Chapter 12 - Samuel Crowe
Leo backed toward the desk.
Samuel raised both hands.
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
“That’s what bad guys say before hurting people.”
Samuel laughed softly.
“You sound like Henry.”
“Grandpa says you kidnapped him.”
“I did.”
Leo swallowed.
“At least you admit it.”
“I’m too old to waste time lying about obvious things.”
Samuel walked slowly into the room.
Leo looked toward the only exit.
Blocked.
Samuel noticed.
“You can run if you want.”
“You’d catch me.”
“No.”
“But the men upstairs might.”
Leo hated how calm he sounded.
“Why did you kidnap Grandpa?”
Samuel picked up the old photograph.
“Because thirty-one years ago, Henry and I started Caldwell-Crowe Industrial with one hundred thousand dollars.”
Leo stayed silent.
“Half was mine. Half was his.”
“What happened?”
“Henry decided one name looked better on the building.”
Samuel smiled without humor.
“Caldwell.”
“You could’ve sued him.”
“I tried.”
“And?”
“Documents disappeared. Witnesses changed their stories. My wife received threats.”
Leo thought about everything Grandpa had said.
Everything Michael had said.
Adults kept turning out to be both victims and liars.
Samuel continued.
“Henry forced me out. Then he paid me to stay quiet.”
“So you stole his money.”
“For years.”
“That doesn’t make it right.”
Samuel looked at him for a long moment.
“No.”
Leo hadn’t expected that answer.
Samuel placed the photograph down.
“Revenge is strange, Leo. At first it feels like justice. Then one day you wake up and realize you’ve become the worst version of the person you hated.”
“Then stop.”
Samuel smiled.
“Eleven years old.”
“So?”
“So adults spend decades making simple things complicated.”
Footsteps echoed above.
Samuel looked toward the ceiling.
“They’re coming.”
“My family?”
“Some of them.”
Leo gripped the desk.
“Where’s Grandpa?”
“Probably alive.”
“Probably?”
“Dalton was told not to kill anyone.”
“You trust him?”
Samuel’s expression hardened.
“No.”
A gunshot sounded upstairs.
Then another.
Samuel cursed.
Leo stepped toward the door.
“Move.”
“You’ll get yourself killed.”
“That’s my mom up there.”
Samuel stared at him.
Then reached into his coat.
Leo grabbed a metal letter opener.
Samuel paused.
Slowly, he pulled out a key.
“Cabinet seventeen.”
“What?”
“Open it.”
“Why?”
“Because if I don’t walk out of here, somebody needs to know everything.”
Leo didn’t move.
Samuel tossed the key onto the desk.
Then he headed toward the stairs.
Leo called after him.
“Why help me?”
Samuel stopped.
“Because Henry was right about one thing.”
“What?”
“You see what everyone else misses.”
Then he disappeared upstairs.
Leo found cabinet seventeen.
Inside were financial records.
Photographs.
Police reports.
And one sealed envelope labeled MICHAEL BENNETT.
Leo opened it.
Inside was a handwritten confession.
His father’s handwriting.
Leo read the first line twice.
I HELPED SAMUEL CROWe FAKE HIS DEATH.
Leo’s stomach twisted.
Footsteps raced down the stairs.
Leo turned.
His father appeared in the doorway.
Blood stained Michael’s shirt.
He looked at the paper in Leo’s hand.
His face fell.
“Leo.”
The boy stepped back.
“You knew Samuel was alive.”
Michael said nothing.
“You helped him disappear.”
“Listen to me.”
“You lied again.”
“Leo—”
“Were you working with him?”
May you like
Michael closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
