[CHAPTER 13]
Marcus took the note personally.
I took it worse.
Nathan had never worked alone.
We already knew that.
But until the scarf arrived, I had assumed the remaining people were accountants, assistants, cowards.
Not someone willing to threaten my family after Nathan’s arrest.
Security footage showed a delivery van.
Stolen plates.
The driver wore a cap and mask.
No useful face.
The scarf tested positive for Grace’s DNA.
I sat in the police station staring at a photograph of it.
“How did they get this?”
Marcus leaned against the table.
“Could have been taken from the hospital.”
“Three years ago?”
“Yes.”
“Who keeps a dead woman’s scarf for three years?”
“Someone who thought it might become useful.”
I felt sick.
Then Marcus placed another page in front of me.
Victor Hale’s name.
The missing accountant.
“You think Victor sent it?”
“I think Victor is either hiding from Nathan’s network or part of it.”
“Which?”
“We find him, we ask.”
Investigators traced Victor’s credit card to a motel two states away.
By the time police arrived, he was gone.
But he had left something behind.
A disposable phone.
One number had been called repeatedly.
It belonged to a retired private investigator named Leonard Pike.
The same man Nathan paid to watch Grace.
Pike lived twenty minutes from us.
Police found his house empty.
His garage contained boxes of old surveillance photographs.
Grace leaving St. Matthew’s.
Grace meeting Sarah.
Grace sitting beside Eli.
Grace walking into Mother’s house.
I couldn’t look at them for long.
Then Marcus found a photograph of me.
Taken two weeks after Grace died.
I was carrying Emma into therapy.
Another.
Three months later.
Another.
A year later.
Nathan had continued watching us.
My skin crawled.
“Why?”
Marcus answered softly.
“To see whether Grace told you anything.”
I looked at Emma in one photograph.
Seven years old.
Her face buried in my shoulder.
My brother had watched us grieve.
Not because he cared.
Because he was afraid we knew.
Police found no sign of Pike.
But Sarah found something more valuable.
A payment from one of Nathan’s shell companies to Pike only four days before the gala.
Nathan had known Eli was nearby again.
He had seen him near St. Mark’s.
He knew Grace’s promise might finally reach us.
That explained the sedan.
That explained Caleb.
That explained everything.
Almost.
“What about the scarf?”
Marcus shook his head.
“Could be Pike.”
That evening, Mother asked to speak to Eli.
I almost said no.
Eli said yes.
We sat in the living room.
Mother looked nervous.
“I owe you an apology.”
Eli stared.
“For what?”
“For acting as if what Nathan did was only about my family.”
He said nothing.
“The money he stole hurt shelters.”
“Yes.”
“You were in one.”
“Yes.”
She swallowed.
“I had the power to ask questions sooner.”
Eli studied her.
“You didn’t steal it.”
“No.”
“But you knew something was wrong.”
“Yes.”
He shrugged.
“That’s bad.”
Mother almost laughed.
“Yes.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“Nothing.”
That surprised him.
“I just wanted you to know I’m sorry.”
He stared at her for several seconds.
“Okay.”
Mother nodded.
“Okay.”
As she stood, Eli spoke again.
“Are you going to do anything?”
She turned.
“What?”
“Sorry is just words if you keep everything.”
Mother froze.
I nearly smiled.
Eli continued.
“Your family has a lot of money.”
Understatement of the century.
“The shelter didn’t.”
Mother sat back down.
“What do you think I should do?”
Eli looked uncomfortable.
“I don’t know.”
“You started this conversation.”
He thought.
“Give back what got taken.”
Mother looked at me.
Not literal repayment.
Restoration.
The following morning, she resigned from the Hart Foundation board.
Then she announced she was donating a large portion of her personal estate to restore the housing and medical programs Nathan had damaged.
No gala.
No press event.
No building named after her.
Just money returned where money had been stolen.
Emma read the announcement.
“Did Eli make Grandma do that?”
“No.”
“He kind of did.”
“Maybe.”
She smiled.
“He’s bossy.”
From the kitchen, Eli shouted, “I heard that!”
Emma laughed.
For a moment, life felt lighter.
Then Marcus called.
They found Leonard Pike.
Dead.
Natural causes, according to preliminary assessment.
A heart attack in an abandoned rental cabin.
But beside him was a folder.
Inside were surveillance notes.
And one handwritten page.
Grace met the boy again today.
She gave him the key.
Nathan wants the boy found.
Victor says we should stop.
Nathan says nobody stops.
Below it was another line.
Victor kept copies.
My pulse jumped.
Marcus continued.
“There’s an address.”
“Victor’s?”
“No.”
“A storage unit under another name.”
Inside that unit, police found Victor Hale.
Alive.
May you like
Terrified.
And ready to testify.
