Chapter 14 - THE PRICE OF SILENCE
My hand went numb around the phone.
Rachel immediately pulled out her own phone and started writing something.
I put the call on speaker.
“Where is Harrison?”
Calvin laughed softly.
“He’s upset.”
“Put him on.”
“Not yet.”
“What do you want?”
“I want the documents Robert left behind.”
Mark went pale.
I looked at him.
Calvin continued.
“Your husband was a suspicious man.”
“My husband was usually right.”
“That attitude won’t help your son.”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“Are you threatening him?”
“I’m saying Harrison owes people money.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“You stole from him.”
“He invested.”
“With stolen money.”
“That sounds like a family problem.”
I looked at Rachel.
She pointed at her phone.
POLICE CONTACTED.
Good.
“Put Harrison on.”
There was movement.
Then Harrison’s voice.
“Mom?”
My knees almost gave out.
“Harrison, where are you?”
“I’m okay.”
“Where?”
“I can’t say.”
Calvin took the phone back.
“You bring Robert’s documents. Alone.”
“No.”
Silence.
Then Calvin laughed.
“You always were stronger than Harrison said.”
That sentence chilled me.
“How long have you known my son?”
“Long enough.”
“You knew Robert too.”
“I knew of him.”
“You knew he had evidence.”
No answer.
That was answer enough.
Mark whispered:
“Oh, God.”
Calvin heard him.
“Is Mark there?”
Mark went white.
Calvin laughed.
“Tell Mark he should have stayed quiet.”
The call ended.
For ten seconds nobody moved.
Then Rachel stood.
“We do nothing without police.”
“But Harrison—”
“Especially because of Harrison.”
Mark paced.
“This is my fault.”
Brenda snapped.
“Then help fix it.”
He looked at her.
“I know where Calvin used to meet investors.”
“Where?”
“An old office park near Westfield.”
Rachel relayed everything to detectives.
Within twenty minutes, two unmarked cars were on the way.
Police instructed us to stay where we were.
I hated it.
Every instinct in me screamed to go find my son.
But Robert’s letter sat in my lap.
Loving Harrison does not mean protecting him from every consequence.
Maybe saving him this time meant not rushing blindly into another disaster.
Forty-five minutes later, my phone rang.
Detective Alvarez.
“We found Mr. Bennett.”
I stood so quickly my chair fell backward.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
My knees weakened.
“He’s being transported for evaluation. He appears physically unharmed.”
I started crying.
Real crying.
Ugly, shaking tears.
“Where was he?”
“At a vacant office suite.”
“Calvin?”
“Gone.”
“Did Harrison tell you anything?”
There was a pause.
“He made several statements.”
“What statements?”
“Mrs. Bennett, we’ll need to speak with you in person.”
My stomach dropped again.
“About what?”
“Your husband.”
I stopped breathing.
“What about Robert?”
“We recovered documents from the office.”
“What documents?”
Another pause.
“Documents suggesting Calvin Reed had contact with your son before your husband died.”
My vision blurred.
“How long before?”
“Several months.”
I gripped the phone.
“Detective, are you saying Calvin had something to do with Robert’s death?”
“I’m not saying that.”
“But you’re investigating it.”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
For six years, I had believed Robert’s death was the worst thing that had ever happened to our family.
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Now I wondered if it had been the beginning of everything.
Or the end of something I had never known existed.
