Chapter 13 - Marcus’s Name
Emily drove straight to Marcus’s office.
He did not look surprised when she put the cassette on his desk.
He looked tired.
“I wondered when you would find that.”
Emily’s anger came back instantly.
“You told me you wanted my father alive.”
“I did.”
“Your name is on a tape of my mother talking about hiding something from him.”
Marcus leaned back.
“Because I was there.”
Emily’s stomach turned.
“Were you having an affair with my mother?”
“No.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not.”
He opened a drawer and took out an old photograph.
Four people stood on the Harbor dock.
Thomas.
Patricia.
Marcus.
And a man Emily did not recognize.
“Who is he?”
“Victor Sloane. Developer.”
Emily stared.
Marcus said, “Twenty-four years ago, Victor wanted Harbor Point. Your father refused to sell. Your mother disagreed.”
“So?”
“So Patricia began negotiating with Victor privately.”
Emily looked at the photo again.
“Where do you fit?”
“I found out.”
Marcus’s voice turned bitter.
“I was Thomas’s partner. I warned him.”
“And the tape?”
“Thomas asked me to record a meeting. He suspected Patricia was accepting money.”
Emily felt sick.
“How much?”
“Enough to buy her cooperation.”
“What happened to Victor?”
“He disappeared from the deal after you fell.”
“Why?”
Marcus’s face darkened.
“Because Thomas threatened him.”
“For pushing me?”
Marcus shook his head.
“No one knows who pushed you.”
Emily stared.
“I fell down stairs.”
“That’s the official story.”
“What’s the real one?”
Marcus hesitated.
Emily leaned forward.
“I’m done with people deciding what I can handle.”
Marcus nodded.
“Your father believed Claire pushed you.”
The room went quiet.
Emily’s mind rejected it.
Claire had been eleven.
Emily had been eight.
“No.”
“You were near the stairs. Claire was upset. Patricia was arguing with Victor. Then you fell.”
“That proves nothing.”
“I agree.”
“Then why did Dad believe it?”
“Because when you woke up in the hospital, you told him Claire said, ‘Don’t tell.’”
Emily’s hands went cold.
A memory flashed.
Wet wood.
A hand on her shoulder.
A voice.
Don’t tell Dad.
She stood so fast the chair rolled backward.
Marcus rose too.
“Emily.”
“No.”
“You’re remembering something.”
“No.”
Another flash.
Claire crying.
Not angry.
Terrified.
Emily gripped the desk.
Then a different voice surfaced in her memory.
An adult voice.
Soft.
Female.
If you love your sister, you’ll forget this.
Emily looked at Marcus.
“It wasn’t Claire.”
His eyes narrowed.
Emily whispered, “My mother was there.”
Then Marcus’s office door opened.
Jonathan Price stood there, breathless.
“Emily, we found something in your father’s computer.”
May you like
He held up a printed email.
“It was scheduled to send the morning after he died.”
