Chapter 6 - The Woman Named Reed
Her name was Evelyn Reed.
Detective Mendes found her by noon.
Fifty-nine.
Attorney.
Former environmental prosecutor.
Daughter of Samuel Reed.
She lived two counties away.
No criminal record.
No connection to Nicole.
But Nathan’s phone records showed eleven calls to Evelyn over six weeks.
Margaret stared at the printout.
“Nicole doesn’t know?”
“We don’t know.”
“She told me Victor was afraid of Samuel Reed’s daughter.”
Mendes folded her arms.
“That suggests she knows something.”
“Or Nathan told her just enough.”
Mendes nodded.
“We want to interview Evelyn.”
“So do I.”
“Absolutely not.”
Margaret looked at her.
“I wasn’t asking.”
Mendes almost smiled.
“You were assaulted less than twenty-four hours ago.”
“And?”
“And you are a witness.”
“I’m also the person whose husband apparently spent three decades hiding evidence.”
“That doesn’t make you an investigator.”
“No. Being nosy does.”
Mendes actually laughed.
But Margaret did not meet Evelyn that day.
Evelyn came to her.
At four in the afternoon, a nurse entered Margaret’s room.
“There’s a woman asking to see you.”
“Name?”
“Evelyn Reed.”
Margaret sat straighter.
“Send her in.”
Evelyn entered alone.
She looked tired.
Not frightened.
She carried no purse.
No folder.
Nothing in her hands.
“I heard what happened.”
Margaret gestured toward the chair.
“Sit.”
Evelyn did.
For several seconds neither woman spoke.
Margaret saw Samuel in her face.
The same narrow eyes.
The same high cheekbones from the 1988 photograph.
“You look like your father.”
Evelyn swallowed.
“So you know.”
“Since last night.”
“That’s more than I knew until six years ago.”
“What happened to Samuel?”
Evelyn looked toward the window.
“My father disappeared on September 18, 1989.”
“Victor said Harold didn’t kill him.”
Evelyn’s head snapped around.
“You spoke to Victor?”
“He was in my house.”
That shook her.
“What did he say?”
“That your father got greedy.”
Evelyn laughed bitterly.
“My father wanted to go to the FBI.”
Margaret stayed silent.
Evelyn continued.
“Black Pine was supposed to become a residential development. The three partners bought cheap land. Then chemical companies began paying for illegal dumping on remote sections of it.”
“Harold participated?”
“At first.”
Margaret absorbed the blow again.
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t protect me.”
“I’m not.”
Evelyn leaned forward.
“Your husband is the reason I eventually learned anything.”
Margaret frowned.
“Explain.”
“Six years ago I received a package.”
“From Harold?”
“No return address.”
“What was inside?”
“Copies of environmental tests. Photographs. Partial financial records. And a note.”
“What note?”
Evelyn recited from memory.
Your father tried to do the right thing before the rest of us did. I was a coward longer than he was. I’m sorry.
Margaret closed her eyes.
“That sounds like Harold.”
“There was one more sentence.”
“What?”
If I die before the ledger is safe, find Margaret.
Margaret opened her eyes.
“He never told me.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“After his funeral.”
Margaret shook her head.
“No.”
“I called.”
“I received no call.”
“I sent two letters.”
Margaret stared.
Nicole had moved in temporarily during Harold’s final illness.
She helped with mail.
Bills.
Phone calls.
“Who answered?”
“Your daughter.”
Margaret felt something inside her harden.
“What did she say?”
“That you were too fragile. Then a man called me.”
“Nathan.”
“Yes.”
“What did he want?”
“To know what the ledger was worth.”
Margaret closed her eyes briefly.
So it had begun before Harold died.
Not six months later.
Not after financial trouble.
Earlier.
Much earlier.
“Did you tell him?”
“No.”
“Why meet him?”
“Because three months ago he called again.”
“And?”
“He had proof Harold still possessed something from Black Pine.”
“What?”
“A photocopy of one ledger page.”
Margaret’s pulse quickened.
“What was on it?”
“Payments.”
“To whom?”
“Judges. County officials. A state environmental inspector.”
“Current?”
“Some names are still powerful.”
That explained Victor’s fear.
“What did Nathan want?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“Two million dollars.”
“For the ledger?”
“For the location.”
“Did he know it?”
“He claimed he did.”
Margaret looked at her.
“Did you pay him?”
“No.”
“Then why are you in Susan’s video taking a folder?”
Evelyn went still.
Margaret knew Detective Mendes had not told her about the footage.
Good.
Evelyn looked down.
“Nathan gave me copies.”
“Of what?”
“Harold’s papers.”
“What papers?”
Evelyn hesitated.
Margaret leaned forward.
“My daughter put me in a dog cage because of this. Nathan drugged me. I am done being protected from information.”
Evelyn met her eyes.
“The folder contained a map.”
Margaret’s heart beat harder.
“A map of what?”
“Black Pine.”
“And?”
“A location circled in red.”
“Where?”
Evelyn reached into her coat.
Margaret tensed.
Evelyn removed a folded photocopy.
She opened it.
A map.
North of Briarwood.
Forest.
Old service roads.
An abandoned quarry.
A red circle near a structure labeled PUMP HOUSE 3.
Margaret stared.
“Is that where the ledger is?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Nathan went there yesterday.”
“And?”
“He found a body.”
Margaret’s mouth went dry.
“Whose?”
May you like
Evelyn looked at her.
“My father’s.”
