Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Came Too Quickly
Andrew opened the front door but did not invite Julian inside.
Julian lifted an eyebrow.
“That warm, huh?”
“What are you doing here?”
“You accessed twenty-three-year-old fraud records at seven-thirty on a Saturday.”
“You monitor my searches?”
“The system flags legacy litigation.”
“Since when?”
“Since Dad died and every ambulance-chasing lawyer in America decided old files were treasure maps.”
Julian glanced past him.
“Where’s Renee?”
Andrew blocked his view.
“Why?”
Julian’s expression shifted.
“Because you searched Peter Keene.”
Andrew said nothing.
Julian lowered his voice.
“You need to understand something before she gets inside your head.”
“She?”
“Renee.”
“You know who she is.”
Julian exhaled.
“I suspected.”
“Her name was Mara Keene.”
“Yes.”
Andrew felt the betrayal multiply.
“For how long?”
“Three years.”
“You knew for three years and said nothing?”
“I hired someone to check her after Dad’s funeral.”
“Why?”
“Because she asked strange questions about the old fraud case.”
Renee appeared behind Andrew.
“You mean I asked why Charles kept a private file on Peter Keene.”
Julian looked at her.
There was no surprise.
“Mara.”
Andrew’s jaw tightened.
“Don’t call her that.”
Julian almost smiled.
“Interesting. You’re defending the lie already.”
Renee stepped closer.
“What happened to Gabriel Shaw?”
That changed Julian.
Only slightly.
But Andrew saw it.
Julian recovered.
“I don’t know who that is.”
Renee laughed quietly.
“You’re not as good a liar as your father.”
Julian’s eyes hardened.
Andrew moved between them.
“Did Dad frame Peter?”
“No.”
“Did Peter steal eighteen million dollars?”
Julian hesitated.
“I was a kid.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“The official investigation said he did.”
“The official investigation never went to trial.”
“Because he died.”
Renee said, “Conveniently.”
Julian looked at her.
“You should be careful.”
Andrew turned.
“What does that mean?”
“It means she has spent years feeding herself one version of history.”
Renee’s voice went cold.
“And you spent years protecting another.”
Julian looked at Andrew.
“Ask your wife why she married you.”
“I did.”
“And?”
Andrew didn’t answer.
Julian nodded.
“Exactly.”
He stepped backward toward the driveway.
“Andrew, I love you. That’s why I’m telling you this. Peter Keene wasn’t some saint. Dad had evidence Peter was moving money months before the investigation.”
“We found documents.”
Julian froze.
Andrew regretted saying it immediately.
“What documents?”
“Nothing.”
Julian looked toward the hallway.
Then at Renee.
His face changed.
Not fear.
Calculation.
He left without another word.
Renee shut the door.
“You shouldn’t have told him.”
“I know.”
“Andrew—”
“I said I know.”
He went to the hidden room.
The manila envelope was gone.
Andrew stared at the empty desk.
“No.”
They searched the room.
Nothing.
The recorder was still in Renee’s pocket.
But the documents had vanished.
Andrew checked the security footage.
At 8:11, while they were speaking with Julian at the front door, the garage camera froze for forty-three seconds.
When the feed resumed, nothing looked different.
Someone had remotely disabled it.
Renee sat down hard.
“Who knew we were in here?”
“Gabriel.”
“And whoever was watching him.”
Andrew examined the desk.
A small strip of adhesive remained underneath.
He pulled it free.
Attached to it was a microSD card.
Renee stared.
“Backup?”
“Maybe.”
They inserted it into Andrew’s laptop.
There were photographs.
Hundreds.
Old financial records.
Company ledgers.
Charles Bennett meeting men outside banks and construction sites.
Peter Keene speaking with Gabriel Shaw.
Then newer photographs.
Julian entering restaurants.
Board members.
Lawyers.
Renee leaving work.
Andrew picking Sophie up from preschool.
Their old house.
Their new one.
Someone had been watching the family for years.
Renee scrolled faster.
Then stopped.
One photograph showed Gabriel Shaw standing beside an elderly woman outside a nursing facility.
Andrew recognized her instantly.
His mother.
Margaret Bennett.
The date was four months earlier.
Andrew stared.
“My mother told us she’d never heard of Gabriel.”
Renee opened the next image.
Margaret was handing Gabriel an envelope.
May you like
On its front were two words.
FOR MARA.
