Chapter 6 - The Son at the Cottage Door
The locked handle moved once.
Then again.
“Dad?” Daniel called.
Arthur signaled for Rosa to remain in the bedroom.
He switched on the lamp and opened the door.
Daniel stood beneath the porch light wearing no coat. His expression was tense.
“Why was your light off?”
“I was sleeping.”
“It is after midnight.”
“That is generally when people sleep.”
Daniel looked past him.
“Were you talking to someone?”
“My attorney.”
Daniel’s shoulders stiffened.
“Naomi?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Arthur allowed irritation into his voice.
“Because my bank card stopped working and you gave me documents that would place my life under your control.”
“That is not what the documents do.”
“Then you will not mind Naomi reading them.”
Daniel stepped inside without being invited.
“You need to stop involving outsiders in family decisions.”
“Naomi has represented this family since you were in college.”
“She represents you.”
“At the moment, that appears necessary.”
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
For the first time, he looked exhausted rather than arrogant.
“Dad, I am trying to protect what you built.”
“From whom?”
“From uncertainty.”
“That is not a person.”
Daniel walked toward the desk.
Arthur casually shifted between him and the brass key.
“The world changed after you sold the company,” Daniel said. “There are investments you do not understand.”
“Name one.”
“This is not a test.”
“It became one when you said I did not understand my own assets.”
Daniel’s frustration surfaced.
“You still think the company works the way it did twenty years ago.”
“I no longer run the company.”
“But you still control everything.”
Arthur studied him.
“And that troubles you.”
“I am your only child.”
“That is a fact, not a qualification.”
Daniel looked wounded.
The expression reminded Arthur of the boy who once came home after being cut from a school team. Arthur had spent years confusing Daniel’s sensitivity with kindness.
Now he wondered how often it had simply been an inability to accept disappointment.
“Martin says the trust structure is inefficient,” Daniel said.
“Martin is paid to advise me, not replace me.”
“He thinks you stopped listening after Mom died.”
Arthur’s gaze hardened.
“Do not use your mother’s death to sell me Martin’s paperwork.”
Daniel looked away.
That movement told Arthur more than an argument would have.
“You believe him,” Arthur said.
“He has kept the portfolio growing.”
“With whose authority?”
“Yours.”
“Show me.”
Daniel turned back.
“What?”
“Show me the resolutions authorizing the transfers.”
“They are in the study.”
“Good. We will review them now.”
Daniel moved toward the door, then stopped.
“It is late.”
“The world changed after I sold the company. Apparently, sleep is inefficient.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Claire is resting.”
“The study is not in Claire’s bedroom.”
“We will do it tomorrow.”
Arthur nodded.
“After the doctor arrives?”
Daniel’s face went blank.
The silence between them became dangerous.
“What doctor?” he asked.
Arthur had revealed too much.
He chose his next words carefully.
“Rosa mentioned an appointment.”
Daniel’s eyes moved through the cottage.
“Rosa is here?”
“No.”
“You said you were speaking to Naomi.”
“I was.”
Daniel walked toward the bedroom.
Arthur stepped in front of him.
“What are you doing?”
“I heard something.”
“Then you should return to the main house and listen there.”
Daniel stared at him.
Arthur did not move.
After several seconds, Daniel backed away.
“You are making this harder than it needs to be.”
“Harder for whom?”
“I came here because I was worried.”
“You came here because you saw my light.”
Daniel reached the door.
Before leaving, he turned.
“Do not go into the study.”
Arthur’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Claire is planning renovations. There are exposed wires.”
“You should have started with that.”
Daniel opened the door.
“Dad.”
“Yes?”
“Whatever Naomi tells you, remember that she earns money when families fight.”
Arthur looked at his son.
“And Martin earns money when families sign.”
Daniel left.
Arthur waited until he crossed the garden and entered the main house.
Rosa emerged from the bedroom.
“He knows something is wrong,” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“What will you do?”
Arthur picked up the brass key.
“Let him believe I am frightened enough to cooperate.”
The next morning, Arthur called Daniel and apologized.
He said the confusion at the bank had unsettled him.
He said he had overreacted.
He agreed to meet the doctor on Friday.
Daniel’s relief was immediate.
“That is all I wanted,” he said. “For you to trust me.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
“I do trust you.”
The lie hurt more than he expected.
At ten o’clock, Daniel and Claire left with Martin for a meeting downtown.
Rosa sent Arthur a one-word message.
Clear.
Arthur crossed the garden.
He entered the kitchen and followed the hallway toward the study.
The new lock had been installed badly.
The old brass key turned.
Inside, the room smelled of smoke.
Ash filled the fireplace.
Boxes lined the walls.
Arthur closed the door behind him and connected his phone to Naomi.
“I am inside.”
“Five minutes,” she said. “No more.”
Arthur approached the desk.
On top of it lay a floor plan of Hawthorne House.
The study had been circled in red.
May you like
Beside it, someone had written two words.
Hidden compartment.
