Chapter 5 - the document beneath the plate
The next course arrived, but no one ate.
Robert placed the dark folder beside Mark’s plate.
“Since we are all calm again, we can resolve the business matter.”
Mark opened the folder.
The first pages described the waterfront acquisition. The figures were carefully presented, but several projected costs were missing.
He turned another page.
A proxy agreement gave Robert temporary authority to vote Ava’s shares.
“How temporary?” Mark asked.
“One year.”
“The document says renewable at the discretion of the trustee.”
“I am the trustee.”
“Exactly.”
Robert leaned forward.
“You cannot continue dividing the family because of personal resentment.”
“This is not about resentment.”
“It is always about resentment with you.”
Mark closed the folder.
“I am not signing.”
Jessica reached for the wine bottle.
Robert gave her another slight nod.
Mark saw it again.
This time, Daniel angled the phone beneath the table.
Jessica filled her glass and looked toward Ava.
“Would you like some juice?”
Ava shook her head.
“It is the same kind you had at the memorial.”
“I don’t want any.”
Jessica poured it anyway.
Mark moved the glass away.
Jessica sighed.
“You treat her like she will break.”
“I treat her like a child who is allowed to say no.”
“She will never survive in this family if you protect her from everything.”
“That is why she will not grow up in this family.”
Robert’s jaw tightened.
Lydia placed her fork down.
“Mark, perhaps you should consider the effect of isolation. Ava barely knows us.”
“She knows enough.”
Jessica laughed.
“Does she know why her mother was driving that night?”
The room went silent.
Ava looked at Mark.
Mark felt the blood leave his face.
Robert spoke sharply.
“Jessica.”
But the warning came too late.
Mark’s voice was quiet.
“What did you say?”
Jessica appeared to regret the words, but only because of Robert’s reaction.
“I said she deserves to know the truth.”
“What truth?”
Robert lifted a hand.
“This is not the time.”
Mark pushed the folder away.
“You brought up Elena. Now explain.”
Jessica looked toward Robert.
He shook his head almost imperceptibly.
Mark saw that too.
So did Daniel’s phone.
Ava touched Mark’s sleeve.
“Daddy, what happened to Mommy?”
Mark had told her the facts many times.
Elena’s car left the road during a storm. The police found no evidence of another vehicle. She died before help arrived.
But Jessica’s expression suggested she knew something else.
Mark stood.
Robert’s voice became firm.
“Sit down.”
“What does she know?”
“Nothing.”
Jessica stared into her wine.
Mark walked around the table.
She lifted the glass with an unsteady hand.
“Stay away from me.”
“Tell me what you meant.”
“I heard a rumor.”
“From whom?”
“I don’t remember.”
Robert stood.
“This conversation is over.”
Mark turned toward him.
“No. The business conversation is over. This one is just beginning.”
Robert moved closer.
“Elena was distracted, Mark. That is all.”
“Distracted by what?”
No answer.
Mark searched his father’s face.
For six years, Robert had behaved as though Elena’s death were an inconvenience. He paid for the funeral, gave a polished speech, and asked Mark to return to work two weeks later.
Mark had assumed the coldness was simply Robert’s nature.
Now he saw something else.
Fear.
Jessica tried to rise, but her chair caught against the rug.
The movement bumped the table.
A small silver key fell from her handbag.
Ava bent to pick it up.
Jessica reacted instantly.
“Don’t touch that.”
She grabbed Ava’s wrist.
Ava cried out.
Mark crossed the distance between them.
“Let her go.”
Jessica released Ava, but not before Mark saw the red pressure mark around her wrist.
He lifted his daughter into his arms.
She buried her face against him.
Jessica looked toward the relatives.
“She was taking my property.”
“She picked up a key.”
“She should know better.”
Mark’s anger became difficult to contain.
Robert watched him carefully.
Waiting.
Mark understood what Robert wanted.
A raised voice.
A threat.
A witness statement.
Something that could be photographed, edited, and submitted to a judge.
Mark carried Ava back toward his chair.
Daniel whispered, “Do not give him what he wants.”
Mark nodded once.
Jessica placed the silver key inside her bag.
But Ava had already seen the small number engraved on it.
She whispered into Mark’s ear.
“Daddy, it said 214.”
Mark did not know what the number meant.
Daniel did.
His eyes widened.
May you like
Room 214 was the old records room at Hale Meridian headquarters.
The room where files from Elena’s final investigation had been stored before they disappeared.
