Chapter 11 - The Summer David Lost
Richard's confession came in pieces.
In 2003, David was fifteen.
The Hayes family spent part of that summer at a property in Wisconsin.
Thomas Carter appeared one night.
Alive.
Angry.
David saw him arguing with Margaret.
Richard found David hiding on the staircase.
The boy had heard enough to understand Thomas was supposed to be dead.
David threatened to tell someone.
Margaret panicked.
Richard took David to a psychiatrist.
The psychiatrist was a family friend.
David was told he had suffered a breakdown.
He was medicated heavily.
For weeks.
Memories became fragmented.
Eventually the family convinced him the Wisconsin summer had been a stress episode after a boating accident.
David listened in horror.
"You drugged me?"
Richard nodded.
"You let them erase part of my memory?"
"I thought I was protecting you."
"From what?"
Richard looked toward Jessica.
"From Margaret's father."
Jessica's grandmother had discovered that federal housing money was being diverted into private developments.
Thomas discovered the fraud touched defense contracting.
Margaret's father, Charles Hayes, had connections far beyond Chicago real estate.
When Thomas threatened exposure, somebody arranged for him to disappear.
Richard insisted Thomas was not killed.
He was given money.
Documents.
A new identity.
Jessica's anger erupted.
"My father abandoned me for money?"
"No."
Richard shook his head.
"He disappeared because Charles threatened you."
Jessica stopped.
"What?"
"Thomas was told that if he continued, his daughter would die."
The room became silent.
Jessica felt physically ill.
"You knew?"
"Not then. Later."
"When later?"
"2003."
"And you said nothing?"
Richard looked at her.
"I was weak."
"You were worse than weak."
Jessica's voice shook.
"You watched my grandmother die believing her son was gone."
Richard lowered his head.
"You let me grow up believing my father abandoned us."
"I'm sorry."
Jessica laughed bitterly.
"Sorry is what someone says when they spill coffee."
David stepped forward.
"Jess."
She turned.
"Don't."
He stopped.
Richard continued.
Thomas returned in 2003 because Charles Hayes was dying.
He thought the threat would end.
Instead, Margaret convinced him powerful partners remained.
Thomas disappeared again.
Jessica asked, "Why did Margaret meet him last January?"
Richard didn't know.
But he suspected Thomas had finally obtained something.
Evidence.
The envelope.
Sloan immediately ordered a search for Margaret's January travel records.
Jessica confronted Margaret at dawn.
They sat across from each other in the penthouse library.
No attorney.
No Richard.
No David.
"What's in the envelope?"
Margaret smiled faintly.
"You look exactly like Eleanor when you're angry."
"What's in it?"
"Your father gave me an insurance policy."
"Against whom?"
"Everyone."
Jessica waited.
Margaret leaned back.
"You believe I'm the villain because villains are convenient."
"You stole land."
"Yes."
"You lied about my father."
"Yes."
"You protected your father."
"Yes."
"Seems fairly convenient."
Margaret's eyes hardened.
"My father was a criminal."
Jessica hadn't expected that.
Margaret continued.
"I learned it too late."
"You expect sympathy?"
"No."
"What do you want?"
"Survival."
"From whom?"
For the first time, Margaret looked genuinely afraid.
"The people my father worked for."
Jessica remembered the procurement code.
"The defense contracts."
Margaret nodded.
"Hawthorne was never about a building."
"What was it about?"
"Moving money."
"Whose?"
Margaret looked toward the closed library doors.
May you like
Then whispered:
"People who can make a man disappear for twenty-three years and convince his daughter the world forgot him."
