Chapter 14 - THEIR FATHER’S LAST SECRET
Daniel survived surgery.
The bullet had passed through his shoulder without hitting an artery.
Bell and Ray were placed under guard.
State investigators descended on the county.
But Helena cared about only one thing.
“What did Dad tell you?”
Evelyn sat in Daniel’s hospital room with a blanket around her shoulders.
Anna held her hand.
Lucy slept across two chairs, unaware that her family had doubled overnight.
Evelyn looked at Helena.
“Dad called me after Mom found the letters.”
“You talked to him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He said he would hurt you.”
Helena laughed bitterly.
“He always knew which button to push.”
Evelyn nodded.
“He told me Mom had confronted him. She threatened to go to the state police.”
“So he took her medication.”
“Yes.”
“Did he mean to kill her?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“I asked him that.”
“And?”
“He said, ‘Your mother should have known when to stop.’”
Helena closed her eyes.
There it was.
Not an accident.
Not exactly murder in the way people imagined murder.
Something colder.
He had watched danger approach and simply stepped aside.
Evelyn continued.
“He told me if I came home for the funeral, he’d make sure Anna disappeared into foster care.”
Anna squeezed her mother’s hand.
“So you stayed away.”
“I was a coward.”
“No.”
Anna shook her head.
“You were terrified.”
“I should’ve found another way.”
Daniel spoke from the bed.
“You were twenty-two when this started.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“And I signed a paper saying you killed Caleb.”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“You thought you were saving me.”
“I destroyed you.”
“Richard destroyed us.”
For a moment, they simply looked at each other.
Not lovers.
Not yet friends.
Just two people standing in the wreckage of something stolen from them.
Helena asked, “Why come back now?”
Evelyn looked at her hands.
“Cancer.”
Anna turned.
“What?”
“Early stage.”
“You told me it was nothing.”
“I lied.”
Anna almost laughed.
“Apparently that’s a family tradition.”
Even Evelyn smiled.
Then she grew serious.
“My doctor says treatment should work. But when I heard the word cancer, I realized I might die without fixing any of this.”
“So you found the dashcam?”
“Sister Miriam had kept a copy for years.”
Daniel frowned.
“How?”
“Caleb’s truck wasn’t the only vehicle with a camera that night. Bell’s department was testing dashboard equipment. Dad thought he destroyed the recording.”
“But Miriam had it?”
“A deputy named Frank Morris copied it before Dad took the tape. He gave it to Miriam because he was scared.”
Helena remembered the letters.
“Why didn’t she use it earlier?”
“She didn’t know what was on it until recently. Frank told her before he died.”
Evelyn looked toward the window.
“I came back to confront Bell. Stupid.”
“Very.”
Helena’s voice was dry.
Evelyn almost smiled.
“He caught me at the boathouse.”
“The blood.”
“Mine.”
“And your brooch?”
“I dropped it hoping you’d find it.”
Helena reached into her pocket.
She placed the silver magnolia into Evelyn’s palm.
Evelyn stared at it.
“You kept yours?”
“Mom made me.”
Evelyn began crying.
Helena attached the brooch to her sister’s hospital gown.
“There.”
Evelyn touched it.
“Our mother always said those pins meant we belonged to each other.”
Helena looked at her.
“Mom said a lot of things.”
A knock sounded at the door.
Two state investigators entered.
One held a folder.
“Ms. Crawford?”
Both sisters answered.
“Yes?”
The investigator almost smiled.
“We recovered documents from Silas Bell’s home.”
Helena stood.
“What kind?”
“Your father’s private files.”
He opened the folder.
“There are records involving at least six other cases.”
Daniel sat upright.
“Other cases?”
The investigator nodded.
“The Caleb Hart cover-up wasn’t the first.”
Helena stared at Evelyn.
May you like
Their father’s secrets had not ended with their family.
They had only opened the door.
