly enough for everyone to hear.
“I am Harper Hale’s legal secondary trustee. Tell Bennett that if he takes her back into that house without me, I will have him standing before a judge by morning.”
