Chapter 2 - THE SECOND PHONE
“What does that mean?”
My voice came out sharper than I intended.
Madison flinched.
I immediately softened.
“Honey. What did Daddy mean by two Ryans?”
“I don’t know.”
Ryan pointed at the ringing phone.
“This is some kind of sick setup.”
Claire picked it up.
“Don’t answer.”
Ryan laughed once.
“Why? Because Daniel’s ghost might be calling?”
Claire looked him straight in the eye.
“Because you’re sweating.”
He wiped his forehead without thinking.
That shut him up.
The phone kept ringing.
Finally, Claire hit SPEAKER.
Nobody spoke.
Then a woman whispered:
“Is Ryan in the room?”
Claire’s eyes narrowed.
“Who is this?”
A pause.
“Is he there?”
Ryan stepped forward.
“Give me the phone.”
The woman heard his voice.
“Oh God.”
The line went dead.
Ryan lunged.
Claire pulled the phone away.
“Back up.”
“This is ridiculous!”
I stared at him.
“Who was that?”
“I don’t know.”
“You recognized her voice.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You did.”
Ryan turned toward me.
“Sarah, your husband was paranoid the last few weeks. You know that.”
I felt heat rise through my chest.
“My husband is dead.”
“I know.”
“Then stop talking about him like he was crazy.”
His jaw tightened.
Evelyn suddenly sat down.
Her hands were trembling.
Claire noticed.
“Mrs. Carter?”
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
Ryan snapped, “Leave my mother alone.”
That was when the phone buzzed.
A text.
Claire read it aloud.
DON’T TRUST THE POLICE REPORT.
A second message appeared.
DANIEL COPIED EVERYTHING.
Then a third.
ASK RYAN ABOUT THE $240,000 TRANSFER.
Ryan’s face went blank.
Claire looked at him.
“What transfer?”
“Nothing.”
“Two hundred forty thousand dollars is usually something.”
“My brother and I owned a company together.”
Carter Structural.
Daniel had started it twelve years earlier.
Ryan joined later.
By the time Daniel died, the company employed more than sixty people.
Daniel handled engineering.
Ryan handled finance.
I suddenly remembered something.
Three weeks before Daniel died, I had walked into our kitchen at midnight and found him sitting alone with bank statements spread across the table.
He had quickly covered them.
“Work stuff,” he said.
I had been annoyed.
“You’re always working.”
“I know.”
“Come to bed.”
“In a minute.”
I wish I had sat down.
I wish I had asked one more question.
Claire tapped the recorder.
“Maybe we should listen to this.”
“No.”
Ryan’s answer came too quickly.
Everyone looked at him.
He exhaled.
“I mean… not here. Not with Madison.”
My daughter stared at him.
“Why?”
Ryan’s face softened.
For half a second, he almost looked like the uncle who used to bring her chocolate donuts on Saturday mornings.
Then Madison said:
“Are you scared?”
His expression disappeared.
Claire pressed PLAY.
Static filled the office.
Then Daniel’s voice.
“If you’re hearing this, I’m probably dead.”
My knees nearly gave out.
Madison grabbed my hand.
Daniel continued.
“And if Ryan is standing there pretending he doesn’t know why, he’s lying.”
Ryan slammed his fist onto the desk.
“Turn it off!”
But Claire didn’t.
Then another voice came through the recording.
Ryan’s.
Clear as day.
“You go to the police, Daniel, and your daughter grows up without a father.”
Madison looked up at her uncle.
May you like
And asked one quiet question.
“Did you kill my daddy?”
