Chapter 6 - The Box
The bank was closed.
Christmas Eve.
Of course it was.
Ethan called the twenty-four-hour fraud line anyway.
The representative confirmed a safe deposit relationship existed under his Social Security number at a downtown branch.
Opened four years earlier.
Ethan had never signed for it.
The bank locked access until an in-person identity review could be completed after the holiday.
Margaret sat on the sofa as if none of this concerned her.
Ethan ended the call.
“You opened something in my name.”
She looked at him.
“I handled paperwork you were too busy to handle.”
“That is not an answer.”
“I was protecting family assets.”
“From my wife?”
“From bad decisions.”
Claire almost laughed.
Ethan did not.
He stepped closer to his mother.
“Did you forge my signature?”
Richard whispered, “Ethan.”
“No, Dad. Not this time.”
Margaret’s expression hardened.
“You have no idea what I gave up to keep this family standing.”
“And that gave you the right to spy on us?”
“I knew she would turn you against me.”
Claire stood.
“No. You did that yourself.”
Margaret looked at her with open hatred.
“This began long before you.”
Claire believed that.
The hatred in the room felt older than her marriage.
Lauren closed the laptop.
“Who was the man on the recording?”
Margaret said nothing.
Richard walked to the bar cart and poured himself water.
His hands were trembling.
Claire noticed a gold signet ring on his right hand.
A dark red stone.
Something clicked in her mind.
She had seen that ring before.
Not on Richard.
On a photograph.
In the Blue Room.
She returned upstairs.
Ethan followed.
On the shelf, behind a box of tax records, Claire found a framed photo from 1997.
A younger Margaret stood at a charity event.
Beside her was Richard.
And on the other side stood another man.
Tall.
Gray-eyed.
Wearing the same red-stone signet ring.
Claire carried the photo downstairs.
Richard stared at it.
His face emptied.
“Who is he?” Claire asked.
No answer.
Lauren took the frame.
“Oh my God.”
Ethan looked between them.
“What?”
Lauren pointed to the man.
“That’s not Uncle Peter?”
Richard sat down.
Margaret closed her eyes.
Ethan looked at his father.
“Who is that?”
Richard’s voice was barely audible.
“My brother.”
Ethan frowned.
“You don’t have a brother.”
“I did.”
Margaret opened her eyes.
“Daniel is dead.”
Richard shook his head.
“No.”
May you like
The room went still.
Then he said, “Daniel is the voice on that recording.”
