Chapter 8 - Eight Days Ago)
Daniel watched his supposedly dead father speak from eight days in the past.
Thomas looked seventy.
His hair was almost completely white.
He sat in a dark room.
“If this recording has been found, Emily has returned to the Winnetka house.”
Margaret whispered, “He knew.”
Thomas continued.
“She believes Margaret betrayed her.”
Claire looked at their mother.
“Did you?”
Margaret did not answer.
Thomas spoke again.
“She is partly right.”
Daniel paused the video.
“Partly?”
Margaret stared at the floor.
“Play it.”
Thomas explained that after rescuing Emily from institutional confinement decades earlier, he had attempted to expose Arthur Hayes’s financial network.
Margaret had helped him.
At first.
Then somebody threatened Daniel and Claire.
Margaret panicked.
She gave Arthur information about Emily’s location.
Arthur’s people found her.
Emily escaped, but her husband did not.
He was killed.
Margaret began crying.
Laura had never seen her cry before.
“I didn’t know they would kill him.”
Claire stared at her.
“You sold out your own sister.”
“I saved you!”
Thomas’s recording continued.
“Margaret has spent decades convincing herself she had no choice. Perhaps that is how she survives.”
Margaret shouted at the screen.
“Fuck you!”
Daniel watched her.
Thomas then discussed the blue folder.
It contained partial ownership documents for something called the Hayes Preservation Trust.
Laura frowned.
“What is that?”
Margaret looked frightened.
Thomas answered from the recording.
“The Trust contains assets stolen from hundreds of families.”
Daniel whispered, “How much?”
Thomas answered.
“Current estimated value: four hundred and eighty million dollars.”
Nobody moved.
The figure was incomprehensible.
Thomas continued.
“But money is not why people are willing to kill for it.”
The video suddenly distorted.
When it returned, Thomas looked directly into the camera.
“The Trust contains records.”
“What records?” Daniel whispered.
“Judges. Police officers. Attorneys. Bankers. Politicians. Developers. People who helped Arthur hide children, property, identities and money for nearly fifty years.”
Detective Brooks stopped the video.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Laura noticed.
“You recognize something.”
Brooks shook his head.
“No.”
Raymond looked at him.
“You do.”
Brooks's hand moved toward his belt.
Daniel noticed.
“Detective?”
Brooks backed toward the door.
Raymond suddenly shouted.
“Gun!”
Everything happened at once.
Brooks drew his weapon.
Daniel shoved Laura down.
Claire screamed.
Raymond tackled Brooks.
The gun fired.
A bullet struck the wall.
Police rushed into the room.
Brooks was disarmed.
Daniel stared at the detective who had supposedly come to rescue his daughter.
Brooks laughed from the floor.
“You people still don’t understand.”
Laura held Emily against her chest.
Brooks looked directly at Margaret.
“You should have burned the blue folder when Arthur told you to.”
Daniel turned toward his mother.
May you like
Margaret closed her eyes.
Because Arthur Hayes had supposedly died thirty-one years ago.
