Chapter 15 - Clara Walked Away
Clara had not betrayed me.
I knew that before I found her.
The old Bennett would have considered that irrational.
Trust without proof.
Mother would have called it growth.
I called it terrifying.
Daniel traced Clara's car south.
Then lost it.
She had switched vehicles.
"Smart," he said.
"Don't compliment her."
"She's your sister."
"Exactly."
"You're doing the brother thing badly."
"I've had four days."
"Fair."
We returned to the mansion.
Her room was nearly empty.
The uniform remained folded on the bed.
The cream scarf lay on top.
That hurt.
Then I found a note beneath it.
Bennett,
I didn't break my promise to Eleanor.
I'm not leaving you.
I need you to trust me long enough to let me do one thing alone.
Lillian Reed spent twenty-six years being spoken about by Hale men.
Jonathan loved her.
Victor threatened her.
Samuel feared her.
Everyone decided what her story meant.
I need to finish this as her daughter.
I sat down.
Daniel read over my shoulder.
"She's right."
"Not helping."
The note continued.
The letters contain something you didn't see.
I removed three before we read the box.
Sorry.
You were intimidating then.
I stared.
"Three letters."
Daniel shook his head.
"Siblings."
"Don't."
Those letters prove Samuel had another account.
One he created in my mother's name.
If I give the letters to federal investigators now, they'll freeze everything and call her part of his conspiracy.
She's dead.
She can't defend herself.
I need the original bank records first.
I know where they are.
Do not follow.
I looked at Daniel.
"Where?"
He sighed.
"She didn't write that part."
"Find it."
We found it.
Lillian had kept an old storage unit under her maiden name.
Three counties away.
Clara had paid the fees after her mother's death.
By the time we arrived, she was already inside.
She heard footsteps.
Turned.
Saw me.
Her face hardened.
"You don't listen."
"I get that a lot."
"I asked you to trust me."
"I do."
"Then why are you here?"
"Trust doesn't mean letting you walk into danger alone."
"There is no danger."
A voice behind us said:
"That's optimistic."
Michael Price.
He stepped from between storage rows.
Gun in hand.
Of course.
Clara closed her eyes.
"You had to say it."
I moved in front of her.
Michael smiled.
"Touching."
"Your father know you're here?"
"My father is bargaining for his life."
"And you're doing what?"
"Saving mine."
"By threatening us?"
"By collecting what belongs to me."
"Nothing here belongs to you."
"The records do."
Clara spoke from behind me.
"Why?"
Michael looked at her.
"Because your mother was useful."
My entire body tightened.
"Careful."
He smiled.
"Samuel opened accounts in Lillian Reed's name for years."
"Without her knowledge."
"Doesn't matter."
"It will to a jury."
"Not if the records disappear."
He gestured toward the unit.
"Bring them out."
Clara whispered, "I haven't found them."
Michael raised the weapon slightly.
I remained still.
"Michael."
"What?"
"You kidnapped her once already."
"And you embarrassed me."
"That seems like a weak reason to die."
His jaw tightened.
Good.
Anger.
Mistakes.
"I don't want to kill anyone."
"Then don't."
"I want the documents."
"Take them."
Clara grabbed my arm.
"Bennett."
I looked at her.
She understood.
Paper wasn't worth blood.
Mother had taught us that.
Michael stepped closer.
"Move."
I did.
He searched boxes.
Finally found a sealed bank packet.
He smiled.
Then Daniel's voice came from behind him.
"Bad day."
Michael froze.
Daniel had followed separately.
Of course.
I could've hugged him.
I didn't.
He would never let me forget it.
Police arrived.
Michael surrendered this time.
No escape.
No second game.
Clara sat on the floor afterward.
Angry.
At herself.
"I'm so stupid."
"No."
"I told you not to follow."
"That part was stupid."
She glared.
"Thank you."
"I specialize in support."
She laughed despite herself.
Then started crying.
I sat beside her.
"What's wrong?"
"Everything."
"Specific."
She looked at me.
"I keep thinking if my mother had told me..."
"What?"
"Maybe I could've helped her."
"With Samuel?"
"With all of it."
"You were a child."
"Not forever."
"No."
"But she kept protecting me."
"So did Mother."
"So did Father."
"Badly."
Clara smiled through tears.
"Very badly."
I nodded.
"Maybe that's the family tradition we end first."
She looked at me.
"No more protecting people with lies."
"Deal."
"And no controlling me because you're scared."
"That seems broader."
"Bennett."
"Fine."
She held out her hand.
I shook it.
Then she pulled me into a hug.
Still strange.
Less strange than before.
The bank records cleared Lillian completely.
Samuel had used her identity without consent.
Investigators confirmed it.
Clara's last fear for her mother's name disappeared.
That evening we returned to the mansion.
For the first time, Clara entered through the front doors without a uniform.
She stopped in the foyer.
"What?"
"Six months."
"What?"
"I used the side entrance for six months."
I looked at the massive doors.
"Never again."
She smiled.
Then Daniel appeared.
"Federal meeting moved up."
"When?"
"Tonight."
"Why?"
"Samuel is cooperating."
I frowned.
"Suddenly?"
"He heard Michael was arrested."
"So?"
"Michael gave investigators something first."
"What?"
Daniel looked at Clara.
Then me.
"Recording."
"Of?"
"Jonathan's death."
I stopped.
"Audio?"
"Video."
Clara whispered, "Someone filmed it?"
Daniel nodded.
"Security camera."
My father's final minutes existed.
For nine years, I had believed he died alone from a heart attack.
Now there was a recording.
I didn't want to watch it.
Which meant I had to.
The federal office played the footage.
Father entered his study.
Samuel followed.
They argued.
No audio.
Samuel poured whiskey.
Father drank.
Minutes later, he collapsed.
Samuel watched.
Did not call for help.
Then another person entered.
Not Dr. Mercer.
Not Victor.
My mother.
Clara grabbed my hand.
Mother knelt beside Father.
Samuel said something.
Mother looked toward the door.
Then toward the camera.
And reached up.
The footage ended.
I stared.
"What happened after?"
The investigator shook his head.
"Camera disabled."
My throat tightened.
Clara whispered:
"Did Eleanor know Samuel poisoned him while it was happening?"
No one answered.
Mother had died before telling us every detail.
Or maybe she had.
Maybe the answer was hidden in the will.
The letters.
Her last secret.
Daniel slid a transcript across the table.
Audio had been recovered separately from a phone Samuel carried.
Father's final conversation.
One line was clear.
Eleanor's voice.
"If you call an ambulance, Samuel, I tell Bennett everything."
I stared at the words.
It sounded impossible.
Why would Mother stop Samuel from calling for help?
Unless Father's death involved a choice none of us understood.
May you like
The woman who had taught us to stop hiding secrets had apparently taken one final secret with her to the grave.
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