Chapter 13 - The Letter to Eleanor
Eleanor did not sleep.
At dawn, she sat alone in Thomas’s study with his letter spread across her lap.
The house was quiet now. The ruined birthday cake had been cleared from the patio. The scorched pink bag sat inside a plastic evidence bin Daniel had insisted nobody touch.
Eleanor read Thomas’s letter again.
Then again.
The last page contained the sentence Richard had thrown at her like a weapon.
I moved a portion of the foundation reserve without board approval to cover Richard’s first shortage. I believed I could restore it before anyone was harmed. I was wrong. If this becomes public, my name will not survive intact. Let it fall if it must. Do not let Grant carry what belongs to me.
Eleanor closed her eyes.
Thomas had not been innocent.
He had not stolen for himself, but he had hidden wrongdoing. He had sacrificed truth to protect the family name.
That choice had cost Grant four years of his life.
A knock sounded.
Grant stood in the doorway.
“Can I come in?”
Eleanor nodded.
He sat across from her.
For a while, neither spoke.
Then she handed him the letter.
Grant read it slowly.
When he finished, he did not cry. That made it worse.
“I wanted him to say I was right,” he said. “For years, that was all I wanted.”
“I know.”
“Now he did.”
“And it doesn’t fix anything.”
Grant looked at her.
“No.”
Eleanor reached across the desk.
“I should have believed you.”
He stared at her hand.
“You believed Dad.”
“I chose peace over asking harder questions.”
“That sounds like what he did.”
The words hurt because they were true.
Eleanor withdrew her hand.
Grant exhaled.
Then, slowly, he reached across and took it anyway.
They sat that way for several seconds.
A second knock came.
Harrison entered.
His face looked gray.
“Sloan’s gone.”
Eleanor stood.
“What do you mean gone?”
“She left the guest suite before sunrise.”
“Did she take anything?”
Harrison held up a folded note.
“She took one thing.”
Daniel appeared behind him.
“What?”
May you like
Harrison looked at his mother.
“The original letter Dad wrote to me.”
