Chapter 7 - The Woman Daniel Stopped Trusting)
Vivienne kept the phone pressed to her ear.
Margaret stared at her.
"What is he saying?"
Vivienne raised one finger.
Thomas continued.
"Do not let her access the card."
Vivienne looked toward the memory card in her pocket.
"Why?"
"Because Margaret knows how to modify the archive."
Margaret's face changed.
"Give me the phone."
Vivienne stepped away.
Thomas said, "She's going to tell you I'm unstable."
"Are you?"
A humorless laugh.
"Probably."
"Did Daniel stop trusting Margaret?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Two days before he died."
"Why?"
"Because someone leaked the marina meeting."
Vivienne looked at Margaret.
The older attorney remained very still.
Thomas continued.
"Only four people knew about it. Daniel. Me. Margaret. Sebastian."
"Sebastian knew because the meeting was with him."
"Exactly."
"So what did Margaret leak?"
"The location."
Vivienne's mind moved quickly.
Daniel wanted a private confrontation offshore.
But Marcus and Pike had arrived.
They could only have known where.
"When did Daniel accuse Margaret?"
"The night before the boat trip."
Vivienne remembered Daniel coming home after midnight.
The compass in his hand.
His strange question.
If somebody you trusted changed slowly, would you notice?
She had assumed he meant Sebastian.
Maybe he had meant Margaret.
"Where are you?"
Thomas ignored the question.
"Get Ethan somewhere public."
"Where?"
"A hospital. Hotel. Anywhere with cameras and people."
"Thomas."
"Do not trust anyone from Hale Meridian."
"Where are you?"
Silence.
Then Thomas said, "I can't tell you yet."
Vivienne's voice hardened.
"My son was nearly pushed down a staircase today. Sebastian has locked down my house. Men have been searching for evidence my husband left behind. I am finished accepting half answers."
Another silence.
Finally Thomas spoke.
"There's an old railway station outside Briar Glen."
Margaret immediately said, "No."
Thomas heard her.
"She's there?"
Vivienne did not answer.
Margaret stepped closer.
"That station is isolated. If Sebastian traced the call, it's a trap."
Thomas said, "See? She'll stop you."
Margaret looked furious.
"Thomas, you reckless idiot, Sebastian has hunted you for four years."
"And you helped him start."
Margaret went pale.
Vivienne asked, "What does that mean?"
Thomas answered.
"Ask her who told Sebastian Daniel had found the offshore accounts."
Margaret closed her eyes.
Vivienne's chest tightened.
"Margaret?"
The older woman sat.
"I did."
Ethan looked confused.
Vivienne's voice became quiet.
"Why?"
"I made a mistake."
"That mistake got my husband killed."
"I didn't know what Sebastian was."
"You were Daniel's lawyer."
"I thought Sebastian was stealing money. I thought if confronted privately, he would return it and resign."
"So you warned him."
"I approached him before Daniel did."
Vivienne stared.
Margaret continued.
"I believed I could negotiate a quiet exit."
"And instead you told him Daniel knew everything."
"Yes."
Thomas spoke through the phone.
"And Marcus followed Daniel for the next week."
Margaret looked toward the phone.
"I didn't know."
"You never do."
Vivienne raised her voice.
"Enough."
Both stopped.
She looked at Margaret.
"Did Daniel stop trusting you?"
"Yes."
"Did you betray him intentionally?"
"No."
"Can you alter the archive?"
Margaret hesitated.
"Some sections."
Thomas cursed through the phone.
Vivienne said, "Explain."
"Daniel gave me a legal partition. I can redact employee data before release."
"Can you delete evidence against Sebastian?"
"No."
"Can you prevent release?"
"No."
Thomas said, "She's lying."
Margaret snapped, "Then come here and say it to my face."
"Maybe I will."
Vivienne closed her eyes.
Everyone who had supposedly loved Daniel had surrounded him with secrets.
Sebastian had betrayed him.
Margaret had made a catastrophic mistake.
Thomas had disappeared.
Vivienne had been kept ignorant.
And Ethan had inherited the consequences.
She made a decision.
"We're going to the station."
Margaret stood.
"No."
"I'm not asking."
"It's unsafe."
"So is staying anywhere Sebastian knows."
"We have a secure basement."
"Sebastian knew you were part of Daniel's investigation. Do you really think he doesn't know this house exists?"
Margaret stopped.
Vivienne looked at Ethan.
"We leave in five minutes."
Ethan nodded.
Margaret reluctantly opened a cabinet and removed a small bag.
"We take a different vehicle."
They left through the rear of the property.
Margaret's grandson remained behind.
A ten year old station wagon waited inside an old barn.
No tracking.
No integrated navigation.
Margaret drove.
Vivienne sat beside Ethan in the back.
The road toward Briar Glen wound through wooded hills.
Night approached.
Ethan leaned against his mother.
"Was Uncle Thomas bad?"
Vivienne thought carefully.
"I think he was scared."
"Is scared bad?"
"No."
"Sebastian was scared."
Vivienne looked at him.
"Yes."
"And he pushed me."
She tightened her arm around him.
"Being afraid doesn't excuse hurting someone."
Ethan nodded.
After several minutes he whispered.
"I knew he didn't like me."
Vivienne looked at him.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I did."
The words hurt.
She remembered.
Ethan saying Sebastian was mean when she left the room.
Ethan saying Sebastian changed rules when Vivienne traveled.
Ethan asking whether Sebastian had to come to school events.
Vivienne had listened.
But not enough.
She had treated each incident separately.
A disagreement.
A misunderstanding.
Discipline.
She had failed to see the pattern.
"I'm sorry."
Ethan looked up.
"For what?"
"For not understanding sooner."
He shrugged in the way children sometimes did when adults made things complicated.
"You understand now."
Vivienne almost cried.
The railway station appeared after sunset.
Abandoned platforms.
Broken lamps.
An old waiting room.
Margaret parked thirty yards away.
"No one gets out until I check."
Vivienne grabbed her arm.
"No."
"You have Ethan."
"And you're seventy one."
"Still."
They approached together.
The station was silent.
A figure appeared under the platform roof.
Thin.
Bearded.
Wearing a dark jacket.
Vivienne knew him immediately.
Thomas.
He looked fifteen years older.
Ethan stared.
"Uncle Thomas?"
Thomas's face crumpled.
He took one step forward.
Then stopped.
"I'm sorry."
Vivienne walked toward him.
Before she could speak, headlights appeared behind them.
Three black vehicles entered the station road.
Margaret whispered, "We were followed."
Thomas looked toward the cars.
"No."
Doors opened.
Men stepped out.
Marcus was among them.
And behind him came Sebastian.
His cheek still carried the red mark from Vivienne's slap.
He smiled across the abandoned platform.
"Thank you, Thomas."
Thomas stared.
May you like
Sebastian continued.
"I've been trying to find you for four years."
