Chapter 8: The Man Who Walked Away
For several seconds, I heard nothing but the pounding of my heart.
Richard had left my father at the scene of the accident.
The man who had helped Daniel steal my company, the man who had carried my mother's secrets for years, had been present on the night my childhood ended.
I looked at him.
“Why?””
Richard lowered himself into a chair.
“Because I was afraid.””
“That's not an answer.””
“No,” he whispered.
“It's just the truth.””
Daniel stood near the doorway, watching us with an expression that was almost triumphant.
“You see, Claire? Everyone has something to hide.””
I turned on him.
“Be quiet.””
His eyebrows rose.
“Excuse me?””
“You've spent years using other people's mistakes to excuse your own. I'm not interested in your opinion of anyone's character.””
For once, Daniel had nothing to say.
I faced Richard again.
“Start from the beginning.””
He rubbed his palms against his trousers.
“Your father worked as a site supervisor for a construction company that eventually became one of Harrison Custom Homes' earliest suppliers. He discovered that the owner was falsifying invoices and paying people under the table.””
“Was that Daniel's company?””
“No. Daniel was working for the subcontractor then. He was ambitious, and he believed the owner was going to make him a partner.””
I frowned.
“My father discovered the fraud?””
“Yes. He collected copies of the invoices and planned to report them.””
“What did you have to do with it?””
“I was an assistant accountant. I processed some of the payments. I didn't understand everything at first, but when I realized what was happening, I panicked.””
Richard looked down at his hands.
“I went to Daniel. I told him your father was preparing to expose the company. Daniel said he could fix it.””
My stomach tightened.
“How?””
“He promised to talk to your father. He said nobody needed to lose their job over a bookkeeping dispute.””
“And you believed him?””
“I wanted to.””
The phrase sounded painfully familiar.
Richard continued.
“The night of the accident, Daniel called me and asked me to drive to the site. He said your father had agreed to meet him. When I arrived, the truck was already off the road.””
I gripped the folder.
“Was my father alive?””
Richard nodded slowly.
“He was conscious. He was trapped in the cab, and he asked me to call an ambulance.””
I couldn't breathe.
“You left him there?””
“I called Daniel first.””
“Why?””
“Because he had told me to contact him if anything went wrong.””
Richard's eyes filled with tears.
“He arrived a few minutes later. He told me to go. He said he would call for help and that if I stayed, I'd be implicated in the fraud.””
“And you left?””
“Yes.””
I slapped him.
The sound echoed through the storage room.
Richard didn't move.
“You left my father to die.””
“I have regretted it every day since.””
“Regret doesn't give me my father back.””
“I know.””
Daniel stepped forward.
“That's enough. Richard has confessed to abandoning the scene. He should be grateful I'm not handing this recording to the police myself.””
I turned toward him.
“Why would you do that? Unless you're afraid of what else Richard knows.””
Daniel's mouth tightened.
Richard reached into his jacket and pulled out a small envelope.
“I kept something from that night.””
He placed it on the table.
Inside was a photograph of my father's truck, the front end crushed against a tree. Beside it lay a torn piece of paper with a handwritten license plate number.
I recognized the final three digits.
They matched the plate on the black sedan in my mother's photograph.
“Whose car was it?”” I asked.
Richard looked at Daniel.
“Your father's accident involved two vehicles. The police only documented one.””
Daniel's face hardened.
“That's speculation.””
Richard ignored him.
“I saw the sedan leave the scene. I wrote down the plate because I was afraid Daniel would blame me for everything.””
I looked at the photograph again.
“Who owned it?””
Richard took a shaky breath.
“Your father.””
I stared at him.
“That doesn't make sense.””
“Your father had been driving the sedan earlier that evening. The truck was found off the road, but there was evidence that another vehicle had struck it before it left the roadway.””
“Someone took his car?””
“I don't know. I only know that the sedan was recovered the following morning, cleaned and repaired. The report was never included in the official accident file.””
I looked at Daniel.
“Did you know about this?””
He didn't answer.
I stepped closer.
“Did you know my father was hit by another vehicle?””
Daniel's jaw worked.
“I wasn't there when the accident happened.””
“That's not what I asked.””
He glanced at the folder.
“Your mother spent twenty years trying to prove something she couldn't. She destroyed her peace over a theory.””
“My mother found evidence.””
“She found scraps of paper and decided they meant murder.””
I held up the photograph.
“Then explain this.””
Daniel looked at it.
For the first time, his face lost its composure.
He recognized the car.
I could see it.
“Where did you get that?””
“From my mother's files.””
He reached for the photograph.
I pulled it away.
“Don't touch it.””
His eyes narrowed.
“Claire, if you give those documents to the police, you will destroy more than my reputation. You will expose your father, your mother, Richard, and everyone who had anything to do with that company.””
“Good.””
He stared at me.
“You don't understand what you're asking for.””
“I want to know who killed my father.””
“And if the answer is someone your mother protected?””
I felt the room tilt.
“What does that mean?””
Daniel looked away.
“Your mother knew more than she told you. She knew the accident wasn't simple. She knew someone had manipulated the evidence, and she knew the person responsible was close to the family.””
“Who?””
He didn't answer.
I turned toward Richard.
“Did my mother know who killed my father?””
Richard nodded.
“She believed she did.””
“Who was it?””
Before he could speak, the lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Ellie flashed through my mind. She was safe with Sarah, but I had no idea whether Daniel had someone watching the house.
A heavy metallic crash sounded upstairs.
Richard grabbed my arm.
“Stay back.””
“What is it?””
“Someone's at the loading bay.””
I heard footsteps above us.
Then a man's voice.
“Mr. Harrison? The car is ready.””
Daniel swore under his breath.
He moved toward the staircase.
I grabbed his sleeve.
“Who is that?””
“Someone who shouldn't be here.””
“Daniel!””
He jerked away.
“Stay in this room.””
Then he ran upstairs.
Richard followed him, leaving me alone with the documents.
I heard shouting.
A crash.
Then silence.
I switched on my phone's flashlight and gathered the papers into my bag.
At the bottom of the folder, I found a small envelope addressed to my mother.
It was sealed with yellowed tape.
I opened it.
Inside was a handwritten statement dated four years earlier.
My mother's final months.
I know who was driving the second vehicle. I know why the police report was changed. I have remained silent because I believed I was protecting Claire.
My hands shook as I read the next line.
But the truth is that I helped the person responsible escape justice.
I stopped breathing.
My mother had helped someone.
Someone connected to my father's death.
Someone she had protected for decades.
A noise came from the staircase.
Richard appeared at the bottom, his face streaked with blood.
“Claire, we need to leave.””
“What happened to Daniel?””
“He's gone.””
“Who was upstairs?””
Richard looked at the letter in my hand.
Then he looked away.
“You need to read the rest of that statement somewhere safe.””
“Who killed my father?””
He swallowed.
“Your mother believed it was an accident at first. Then she discovered the second vehicle belonged to someone she trusted.””
“Who?””
Richard hesitated.
Before he could answer, my phone rang.
Sarah.
I answered immediately.
“Is Ellie okay?””
“Claire, listen to me. Someone just came to the house asking for you.””
My stomach dropped.
“Who?””
“He said he was a police detective. He showed me a badge, but something felt wrong. When I asked for his name, he got angry.””
“Where is Ellie?””
“She’s with me. We're leaving.””
“Don't go home. Go to the police station and stay there.””
Sarah's voice trembled.
“Claire, he knew Ellie's name. He knew she was your daughter.””
I gripped the phone.
“Did he say anything else?””
“Yes.””
“What?””
Sarah took a shaky breath.
“He said your mother had been lying about your father's death for twenty-two years.””
The line crackled.
Then she whispered, “Claire, he said he was there when your father died.””
The call disconnected.
I stared at the screen.
Richard stood motionless beside me.
“Who was he?”” I demanded.
Richard's face crumpled.
“The man who drove the second vehicle.””
I felt cold all over.
“Who?””
He looked at me with tears in his eyes.
“Your uncle, Thomas Bennett.””
My mother's younger brother.
The man who had carried me on his shoulders at my father's funeral.
The man who had held my hand when I was six and promised he would never let anything bad happen to me.
May you like
The man who had attended every birthday, every graduation, every family dinner.
The man who had just gone looking for my daughter.
