Chapter 10 - Thomas Bennett
They did not come alone.
Andrew parked two blocks away and called an attorney he trusted from outside the family company, Rachel Kim.
He sent her copies of every file they had.
“If you don’t hear from me in two hours, call state police.”
Rachel paused.
“Andrew, that sentence usually means you shouldn’t go.”
“I know.”
The marina smelled of salt and diesel.
Most slips were empty for the season.
Gabriel waited inside a storage building.
Andrew recognized him from photographs.
Older.
Thinner.
A knit cap hid most of his hair.
Renee stopped several feet away.
“You spoke to Sophie.”
Gabriel nodded.
“I shouldn’t have.”
“You frightened her.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“I needed to know whether you were really Mara.”
“You could have called me.”
“I didn’t know who was monitoring your phone.”
Andrew stepped forward.
“Where is Thomas?”
A voice came from behind them.
“Still terrible at patience, aren’t you, Andrew?”
Andrew turned.
The man walking from the shadows was thinner than memory, stooped with age, but unmistakable.
Thomas Bennett.
Andrew couldn’t speak.
Thomas stopped.
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re alive.”
“Yes.”
“My mother told me you were dead.”
“I know.”
“My father—”
“Wanted you to believe it.”
Andrew’s anger surged.
“And you let him.”
Thomas accepted the blow.
“Yes.”
Renee stepped closer.
“You knew Peter.”
Thomas looked at her.
His face softened.
“Mara.”
Hearing the name from him affected her differently.
Not fear.
Recognition of an inheritance she had never chosen.
“Was my father guilty?”
Thomas sighed.
“Yes and no.”
“That isn’t good enough.”
“He authorized illegal transfers after Charles threatened Evelyn. He destroyed records. He lied to auditors.”
Renee’s eyes filled.
“So he was guilty.”
“Of crimes. Not of stealing eighteen million dollars.”
“Did Charles kill him?”
Thomas looked toward Gabriel.
Gabriel spoke.
“No.”
Renee turned sharply.
“How do you know?”
“Because I found Peter’s car.”
The building became silent.
Gabriel sat on a wooden crate.
“The night Peter died, Charles sent me to bring him in. He believed Peter still had copies. Peter drove off before I reached him.”
“You followed?”
“Yes.”
“In the storm?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He lost control near the bridge.”
Renee stared at him.
“You watched?”
“I reached the car after it went through the barrier.”
“Did you call for help?”
Gabriel’s face twisted.
“No.”
Renee stepped backward.
Andrew caught her.
Gabriel continued.
“Peter was alive when I reached him.”
Renee made a sound Andrew would never forget.
“You left him?”
Gabriel began crying.
“Charles ordered me to retrieve the briefcase and walk away.”
“And you did.”
“Yes.”
Renee slapped him.
The sound echoed.
Gabriel did not move.
“You murdered him.”
“I did.”
“Maybe not with your hands, but you did.”
“Yes.”
Thomas looked at the floor.
Andrew felt sick.
“You knew?”
“Not until years later.”
Renee pointed at Thomas.
“And you stayed hidden.”
“I had evidence against Charles. He threatened my wife.”
“Everyone’s wife. Everyone’s children. Everyone had a reason.”
Her voice broke.
“My father died alone because every adult around him had a reason.”
Nobody answered.
Finally, Gabriel reached into his coat.
He removed a key.
“Hawthorne Ridge.”
Renee stared.
“The locked door?”
“No. The lockbox inside the wall.”
“What lockbox?”
“Peter built a steel compartment between the hidden room and the library chimney. Charles never found it.”
Andrew took the key.
“What’s inside?”
Thomas answered.
“The original ledger.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Not only that.”
He looked at Andrew.
“Your father kept recordings.”
“Of what?”
“Everything.”
“And Julian?”
Gabriel’s eyes darkened.
“Julian found some of them twelve years ago.”
Andrew felt cold.
“What did he do?”
“He learned the truth.”
Renee whispered, “And?”
May you like
Gabriel looked at Andrew.
“Then your brother blackmailed your father.”
