Chapter 9 - Robert’s warning
I forgot how to breathe.
Robert had been gone for four years.
Heart attack.
Sudden.
Unexpected.
The photograph showed him leaving Hartwell headquarters carrying the same brown leather briefcase I had buried in the back of my closet because I could no longer bear looking at it.
On the back was a handwritten date.
Three days before his death.
Daniel took the photograph carefully.
“Margaret?”
“I don’t understand.”
Gloria had gone strangely quiet.
I noticed.
“So do you know something about this?”
“No.”
Her answer came immediately.
Too immediately.
Emily looked at me.
“Dad was investigating something before he died.”
I turned.
“What?”
She hesitated.
“He called me.”
“When?”
“Two days before.”
My chest tightened.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“He made me promise.”
“Tell me what?”
Emily looked toward Evan.
“He said someone inside Hartwell was stealing.”
Daniel became still.
“What exactly did Robert say?”
“He said he didn’t know how deep it went. He told me not to mention it to anyone until he had proof.”
“Did you tell Evan?”
Emily’s silence answered.
Evan rubbed both hands over his face.
“This is ridiculous.”
Daniel turned.
“Did Emily tell you?”
“She was upset when her father died. She said lots of things.”
Emily stared at him.
“I told you before he died.”
Another lie collapsing.
Sirens sounded outside.
Two police vehicles entered the driveway.
Evan immediately straightened his shirt.
Gloria fixed her hair.
Watching them prepare appearances while Emily trembled beside me made something inside me burn.
Officers entered.
Daniel met them first and explained that financial evidence had been preserved and that potential domestic abuse concerns existed.
Emily hesitated when an officer asked whether she wanted to make a statement.
I did not answer for her.
I held Lily.
Emily looked at me.
Then at Evan.
“Yes.”
One word.
But it sounded like my daughter again.
Evan’s confidence finally cracked.
“Emily, think carefully.”
She turned.
“I have been thinking carefully for months.”
Daniel handed investigators the relevant records.
Then one officer asked about the photograph of Robert.
I watched Gloria.
She looked toward the floor.
“Gloria.”
Nothing.
“Look at me.”
She did.
And I knew.
“You know why Robert was being watched.”
“No.”
“Then why are you frightened?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I didn’t know what they were going to do.”
The garage became silent.
Emily whispered, “Who?”
Gloria shook her head violently.
“I never agreed to hurt anyone.”
Evan stared at his mother.
“Mom, stop.”
I stepped closer.
“Gloria.”
Her face crumpled.
“Robert found the invoices.”
My knees almost gave way.
May you like
Then she whispered the sentence that changed everything.
“And Evan knew.”
