Chapter 10 - The Night My Mother Died
Dad heard the question.
He came into the room so fast the agent behind him barely caught up.
“What did you say?”
I kept my eyes on Marjorie.
“Who keeps sending these messages?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happened to my mother?”
“Natalie, stop.”
“No.”
Marjorie covered her face.
Dad pulled the chair across from her.
“Look at me.”
She did.
He spoke quietly.
“You knew Ellen before she died?”
Marjorie said nothing.
Dad’s eyes widened.
“You told me you met me two years later.”
“I did.”
“That’s not what she asked.”
Marjorie wiped her cheeks.
“I knew who Ellen was.”
“How?”
Silence.
Holt stepped into the room.
“Mrs. Reed, anything you say can become part of a federal investigation.”
Marjorie laughed weakly.
“Then I guess everybody finally gets the truth.”
Dad leaned forward.
“What truth?”
She looked at him.
“I met you before Ellen died.”
The room stopped.
My father stared at her.
“Where?”
“At a veterans’ fundraiser in Atlanta.”
“I don’t remember you.”
“You were married.”
“Did we—”
“No.”
Her answer came fast.
Too fast.
Dad’s face twisted.
“Then why lie?”
“Because I was embarrassed.”
“About meeting me?”
“About wanting you.”
I felt sick.
Dad stood.
“You wanted a married man?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“What does this have to do with Ellen’s accident?”
Marjorie looked at me.
“Nothing.”
“Then why did somebody tell me to ask?”
“I don’t know.”
Holt watched her carefully.
“Mrs. Reed, did you know Victor Hale in 2005?”
Marjorie’s face emptied.
That was answer enough.
Dad whispered, “Jesus.”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He was my boyfriend.”
I stared at her.
Keene went still.
Everything connected at once.
Not fully.
But enough.
Victor Hale.
Marjorie.
The foundation.
Federal contracts.
Twenty-one years.
Dad sat back down.
“What happened the night Ellen died?”
Marjorie shook her head.
“I wasn’t there.”
“Where was Victor?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were dating him.”
“He disappeared for two days.”
Dad’s hands curled into fists.
“And you never thought that mattered?”
“I had no reason to.”
I stepped closer.
“What did he do for work?”
“Fleet logistics.”
Keene and Holt exchanged a look.
I saw it.
“What?”
Holt answered.
“Hale was stationed at Kings Bay around that time.”
My mother had died returning from Kings Bay.
She had worked as a civilian accountant for a military contractor.
I remembered almost nothing about her job.
I had been fourteen.
Dad looked like he was struggling to breathe.
“Ellen was auditing contracts.”
Keene stared at him.
“What kind?”
“I don’t know.”
Dad rubbed his forehead.
“She said something was wrong. She mentioned missing equipment. Fake invoices.”
Holt immediately asked, “Did she name anyone?”
Dad thought.
Then his face changed.
“Hale.”
Nobody spoke.
He whispered it again.
“Victor Hale.”
Marjorie stood suddenly.
“I had nothing to do with Ellen’s death.”
Holt blocked her path.
“No one said you did.”
“I didn’t.”
Her panic had returned.
“I swear.”
My phone buzzed again.
This time the message was just an address.
An abandoned warehouse outside town.
Underneath:
IF YOU WANT THE ORIGINAL FILES, COME ALONE.
I turned the screen away before anyone saw it.
But Marjorie had already caught the address.
Her face collapsed.
“No.”
I looked at her.
“You know that place?”
May you like
She whispered,
“That’s where Victor used to take me.”
