Chapter 4 - The Call from the Dead
Claire called the number back.
Disconnected.
She tried again.
Nothing.
Marisol was already tracing it.
“Burner phone,” she said. “Probably tossed.”
Claire stood and walked to the window.
For three years, Mark had been a ghost. A name her parents avoided. A photograph Ethan had removed from the hallway. A wound that changed shape depending on who was speaking.
Now he had called her.
And his first message had not been I’m alive.
It had been Don’t trust Dad.
Claire turned. “I need to go home.”
Marisol shook her head. “You need to be careful.”
“My family is in that house.”
“And if Robert Bennett has been moving money for Mark, we don’t know whether he’s protecting him or helping him.”
Claire grabbed her folder.
“I’ll find out.”
When she returned, the dining room looked like the aftermath of a small war. Linda had cleaned most of the food from the floor. Robert sat in the living room. Ethan stood near the front window.
He turned as Claire entered.
“Did Dad forge my name?”
Claire did not soften it.
“Yes.”
Robert rose. “You don’t know that.”
“I know the application came from your accountant’s office.”
“That doesn’t prove anything.”
Claire held up the document bearing her own forged signature.
“Then explain this.”
Robert saw the heading.
His face drained.
Ethan stepped closer. “What is it?”
Claire handed it to him.
He read.
Then looked toward Robert with open disbelief.
“You borrowed against the house too?”
Robert rubbed both hands over his face.
“I was trying to keep Mark alive.”
Claire’s voice sharpened. “Mark called me.”
Linda gasped.
Robert froze.
Claire watched him carefully.
“He told me not to trust you.”
Something like pain crossed Robert’s face.
Then fear.
“He shouldn’t have called.”
Claire took one step toward him.
“You knew where he was.”
“No.”
“You knew he was alive.”
“Yes.”
Linda began crying again.
Ethan shouted, “Everybody knew except me?”
“No,” Claire said. “I didn’t.”
Robert sank into the chair.
“Mark found evidence at Harbor Light. The foundation was being used to move money through fake veteran housing projects. He copied files. He panicked. He also took cash because he thought he needed to disappear.”
“So he did steal,” Ethan said.
“Yes.”
Claire folded her arms. “And you covered it.”
“I paid back what I could. I moved him from city to city.”
“With forged loans.”
Robert looked at Ethan.
“I was going to repay every dollar.”
Ethan’s eyes were wet now.
“With what?”
Robert had no answer.
Claire said, “Who are you protecting him from?”
Robert looked toward the dark hallway.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
“Your grandfather’s old business partner.”
Claire frowned. “Walter Price?”
Robert nodded.
Claire almost dismissed it.
Then headlights swept across the front windows.
A black sedan stopped at the curb.
Nobody moved.
The doorbell rang.
May you like
Three slow times.
Robert whispered, “Don’t open that door.”
