Chapter 9 - The Cabin by the Lake

Brooks did not have time to explain everything.

Robert had supplied information in a financial-crimes investigation years earlier, she said, but disappeared before prosecutors could use him. His name had been sealed.

"Was the investigation about my mother?" Ethan asked.

Brooks hesitated.

That was enough.

At nine, police units waited half a mile from the Hale cabin with their lights off. Ethan wore a wire beneath his jacket. Claire remained at the hotel with an officer posted outside her door.

The cabin had not changed since Noah died.

Same warped porch boards. Same rusted metal lantern. Same dark lake stretching behind the trees.

Ethan stepped inside.

"Robert?"

A lamp clicked on.

His uncle sat at the table, unshaven, sweating, a canvas bag at his feet.

"Close the door."

Ethan did.

"Were you outside my house last night?"

Robert looked away.

"Yes."

Ethan crossed the room and grabbed his shirt.

"You threatened my daughter?"

"No!" Robert shoved him back. "I was trying to scare Claire into stopping. Margaret told me to deliver the picture. I didn't write the threat."

"You broke into my house."

"I know. I know what I did."

Robert's hands shook.

"Why help her?"

"Because she has owned me since I was twenty-three."

He kicked the canvas bag forward.

Inside were ledgers, old checks, and a small digital recorder.

"Noah found these. Your father found some later. I kept the rest."

Ethan picked up the recorder.

"What's on it?"

"The night Noah died."

Ethan stopped breathing.

Robert's eyes filled with shame.

"Your mother called me from the road. She said Noah had proof she'd stolen money. She wanted me to stop him before he reached your father."

"Stop him how?"

"I was supposed to block the road. Scare him. Make him hand over the files."

Ethan's voice dropped. "And?"

Robert looked toward the black window.

"Margaret came up behind him too fast. Noah swerved."

Ethan gripped the table.

"She ran him off the road?"

"She didn't mean for the car to go through the guardrail."

A gunshot exploded outside.

The lamp shattered.

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Robert fell to the floor.

And someone began firing through the cabin windows.