Chapter 6
The silence inside that storage unit became unbearable.
I stared at Officer Bennett.
“You’re saying my dad killed Ray’s father?”
“No.”
“You just said Dad was driving.”
“I said Daniel was involved in the accident.”
“That sounds like the same thing.”
“It isn’t.”
Mom stepped closer.
“Tom, tell us everything.”
Officer Bennett rubbed his forehead.
“This happened twenty-one years ago.”
Before I was born.
Before Dad’s cancer.
Before Ray had ever entered our lives.
“Dennis had been drinking,” he said. “Daniel found him outside a bar.”
Frank’s name suddenly made sense.
“Was Frank there?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Daniel took Dennis’s keys because he was too drunk to drive.”
Chloe’s arms tightened around herself.
“Then Grandpa was a passenger?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Officer Bennett hesitated.
“A truck crossed the center line on County Road Eight.”
I waited.
“Daniel swerved.”
Mom whispered, “Oh my God.”
“The Honda?”
Officer Bennett looked at me.
“No. An older car.”
“What happened to Dennis?”
“He wasn’t wearing a seat belt.”
Chloe closed her eyes.
“Daniel survived?”
“Yes. Frank was in the back seat. He survived too.”
“Why did Ray say Grandpa died from a heart attack?”
Nobody knew.
Officer Bennett continued.
“Dennis lived for two more days in the hospital.”
“So Dad didn’t kill him.”
“No.”
“Then why did Ray write that?”
“Because somebody may have told him a different version.”
Frank.
We all thought of him at the same time.
Mom immediately called.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Officer Bennett tried.
Nothing.
“We need to go back to the house.”
We left the storage unit under police supervision.
Another officer stayed behind to catalog the documents.
During the drive home, Chloe stared out the window.
“My dad told me Grandpa died when he was young.”
“He did,” Mom said.
“He said he collapsed at work.”
Mom reached toward her.
Chloe moved away.
“I don’t want anyone touching me.”
Mom lowered her hand.
I understood.
Everything Chloe knew about her family had become unstable.
When we reached our street, Officer Bennett’s radio exploded with voices.
He accelerated.
“What?”
He didn’t answer.
Then I saw it.
Frank’s green pickup sat crooked in our driveway.
The front door was open.
Officer Bennett stopped hard.
“Stay in the car.”
He ran inside with his hand near his holster.
Mom ignored him and followed.
So did I.
Chloe came behind us.
The living room had been destroyed.
Couch cushions slashed.
Drawers emptied.
Family pictures knocked from the walls.
Dad’s photograph lay facedown on the floor.
“Frank?”
No answer.
We moved toward the kitchen.
There was blood on the tile.
Chloe gasped.
Officer Bennett followed the drops toward the basement.
“Stay here!”
Of course we didn’t.
At the bottom of the stairs, Frank sat against the wall holding a towel to his forehead.
He was conscious.
“Frank!”
I rushed down.
Officer Bennett crouched beside him.
“What happened?”
“Ray.”
Mom’s face went white.
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
“What did he want?”
Frank looked at me.
“The bank box.”
My stomach sank.
“He already has the key.”
“Not enough. He needs authorization.”
“What authorization?”
Frank breathed through the pain.
“Your father set it up so two forms of identification were required.”
“Mine?”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
“A signed letter from Daniel.”
I remembered the first envelope.
The letter Dad had left me.
Ray had demanded I bring it to the bridge.
“That’s why he wanted Dad’s letter.”
Frank nodded.
“What’s inside that box?”
“Original records.”
“We know.”
“No.”
He grabbed my wrist.
“You don’t.”
His eyes were terrified.
“There’s a video.”
Mom froze.
“What video?”
“Daniel recorded Dennis in the hospital.”
Chloe stared at him.
“My grandfather?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Dennis confessed.”
Nobody spoke.
Frank continued.
“He admitted taking the money. He admitted framing me. And he said something else.”
“What?”
“He said his son knew.”
Chloe shook her head.
“Ray would have been what? Eighteen?”
“Nineteen.”
Officer Bennett asked, “Knew what exactly?”
Frank closed his eyes.
“That Dennis had been stealing.”
“That doesn’t mean Ray participated.”
“No.”
Frank looked at me.
“But Dennis said Ray helped destroy some of the records.”
Mom sat down on the bottom step.
Ray had known.
Not recently.
Not because of an old letter.
He had known for most of his life.
“He married me knowing who Daniel was,” Mom whispered.
Frank nodded sadly.
“Maybe.”
“No. Not maybe.”
Her voice broke.
“He knew.”
That was the cruelest part.
For eight years, Ray had acted as though meeting Mom was chance.
They met at a charity fundraiser.
He had told everyone he noticed her because she laughed at one of his terrible jokes.
Now I wondered whether he had recognized her name before he ever introduced himself.
“Did he target Mom?”
Frank said nothing.
He didn’t have to.
Chloe stumbled backward.
“No.”
Mom looked at her.
“Chloe.”
“No.”
She turned toward Frank.
“My dad loved her.”
“I’m not saying he didn’t.”
“You’re saying he married her because of Daniel.”
“I’m saying we need to consider it.”
Chloe ran upstairs.
Mom started after her.
I stopped her.
“Give her a minute.”
Mom looked torn.
Then the door upstairs slammed.
Officer Bennett called paramedics for Frank.
While we waited, I walked into Ray’s office.
The bookshelf had been moved.
Behind it was the safe.
Now the door stood open.
Ray had opened it himself.
Inside were no business files.
No insurance records.
Just photographs.
Pictures of our house.
Dad’s Honda.
Mom leaving work.
Me during high school football games.
My stomach turned.
Some were dated before Ray and Mom had supposedly met.
I pulled one out.
Mom was standing outside a grocery store.
The date was nine years ago.
Six months before Ray introduced himself.
“Mom.”
She came to the doorway.
I handed her the photograph.
Her face collapsed.
“He was watching us.”
Officer Bennett looked inside the safe.
There were folders marked SARAH, MARCUS, DANIEL, FRANK.
This wasn’t jealousy.
This wasn’t a husband getting tired of his wife’s dead spouse.
This had started long before Ray became part of our family.
Chloe appeared behind us.
She saw the photographs.
She picked one up.
Her dad had taken a picture of me at seventeen while I washed the Honda in our driveway.
The date was weeks before Ray’s first date with Mom.
Chloe slowly lowered the photo.
“He used me too.”
Nobody answered.
She looked at Mom.
“All those years, he told me Marcus was spoiled. He told me you still loved Daniel more than him. He told me Marcus would take everything from us one day.”
Mom’s eyes filled.
“I’m sorry.”
Chloe wiped her face.
Then she looked at me.
“I’m sorry too.”
This time I believed her.
Officer Bennett pulled another envelope from the safe.
Inside was a photocopy of Dad’s death certificate.
Attached to it was a handwritten note from Ray.
THE CAR IS THE KEY.
Below that:
THE BOY TURNS 21 IN NOVEMBER.
My birthday was less than two months away.
That was why Ray had acted now.
He knew something would happen when I turned twenty-one.
Frank stared at the note.
Then his eyes widened.
“Marcus.”
“What?”
“The trust.”
“What about it?”
“When you turn twenty-one, the bank sends you a formal notice.”
“So?”
“So Ray knew his window was closing.”
“For what?”
Frank looked toward the empty safe.
“To get to the box before you learned it existed.”
My phone rang.
Ray again.
I answered.
He didn’t speak.
Instead, I heard an engine.
Then a woman crying.
I looked at Chloe.
She was standing beside me.
Mom was beside me too.
So who was with him?
“Ray?”
He finally spoke.
“You want the truth about your father?”
“Yes.”
“Then come get it.”
“Where are you?”
A woman sobbed again.
Frank suddenly went pale.
He grabbed my arm.
“That’s Elaine.”
“Who?”
“My wife.”
May you like
Ray laughed softly through the phone.
Then he said, “Now maybe Frank will finally tell you everything.”
