Chapter 8 - THE DEAD MAN AT THE QUARRY
The old man was not Jonathan Hale.
Not exactly.
His name was Samuel Hale.
Jonathan’s younger brother.
Richard had met him only twice as a child.
Then Samuel vanished from family life.
Richard had been told he died overseas.
Samuel sat in an ambulance wrapped in a blanket.
His white hair was matted with blood.
His left wrist was broken.
Richard stared at him.
“You’re alive.”
Samuel gave a weak laugh.
“That appears to be the family tradition.”
Richard did not laugh.
“Why did Lily think someone said this began before I was born?”
Samuel looked toward the police surrounding the quarry.
“Because it did.”
Elena remained with Lily several yards away.
Detective Brooks stepped closer.
“Start at the beginning.”
Samuel closed his eyes.
“Your father and I inherited the original company from our father.”
Richard knew that.
“Dad bought you out.”
“No.”
Samuel opened his eyes.
“He stole it.”
Richard frowned.
Samuel continued.
“Jonathan created false debts.”
“He moved assets.”
“He forged my signature.”
“I discovered it.”
“So I threatened to expose him.”
“What happened?”
“He had me committed.”
Richard stared.
“To a private psychiatric hospital.”
“For eleven months.”
Samuel lifted his broken wrist.
“When I got out, nobody believed me.”
“What does this have to do with Nora?”
“She believed me.”
Richard stepped closer.
“Nora Beck?”
Samuel nodded.
“She found the old accounts.”
“She realized Jonathan had been moving money through shell companies for years.”
“Where’s the red ledger?”
Samuel looked at him sharply.
“You know about it?”
“We found the compartment.”
“Empty?”
“Yes.”
Samuel’s face darkened.
“Then Daniel has it.”
Richard exhaled.
“Daniel.”
“Your brother has spent ten years trying to finish what Jonathan started.”
“Why?”
“Because Jonathan trained him.”
Richard shook his head.
“My father hated Daniel.”
“No.”
Samuel’s voice became quiet.
“Jonathan understood Daniel.”
That distinction disturbed Richard.
Samuel continued.
“You were supposed to inherit the public company.”
“Daniel inherited the secrets.”
Richard thought of every private trip his father had taken with Daniel.
The fishing weekends Richard skipped.
The meetings Daniel attended without explanation.
Samuel looked toward Elena.
“When she found Nora, Daniel panicked.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he came to me.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
Richard’s anger rose.
“You knew Elena was missing.”
“I knew Daniel was frightened.”
“You didn’t know why.”
Samuel looked ashamed.
“I didn’t ask enough questions.”
Richard turned away.
Another ambulance passed.
Brooks received a message.
“They found Victoria.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Mercer?”
“Gone.”
Richard looked toward the quarry.
“How?”
“Tunnel exit on the east ridge.”
“Daniel?”
“No sign.”
Richard wanted to hit something.
Instead he walked to Elena.
Lily sat beside her.
“You okay?”
Lily nodded.
Elena studied his face.
“Who is the man?”
“My uncle.”
“The dead one?”
“Apparently our family has poor recordkeeping.”
Elena almost smiled.
It lasted half a second.
“What did he say?”
Richard told her.
When he mentioned Jonathan, Elena looked away.
“You knew something.”
Richard said.
“I knew your father was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“His own past.”
“How?”
“He told me.”
“When?”
“Before he died.”
Richard stared.
“That password.”
Elena nodded.
“He said there was evidence.”
“Of what?”
“He never said.”
“Where?”
“He told me if anyone ever asked for the four words, I should never give the real ones unless you were standing beside me.”
Richard frowned.
“Why me?”
“I don’t know.”
Elena looked at him.
“But I think it is time.”
Brooks arranged a secure laptop.
Elena wrote four words on paper.
Richard read them.
ROSE.
EIGHTEEN.
SAMUEL.
HOME.
Samuel saw the words.
His face changed.
“That was our mother’s code.”
Richard looked at him.
“What?”
Samuel nodded.
“She used it for a safe deposit box.”
“Where?”
“First Commonwealth Bank.”
Richard turned toward Brooks.
Within an hour, police obtained emergency legal authorization.
The box had not been opened in twenty-two years.
Inside were property deeds.
Bank records.
Photographs.
And six cassette tapes.
The first tape carried Jonathan Hale’s handwriting.
FOR RICHARD.
Richard stared at it.
A bank employee provided an old cassette player.
Richard pressed play.
Static filled the small conference room.
Then his father’s voice emerged.
“If you are hearing this, I am either dead or no longer able to protect what I should have protected years ago.”
Richard stopped breathing.
Jonathan continued.
“I made decisions I told myself were necessary.”
“Some were crimes.”
“Some were worse.”
Samuel lowered his head.
The tape hissed.
“Nora Beck discovered the accounts.”
“She threatened to expose them.”
“I did not kill her.”
Richard looked at Brooks.
“But I know who did.”
Everyone leaned closer.
Jonathan’s voice became rough.
“My son saw Nora in the cellar.”
“He was seventeen.”
Richard’s blood turned cold.
Daniel had been seventeen when Nora vanished.
“He followed her.”
“They argued.”
“She threatened to call police.”
“He pushed her.”
“She struck the stone wall.”
“She died.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Jonathan continued.
“I covered it up.”
Richard stood abruptly.
“I told myself I was protecting my child.”
“What I really protected was the monster growing inside him.”
No one moved.
“If Daniel ever learns these tapes exist, he will destroy them.”
Richard stared at the cassette.
The recording continued.
“There is one more thing.”
“Daniel was not alone in that cellar.”
Richard froze.
“A girl was with him.”
“She helped move Nora’s body.”
“She helped clean the blood.”
“Her name was Victoria Crane.”
Richard slowly looked toward the quarry ambulance where Victoria was receiving treatment.
Jonathan’s voice delivered the final blow.
“Daniel and Victoria have been protecting the same secret since they were teenagers.”
And suddenly Richard understood.
Victoria had not become part of their family after Elena disappeared.
May you like
She had entered their lives decades earlier.
She had been waiting for the Hale family to become vulnerable again.
