Chapter 7 - THE NIGHT ROBERT WENT INTO THE LAKE
Robert Hale disappeared during a storm.
The memory had never changed for Margaret.
Rain against the bedroom windows.
A door closing downstairs.
The distant start of a boat engine.
She had awakened shortly after midnight and found Robert’s side of the bed empty. His jacket was gone. His phone remained on the nightstand.
The storm became violent before Margaret reached the dock.
Robert’s small fishing boat was already crossing the lake without navigation lights.
Margaret called his name, but the wind carried it away.
The boat was found the next morning near the northern shore.
Robert’s body was recovered two days later.
The investigation concluded that he had lost balance while attempting to secure equipment during the storm. The insurance company disputed the ruling because no equipment had been found loose and because Robert had recently increased his life insurance policy.
“They accused him of taking his own life?” Daniel asked.
“They never said it directly. They said his actions were intentional.”
Daniel paced through the study.
“Did he leave a note?”
“No.”
“Was he depressed?”
“He was frightened.”
“Of Northstar?”
“I didn’t know that then.”
Margaret unlocked a lower drawer in Robert’s desk and removed a sealed evidence bag.
Inside was the watch Robert had worn the night he died.
The face was cracked. The metal band had been broken.
Daniel held the bag.
“Why do you have this?”
“The police returned his belongings.”
“What time did it stop?”
“Two fourteen.”
Daniel examined the watch.
“The storm began after midnight.”
“Yes.”
“Did anyone know why he went onto the lake?”
“No.”
Owen stood near the bookshelf.
“I may know.”
Margaret turned toward him.
Owen’s expression carried fourteen years of guilt.
“Mr. Robert called me at eleven forty-three that night,” he said.
Margaret stared at him.
“You told the police you were asleep.”
“He made me promise.”
“Robert was dead. Your promise should have ended.”
“I didn’t know who to trust.”
Daniel stepped toward Owen.
“What did he say?”
“He said someone had entered the flooded tunnel.”
“The quarry tunnel?”
Owen nodded.
“He believed they were removing sealed containers from beneath the ridge.”
“What was inside them?”
“He didn’t know.”
Margaret’s anger rose.
“You let him go alone?”
“I tried to stop him. He said the police had already been compromised.”
Daniel looked toward the old employee directory.
“The officer last night warned us about Adrian.”
Owen continued.
“Robert took the boat because the tunnel’s lower opening could only be reached from the water when the lake was high.”
“Did he tell you who entered it?”
“He said Celeste had returned.”
Margaret gripped the edge of the desk.
“What happened after the call?”
“I drove toward the dock. A fallen tree blocked the service road. By the time I reached the lake, the boat was gone.”
“Did you see anyone?”
Owen hesitated.
“One car.”
“Whose?”
“I didn’t recognize it then.”
“And now?”
“I saw the same model parked outside Adrian Cole’s office last year.”
Daniel turned away, breathing hard.
Margaret asked the question she had feared for years.
“Do you believe Robert was killed?”
“Yes.”
The word settled heavily in the room.
Daniel pressed both hands against the desk.
“We go to the police.”
“The local police may be involved,” Margaret said.
“Then state investigators. Federal authorities. Anyone.”
“We have a photograph, a damaged notebook, and Owen’s memory. The strongest evidence was stolen last night.”
Daniel looked at his father’s broken watch.
“What if the watch contains something?”
“It’s a watch.”
“Dad bought equipment for the company. He loved gadgets. What if it recorded data?”
Owen leaned closer.
“There’s a small port beneath the clasp.”
Daniel removed the watch from the evidence bag with gloved hands.
The back casing contained a narrow sealed compartment.
Inside was a memory card.
They inserted it into Margaret’s laptop.
Most files were corrupted.
One audio recording remained.
The timestamp began at 2:09 a.m.
Wind roared through the speakers. Water struck the side of a boat. Robert’s breathing was fast.
Then his voice appeared.
“Celeste, move away from the hatch.”
A woman shouted something they could not understand.
Another voice answered clearly.
“You should have accepted the offer, Robert.”
Adrian.
A metallic sound followed.
Robert yelled.
The recording became distorted.
At 2:13, Robert said one final sentence.
“Daniel must never marry into this family.”
The audio ended at 2:14.
Daniel stared at the screen.
His phone rang.
Vanessa had sent him a photograph from the wedding venue.
She stood beneath the flower arch wearing her rehearsal dress.
May you like
Below it, she had written:
Tomorrow, you choose your future.
