Chapter 7 - The Body Beneath Pump House 3
Samuel Reed had been dead thirty-seven years.
The grave was shallow.
Not because his killers were careless.
Because Pump House 3 had once stood beneath a concrete service platform.
When the old pumping station was demolished, six feet of crushed stone covered the burial site.
Nathan apparently found the location from Harold’s map.
He hired two men to excavate at night.
One panicked after seeing human remains.
The other took photographs.
Detective Mendes told Margaret that both men had already been identified.
One agreed to talk.
Nathan had paid them ten thousand dollars cash.
“What was he looking for?” Margaret asked.
“A metal case.”
“Did they find it?”
“No.”
“What about Samuel?”
“We’re waiting for identification, but Evelyn believes it’s him.”
Margaret looked toward Evelyn.
Evelyn’s face was colorless.
“You should go home,” Margaret said.
Evelyn shook her head.
“I waited thirty-seven years.”
She stared at the evidence photographs.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Nathan was rearrested that evening.
This time the charges included evidence tampering and unlawful excavation of human remains.
Nicole arrived at the hospital shortly afterward.
Not to apologize.
To warn Margaret.
She stood in the doorway beside her attorney.
“Can we speak privately?”
Margaret looked at the attorney.
“No.”
Nicole’s face tightened.
“Mom.”
“Whatever you need to say, say it in front of him.”
The lawyer looked uncomfortable.
Nicole entered.
“You’ve been talking to Evelyn.”
“Yes.”
“She’s lying.”
“About what?”
“Everything.”
Margaret waited.
Nicole continued.
“Dad hated Samuel.”
“Did he?”
“He thought Samuel was going to destroy all of them.”
“That sounds plausible.”
“He told me.”
Margaret’s breath stopped.
“When?”
Nicole realized the mistake.
Too late.
Margaret sat forward.
“When did your father tell you about Samuel?”
Nicole looked toward her lawyer.
He said quietly, “Nicole.”
She ignored him.
“Before he died.”
“How long before?”
“Months.”
Margaret’s voice dropped.
“So Harold told you about Black Pine.”
Nicole said nothing.
Margaret remembered those final months.
Nicole volunteering to sit with Harold.
Nicole insisting Margaret rest.
Nicole sleeping in the guest room.
Nicole sorting medications.
Nicole spending hours alone with her dying father.
“What did he tell you?”
Nicole crossed her arms.
“That he made mistakes.”
“What else?”
“He said there was something buried that could destroy people.”
“The ledger?”
“He never called it that.”
“What did he call it?”
Nicole looked away.
“Insurance.”
Margaret remembered Victor using the same word.
“What did Harold ask you to do?”
Silence.
Margaret stood.
Her shoulder protested.
She did not care.
“What did your father ask you to do?”
Nicole’s eyes filled with tears.
“To leave it alone.”
Margaret stared.
Nicole whispered, “He said if I ever found references to Black Pine, burn them.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because Nathan found one first.”
“And suddenly your father’s warning became a business opportunity.”
Nicole’s face twisted.
“You don’t understand what it’s like being married to someone whose entire life is collapsing.”
Margaret almost pitied her.
Almost.
“Then leave him.”
“I couldn’t.”
“Why?”
Nicole said nothing.
Her attorney shifted.
Margaret saw it.
Fear.
Not of prison.
Of Nathan.
“Nicole.”
Her daughter looked at her.
“Did Nathan hurt you?”
The room changed.
Nicole’s lawyer looked down.
Nicole’s face became blank.
Margaret knew that expression.
She had seen it once when Nicole was fifteen and claimed she had fallen off a bicycle.
Later Margaret discovered a boyfriend had shoved her.
“Did Nathan hurt you?”
Nicole whispered, “Don’t.”
Margaret stepped closer.
“Did he?”
Nicole’s jaw trembled.
Then anger returned like a shield.
“You always do this.”
“Do what?”
“Turn me into a child.”
“I’m asking whether your husband abused you.”
Nicole laughed sharply.
“You think that makes what I did okay?”
“No.”
That answer surprised her.
Margaret continued.
“If Nathan hurt you, he should answer for it. And you should answer for what you did to me. Both can be true.”
Nicole stared.
For a moment Margaret saw the little girl in pink boots again.
Then Nicole hardened.
“You don’t know him.”
“I know enough.”
“No.”
Nicole stepped close.
“You know nothing.”
“What don’t I know?”
Nathan’s lawyer appeared suddenly at the doorway.
Nicole’s attorney stood.
The two men exchanged glances.
Margaret noticed.
Nicole turned pale.
Her lawyer whispered, “We need to leave.”
Margaret blocked the doorway.
“No.”
“Mrs. Hayes.”
“Why is Nathan’s lawyer here?”
Nobody answered.
Margaret looked at Nicole.
“What did Nathan do?”
Nicole suddenly grabbed Margaret’s wrist.
Her grip was desperate.
“He found the ledger.”
Margaret stopped breathing.
“When?”
“Last night.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who does?”
Nicole looked at Nathan’s attorney.
Then back at Margaret.
“He sent one page to someone before the police took his phone.”
“To whom?”
Nicole’s eyes filled with fear.
“A man named Calder.”
Margaret had never heard the name.
Evelyn had.
May you like
From across the room, she whispered:
“Oh, God.”
