Chapter 8 - THE PERSON GRANDMA FEARED
Rebecca replayed the recording.
The same words.
The same silence.
The same unanswered question.
Not your father.
Margaret sat quietly.
Rebecca looked at her.
“Who is it?”
“I don't know.”
“You said you knew why Thomas left.”
“I knew what he believed.”
“What did he believe?”
Margaret looked toward the hallway.
“He believed Claire knew something.”
Rebecca turned.
“Claire?”
Margaret nodded.
“But Claire was a child.”
“She was eighteen.”
Rebecca remembered Claire at eighteen.
Ambitious.
Quiet.
Always watching.
Rebecca had never considered her dangerous.
Now she wondered if that had been the mistake.
Claire returned that afternoon.
She looked exhausted.
Rebecca confronted her.
“Did you know what happened to Thomas?”
Claire froze.
“No.”
“Grandma said someone in this family knew.”
Claire stared at her.
“She didn't say me.”
Rebecca stepped closer.
“You're afraid of the flash drive.”
Claire's face changed.
“What did you hear?”
Rebecca smiled faintly.
“So you do know something.”
Claire sat down.
“I knew Thomas was investigating something.”
“What?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why are you scared?”
Claire looked at Rebecca.
“Because I saw him the night he disappeared.”
Rebecca went still.
“What?”
Claire's voice shook.
“He came to the house.”
“When?”
“The night before he vanished.”
“What happened?”
Claire looked toward Harold's old chair.
“He was arguing with Grandma.”
“About what?”
“The second deed.”
Rebecca's pulse quickened.
“Then what?”
Claire swallowed.
“He gave Grandma an envelope.”
“Where is it?”
“I don't know.”
“Claire.”
“I swear.”
Rebecca stared at her.
Then Claire whispered.
“There was another person in the house.”
Rebecca's eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
Claire looked terrified.
“I never saw their face.”
“What did they say?”
Claire's lips trembled.
“They said Thomas had to disappear.”
Rebecca stood.
“Who said that?”
Claire looked toward the hallway.
Then she whispered:
May you like
“Dad.”
Rebecca felt the room tilt.
