Chapter 13 - The Price of Silence
We listened to the tape three times. It didn't get easier.
Richard knew Nora was inside. Elaine knew. The guard who'd obeyed them had carried the sound of that choice in a box for twenty-two years.
Miriam stopped the recording. "We need authentication and independent review. We can't declare a verdict in this room."
I understood. I also wanted to drive straight to Richard's house and smash every window.
Instead I went to the bathroom, locked the door, and cried until my throat hurt. When I came out, Maya was waiting with water and a granola bar.
"Eat," she said.
"You sound like my mom."
Her face changed. "Sorry."
"No. You sound like someone who cares whether I'm alive tomorrow. That's different."
That evening Richard called from a new number. Miriam had advised me not to speak with him, so I put him on speaker and let her handle the conversation. He didn't know she was sitting beside me.
"Two million dollars," he said, without hello. "Enough to stop working those pathetic jobs. You drop this nonsense, and I'll see about Daniel's appeal."
"You can't buy his freedom," I said.
"Everyone has a price."
"That's what you believe."
He sighed, like a man tired of explaining math to a child. "I fed you. I kept a roof over your head. I made you a Bennett."
"You stole my name."
His voice hardened. "You have no idea what happens to people who stand in my way."
I glanced at Miriam. She wrote down the time and told him, clearly, that the conversation was over.
He laughed. "That lawyer won't save you."
The line went dead.
Minutes later, Ethan arrived at Miriam's office holding bank statements. He'd moved out of the house. Richard had frozen his accounts and threatened to report him for the complaint he'd helped fake.
"I'll tell the university everything," Ethan said. "I owe you that."
"You owe me more than a speech."
"I know."
May you like
The next morning a courier delivered a sworn statement accusing me of stealing Dr. Shah's research and forging her signature. It carried the name of a professor who'd never even taught me.
And it was scheduled for an emergency hearing the following day.
