Chapter 7 - The Road in Winter
Emily had imagined this moment in a hundred different ways.
Not this moment exactly.
But the moment someone told her her father’s death had a reason.
For eight years, the accident had been a locked door.
Now Marcus Hale had opened it with one sentence.
“What do you mean?”
Marcus glanced toward the detectives. “I mean Thomas called me forty minutes before he died.”
Patricia emerged from the bridal lounge.
The instant she saw Marcus, she stopped.
“You.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened. “Hello, Patricia.”
“You have no right to be here.”
“I was invited by Evelyn.”
Patricia turned on her mother. “You invited him?”
Evelyn stepped into the lobby. “Yes.”
Emily looked between them. “Everybody knew something except me.”
“No,” Marcus said. “Not everybody.”
He reached inside his coat and pulled out his phone.
“I kept an old voicemail. I transferred it every time I changed phones.”
Patricia’s face changed.
“Don’t.”
Emily looked at her mother.
That one word was enough.
“Play it.”
Marcus did.
The recording crackled.
Then Thomas Bennett’s voice filled the small lobby.
Marcus, it’s me. Patricia found the Harbor file. Claire is asking questions. I made a mistake letting them know the property still exists. I’m driving to Evelyn’s. If anything happens—
Static.
A breath.
Then:
—make sure Emily gets the letter.
The message ended.
Emily could not move.
Claire came out of the lounge behind Patricia and heard the last line.
Her face collapsed.
Daniel stayed a few feet behind her.
Emily looked at Marcus. “Why didn’t you give this to police?”
“I did.”
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
One of the detectives approached. “Ms. Bennett?”
Emily turned.
The detective was a woman in her fifties named Laura Grant. Calm eyes. Gray suit.
“We’re reviewing the old crash because new financial evidence was attached to the current fraud report.”
Patricia stepped forward. “This is insane. Thomas lost control on ice.”
Detective Grant looked at her.
“Maybe.”
The word hung there.
“Or maybe his brake line had been damaged before he left the house.”
Claire whispered, “What?”
Patricia went still.
Emily’s heartbeat thudded in her ears.
Detective Grant continued.
“The original report noted the damage but concluded it could have happened during impact.”
Marcus said, “Thomas told me earlier that week someone had been inside his garage.”
Claire turned to her mother.
“Mom?”
Patricia’s lips trembled.
Emily suddenly remembered a night from eight years ago.
Her father standing in the kitchen.
Patricia crying.
Claire shouting.
A broken wineglass.
Then her father saying, “You touched the wrong thing.”
At the time Emily thought he meant money.
Now she wasn’t sure.
Detective Grant looked at Patricia.
“Mrs. Bennett, we need to ask where you were between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. the night your husband died.”
Patricia took one step back.
May you like
Then Claire whispered something that made everyone turn.
“She was with me.”
