Chapter 8
Ethan didn't listen to the recorder at the hospital.
He wouldn't.
Lucy had just lost her mother.
He wasn't going to turn her grief into another investigation before Olivia's body was even taken from the room.
Claire arrived just before dawn.
Their mother came with her.
Margaret Pierce stopped in the hospital hallway when she saw Lucy.
For a long moment, nobody moved.
Then Margaret whispered,
"Oh my God."
Lucy stood beside Ethan.
Margaret looked at the child's face.
Her eyes.
Her hair.
Then at Ethan.
"She's yours."
It wasn't a question.
"We're doing the test today."
Margaret shook her head.
"I don't need one."
She stepped toward Lucy carefully.
"I'm your grandmother."
Lucy stared at her.
Margaret started crying.
"I am so sorry I didn't know."
Lucy looked at Ethan.
He nodded.
She let Margaret hug her.
Then Claire joined them.
For one fragile minute, Ethan watched his family gather around the child who should have been part of them all along.
It broke something open inside him.
And hardened something else.
Victoria had stolen this.
Birthdays.
Christmas mornings.
School plays.
First words.
First steps.
Eleven years.
No apology could return them.
Claire stayed with Lucy while Ethan went into a consultation room alone.
He placed the recorder on the table.
The folder from the nursery sat beside it.
Inside were copies of his father's financial records and the medical report Olivia had mentioned.
A toxicology addendum.
A sedative.
Not prescribed.
Not enough by itself to kill.
But enough, according to a handwritten note from his father, to interact dangerously with his heart medication.
Ethan turned on the recorder.
Static.
Then his father's voice.
Ethan stopped breathing.
"September fourteenth."
His father sounded tired.
"If this recording is found, I want it understood that I no longer trust Richard Hale, Daniel Pierce, or Victoria Hale."
Ethan closed his eyes.
His father continued.
"Daniel created Northstar Holdings to conceal unauthorized borrowing. Richard discovered it and used it to gain control over Pierce Development."
A pause.
"Victoria discovered Olivia Bennett was pregnant with Ethan's child."
Ethan gripped the table.
"She saw the pregnancy as leverage."
Another pause.
"I confronted her tonight."
A woman's voice came faintly through the recording.
Victoria.
"You have no right to interfere."
His father's voice:
"He's my son."
"You don't know what she will cost him."
"She's carrying his daughter."
"You think that matters?"
Ethan felt sick.
The recording continued.
His father sounded closer.
"You paid Olivia to leave."
"I gave her a choice."
"You threatened her mother."
"I protected Ethan."
"You protected yourself."
Silence.
Then Victoria's voice came cold and clear.
"If Ethan learns what you know, you will lose him too."
His father laughed.
"That's a threat."
"It's a promise."
The recording ended.
Ethan stared at the machine.
His hands were shaking.
There was another file.
He pressed play.
His father's voice again.
"September seventeenth."
The day before his death.
"Richard came to the house. He wants the financial records. I refused."
A door slammed somewhere in the recording.
Then another voice.
Daniel.
"You're destroying the family!"
Ethan leaned closer.
His father answered,
"You destroyed it when you stole from the company."
"I was saving it."
"You were saving yourself."
"You tell Ethan and he'll lose everything."
"Then we rebuild."
"He'll hate me."
"That's not a reason to lie."
Daniel's voice changed.
"You don't understand what Richard will do."
"I understand exactly what all of you have done."
The recording cut off.
Ethan sat back.
Richard.
Daniel.
Victoria.
All of them had motives.
But none of the recordings proved murder.
He opened the folder.
Bank statements.
Contracts.
Photographs.
A handwritten list of payments.
Then he found something strange.
A copy of his father's life insurance policy.
Beneficiary: Margaret Pierce.
Nothing unusual.
But attached was a second document.
A corporate insurance policy.
Ten million dollars.
Beneficiary: Hale-Pierce Capital.
The joint investment company Richard created after Ethan's father's death.
Ethan's stomach turned.
Someone had profited.
A knock came at the door.
Claire entered.
"You okay?"
"No."
"Lucy fell asleep."
"Good."
Claire closed the door.
"What did you find?"
Ethan played part of the recording.
Claire's face went white.
"Dad knew about Lucy."
"Yes."
"And Victoria threatened him."
"Yes."
Claire sat.
"Ethan."
"What?"
"I need to tell you something."
He looked at her.
She was crying.
"After Dad died, I found Victoria in his office."
Ethan went still.
"When?"
"The night before the funeral."
"What was she doing?"
"I don't know. She said she was looking for a photograph for you."
"Did you believe her?"
"I was twenty-two. Dad had just died."
Ethan stood.
"Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"Because it didn't seem important."
"What did she have?"
Claire thought.
"A folder."
"What kind?"
"Blue. Maybe black."
"Anything else?"
Claire closed her eyes.
"She was standing near the medicine cabinet."
Ethan froze.
His father kept emergency medication in the cabinet inside the office bathroom.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"What was she doing?"
"She closed it when I walked in."
Ethan's pulse hammered.
"Claire, why didn't you tell anyone?"
"I didn't know there was anything to tell!"
The door opened behind them.
Margaret stood there.
She had heard enough.
"What medicine cabinet?"
Ethan looked at his mother.
"Mom."
"No. Tell me."
Claire stood.
"Dad's office."
Margaret went pale.
Then she sat.
"I gave Victoria his pills."
Ethan stared.
"What?"
"The week before he died."
Margaret pressed a hand to her mouth.
"He had forgotten them at dinner. Victoria offered to take them to him because she was driving past the house."
Ethan felt a wave of nausea.
"Which pills?"
"His heart medication."
Claire whispered,
"Oh God."
Margaret shook her head.
"No. No, Victoria loved your father."
Ethan said nothing.
Margaret looked at him.
"Didn't she?"
His phone rang.
Victoria.
Ethan stared at the screen.
Claire said,
"Don't answer."
He did.
"What?"
Victoria's voice was calm.
"I heard Olivia died."
"How?"
Silence.
Ethan stood.
"How did you hear?"
"People talk."
"At five in the morning?"
"Ethan—"
"You had someone watching us."
"You're paranoid."
"My father used that word too."
Victoria went silent.
Ethan continued.
"I found his recordings."
Nothing.
Not even breathing.
Then Victoria said,
"Where are you?"
"Why?"
"Because whatever you found isn't what you think."
"I heard your voice."
"Ethan."
"I heard you threaten him."
"I was angry."
"You knew about Lucy."
"Yes."
"You paid Olivia."
"Yes."
"You lied about her death."
Another pause.
"Yes."
"Did you kill my father?"
The silence lasted so long that Ethan thought the call had dropped.
Then Victoria whispered,
"No."
He almost believed her.
Almost.
Then she added,
"But I know who did."
Ethan's blood turned cold.
"Who?"
"Not over the phone."
"I'm not meeting you."
"If you want the truth, you will."
"Why should I believe anything you say?"
"Because the man who killed your father is standing closer to Lucy than you realize."
Ethan looked through the glass wall of the consultation room.
Lucy slept curled against Claire's coat.
Margaret sat beside her.
No one else.
Then the elevator doors opened.
Daniel stepped onto the floor.
Victoria whispered,
"Look behind you."
May you like
Ethan turned toward the hall.
Daniel was walking directly toward Lucy.
