Chapter 14 - HIS FATHER’S VOICE

The cabinet stood in a small office behind Ethan’s childhood bedroom. The brass key turned stiffly.

Inside were old family photographs, a stack of letters, and a portable recorder. A date had been written across its back in his father’s hand: OCTOBER 18.

The night he died.

An officer checked the device before Ethan pressed play.

His father’s voice filled the room. He sounded tired, but steady.

“Julian came to see me about the trust. He says he took the money to cover losses and meant to return it. I told him I would help him face what he’d done, but I would not hide it.”

There was a pause. A car door closed in the background.

“If anything happens tonight, ask Rosa what she saw near my car. She said someone had been working beneath it.”

The recording ended.

Ethan played it again, searching for more.

“That doesn’t say who touched the brakes,” Julian said from the doorway, with an officer gripping each arm.

“No,” Ethan answered. “It doesn’t.”

Vivian sat beside the desk. “I found the recorder after the funeral. I should have given it to you.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I thought it would destroy what was left of our family.”

Elena looked at her. “Rosa lost her job. She lost her home. She spent fifteen years afraid someone would come after me.”

Vivian could not meet her eyes. “I know.”

The detective stepped into the room. Officers had searched the garage again after hearing the recording. Behind a loose panel near the old workbench, they found parts removed from the damaged car, wrapped in a shop towel. They also found an invoice for repairs ordered under Julian’s name three days before the crash.

Julian stared at the floor.

“You can explain it to the detectives,” Ethan said.

The officer led him away. Julian’s voice followed them down the hall.

“I never meant for Dad to die.”

Ethan closed the cabinet. For years he had tried to remember his father’s last words to him. Now he had heard his voice again, and it had brought him no peace.

Noah slipped his hand into Ethan’s.

“Are the bad things over?” he asked.

Ethan wanted to say yes.

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Then Elena’s phone rang. It was the detective at the ballroom.

“Celia’s talking,” she said after she answered. “She says she kept copies of every payment Julian made. There’s one more name on the account.”