Chapter 5
Richard stared at Daniel.
“Tell me.”
Daniel’s voice was tight.
“There’s nothing to tell.”
“Victor Shaw worked for you.”
“He worked for the company.”
“You oversee company security.”
“He was a subcontractor.”
Margaret stood.
“This is becoming ridiculous.”
Richard turned on her.
“Sit down.”
She froze.
In twenty-seven years, Richard had never spoken to her like that.
He didn’t care.
Noah quietly moved Lily toward the hallway.
Richard noticed.
“Thomas, take them somewhere safe.”
“No,” Noah said.
Richard looked at him.
“You don’t need to hear this.”
“I need to know what happened to Mom.”
“You will.”
“When?”
Richard couldn’t answer.
Noah’s eyes hardened.
“Adults always say later when they don’t want kids to know the truth.”
Daniel scoffed.
“You’re nine.”
Noah stared at him.
“And you’re lying.”
Daniel stepped toward him.
Richard blocked his path instantly.
“Don’t.”
Daniel stared at his father.
“Are you serious?”
“Completely.”
Margaret raised her voice.
“Richard, this boy comes into our house and calls Daniel a liar, and you defend him?”
Richard turned.
“This boy?”
Margaret realized her mistake.
Richard pointed at Noah.
“He has a name.”
“Of course he does.”
“You haven’t used it once.”
Margaret’s face tightened.
Richard finally understood something that should have been obvious years earlier.
Margaret didn’t look at Noah and see Emily’s son.
She saw a threat.
The same way she had looked at Emily before she disappeared.
Richard said, “Thomas, call the police.”
Daniel’s head snapped up.
“For what?”
“To reopen Emily’s case.”
“You can’t just demand that.”
“No. But I can hand them new evidence.”
Margaret laughed nervously.
“A letter written by a bitter woman?”
Richard stared at her.
“She was our daughter.”
“She was your daughter.”
Silence.
Margaret immediately looked away.
Noah stopped breathing.
Richard’s face went blank.
“What did you say?”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
Richard stepped closer.
“How did you mean it?”
“She never treated me like a mother.”
“You raised her from the time she was six.”
“And she hated me from the beginning.”
“She was six.”
“She blamed me for replacing her mother.”
Richard shook his head.
“No.”
Memories began rearranging themselves.
Emily crying before Margaret moved in.
Margaret telling Richard the girl needed discipline.
Emily becoming quieter.
Margaret calling her manipulative.
Richard working sixty-hour weeks.
Daniel becoming Margaret’s favorite.
Emily becoming the problem.
Richard whispered, “What did you do?”
Margaret looked at him.
“I gave that child everything.”
“What did you do?”
“I loved her.”
“WHAT DID YOU DO?”
Lily screamed.
Everyone froze.
Noah immediately hugged her.
Richard closed his eyes.
He lowered his voice.
“I’m sorry.”
He knelt.
“I’m sorry, Lily.”
The little girl buried her face against Noah.
Richard looked ashamed.
Noah said, “Don’t yell around her.”
Richard nodded.
“You’re right.”
Daniel muttered, “This is insane.”
Richard stood.
“No. Insane is realizing I ignored my daughter for ten years because I trusted the wrong people.”
Daniel’s face darkened.
“You’re blaming me now?”
“I’m asking questions.”
“No, you’ve already decided.”
The front door opened.
Three Chicago detectives entered with the estate security chief.
Richard had quietly requested police the moment they left the hotel.
Detective Elena Ruiz showed identification.
“Mr. Bennett?”
“Yes.”
“We’d like to speak privately.”
Daniel immediately said, “Our attorneys should be present.”
Ruiz looked at him.
“And you are?”
“Daniel Bennett.”
Her eyes changed slightly.
“We were hoping to speak with you too.”
Margaret grabbed Daniel’s arm.
“Say nothing.”
Richard stared at her.
“You sound prepared.”
She glared at him.
Ruiz asked that everyone remain in separate rooms.
Richard agreed.
Noah refused to let Lily out of his sight.
Detective Ruiz crouched in front of him.
“Noah, I’m not going to separate you two.”
He watched her.
“You promise?”
“I promise you’ll be in the same room.”
That was enough.
Twenty minutes later, Richard sat in his library with Ruiz and another detective.
Emily’s letter lay inside an evidence bag.
Richard felt sick seeing it there.
Ruiz said, “We pulled the original case file.”
“And?”
“There are problems.”
“What kind?”
“The employment records used to explain your daughter’s chemical exposure appear fraudulent.”
Richard gripped the desk.
“Who submitted them?”
“A lawyer representing Hawthorne Industrial.”
“Name?”
“Gavin Cross.”
Richard knew him.
Everyone in the Bennett organization knew him.
Gavin had represented Daniel’s division for years.
Richard stood.
“He works with us.”
“We know.”
“Then arrest him.”
Ruiz stayed calm.
“That’s not how this works.”
“My daughter may have been murdered.”
“We’re treating her death as suspicious.”
“Suspicious?”
“Mr. Bennett, I understand—”
“No, you don’t.”
His voice broke.
“She died believing I abandoned her.”
Ruiz let the silence sit.
Then she said quietly, “Help us prove what happened.”
Richard sat.
Ruiz continued.
“Your grandson mentioned a stuffed rabbit.”
Richard looked toward the door.
“Yes.”
“Do you know what’s inside it?”
“Documents.”
“We need them.”
Richard shook his head.
“They belong to Noah.”
“If they’re evidence—”
“He’ll give them when he’s ready.”
Ruiz studied him.
“A man tracked those children after their mother died.”
“I know.”
“If the documents are what he wanted, the children remain in danger.”
Richard’s face tightened.
A knock interrupted them.
Thomas entered.
“Richard.”
“What?”
“There’s a problem.”
Ruiz stood.
Thomas held a tablet.
“The financial team searched archived payment records tied to Hawthorne.”
“And?”
“They found transfers.”
“To whom?”
Thomas hesitated.
“To a private account belonging to Margaret.”
Richard didn’t move.
“How much?”
“Over nine years?”
Thomas swallowed.
“Four-point-eight million dollars.”
Richard felt as though the floor had disappeared.
Ruiz immediately asked, “Do you have copies?”
“Yes.”
“Preserve everything.”
Richard walked toward the window.
Nine years.
Emily had been gone ten.
He turned.
“Why?”
No one answered.
Then shouting came from the hallway.
“No!”
Noah.
Richard ran.
He found Lily crying near the stairs.
Noah was struggling with one of the housekeepers.
“She took it!”
Richard grabbed the woman’s wrist.
“What happened?”
The housekeeper looked terrified.
“I didn’t take anything.”
Noah pointed at her apron.
“The rabbit!”
Richard looked at Lily.
Her arms were empty.
The stuffed rabbit was gone.
The housekeeper shook her head.
“I swear!”
Richard searched the apron pockets.
Nothing.
Noah ran toward the kitchen.
“I saw somebody.”
“Who?”
“A man.”
Daniel came out of the study.
“What man?”
Noah pointed toward the back doors.
“He ran outside.”
Security radios suddenly erupted.
Richard shouted, “Lock the gates!”
The estate alarm sounded.
Two guards ran outside.
Snow covered the lawn.
Footprints led toward the detached garage.
Noah tried following.
Richard grabbed him.
“Stay here.”
“That rabbit is Lily’s!”
“I know.”
“My mom put the papers inside!”
Daniel, standing several feet away, went still.
Noah noticed.
So did Richard.
Daniel’s face drained completely.
Richard whispered, “You knew.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You knew what was inside that rabbit.”
“No.”
“You reacted.”
“I reacted because the kid said documents.”
“No.”
Richard stepped closer.
“You knew before today.”
Daniel backed away.
Detective Ruiz appeared behind him.
“Mr. Bennett, don’t leave.”
Daniel turned.
“I need air.”
“No.”
“I’m not under arrest.”
“Not yet.”
Daniel’s jaw clenched.
Then one of the guards ran inside.
“We found someone behind the garage.”
“Who?”
The guard’s face was grim.
“Victor Shaw.”
Noah shouted, “That’s him!”
Richard rushed outside.
Victor lay face down in the snow with two security guards holding him.
The stuffed rabbit was beside him.
Its back had been sliced open.
Papers were scattered across the white ground.
Richard stopped.
Several pages were covered in numbers.
Invoices.
Bank accounts.
Company names.
And one handwritten sheet.
Detective Ruiz picked it up with gloved hands.
Her expression changed.
“What is it?” Richard asked.
She didn’t answer immediately.
Then she turned the paper around.
At the top, Emily had written:
If they ever find this, look at the Ravenswood project.
Under it were three names.
Daniel Bennett.
Margaret Bennett.
Gavin Cross.
And below them, one more name.
Richard stared at it.
His knees nearly gave out.
May you like
Because the fourth name was his own.
Richard Bennett.
