Harold sat behind the glass when Dad entered the interview room.
His wrists were cuffed to the table.
He looked tired but strangely calm.
Dad remained standing.
“You wanted to see me.”
Harold nodded.
“I have something you want.”
“The recording.”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“Safe.”
Dad said nothing.
Harold leaned back.
“You always were impatient.”
“I don't have patience left for you.”
Harold smiled faintly.
“That is understandable.”
Dad looked through the glass at me.
I stayed outside with Sheriff Mercer.
Harold's eyes followed him.
“Eleanor loved you.”
Dad's expression hardened.
“Don't say her name.”
“She did.”
“You killed her.”
“I caused her death.”
Harold's answer surprised everyone.
He continued.
“But I didn't change the medication.”
Dad stared at him.
“Then who did?”
Harold looked directly at him.
“You already know.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Harold smiled.
“You've been looking at the wrong person.”
Sheriff Mercer entered.
“Where is the recording?”
Harold's expression became serious.
“I'll give it to you after Thomas hears the truth.”
“You don't get to negotiate.”
“Then you won't get the recording.”
Sheriff Mercer left the room.
Dad remained.
“What truth?”
Harold looked down.
“Your wife was already dying.”
Dad stared.
“What?”
“Eleanor had a heart condition.”
“I know.”
“Her doctor warned her.”
“Not like this.”
Harold shook his head.
“She knew.”
Dad's face tightened.
“Are you saying she wasn't murdered?”
“No.”
Harold looked toward him.
“I am saying her death was made to look inevitable.”
Dad sat down.
“Explain.”
Harold took a slow breath.
“Eleanor discovered the money. She discovered Grant's parentage. She discovered the accounts. She discovered everything.”
“Yes.”
“She planned to expose us.”
“Yes.”
“So Grant and Vanessa were supposed to frighten her.”
“Supposed to?”
“They weren't supposed to kill her.”
Dad's hands curled into fists.
“What happened?”
“Vanessa confronted her. Grant came later.”
“And you?”
“I was outside.”
“You entered.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After Eleanor collapsed.”
Dad's face changed.
“You waited.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I needed the documents.”
“You let her die.”
Harold's voice lowered.
“She was conscious.”
“I know.”
“She told me where the red folder was.”
Dad looked sick.
“You threatened her.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“She refused.”
“So you changed her medication?”
“No.”
Dad stared.
Harold leaned forward.
“Vanessa did.”
Silence.
Dad stood so quickly the chair struck the floor.
“That's a lie.”
Harold shook his head.
“Listen to the recording.”
Sheriff Mercer immediately entered.
“You said you had it.”
Harold nodded.
He gave her a storage location.
A locker at the old bus station.
The sheriff sent deputies.
Within forty minutes, they returned with a small recorder.
Dad sat beside me as the file played.
Mom's voice came first.
“I know what you've done.”
Vanessa answered.
“Mom, please.”
“You changed the bottle.”
“No.”
“You did.”
“I only replaced the label.”
Dad covered his mouth.
The recording continued.
Vanessa was crying.
“I didn't know what Harold was going to do.”
Mom said, “You have to call your father.”
“I can't.”
“Then call an ambulance.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because Grant is here.”
Mom's breathing became heavier.
Grant entered the room.
He sounded frightened.
“What happened?”
Vanessa answered.
“She's sick.”
Grant said, “We need to call someone.”
Harold entered.
“No one calls anyone.”
Mom whispered.
“Harold.”
He answered.
“Where is the folder?”
“I won't tell you.”
“You're going to die without it.”
Vanessa cried.
“Stop.”
Harold shouted at her.
“Get out.”
The recording became chaotic.
Then Mom said something clearly.
“Vanessa didn't change the medicine.”
Dad froze.
The next sentence was barely audible.
“She changed the label, but Harold changed what was inside.”
Harold's voice came immediately.
“Eleanor.”
Mom answered.
“I know.”
Then the recording stopped.
Dad stared at the recorder.
Sheriff Mercer rewound it.
Mom had said it.
Vanessa had changed the label.
Harold had altered the medication itself.
Vanessa had participated, but she had not administered the lethal dosage.
The distinction mattered.
Grant's voice returned.
“Dad, I swear I didn't know.”
Dad closed his eyes.
For the first time, the entire sequence made sense.
Harold had manipulated Vanessa into helping him.
He had manipulated Grant into believing Dad would destroy him.
He had used both children to hide his crimes.
But he had been the one who controlled the medication.
Sheriff Mercer stood.
“We need to question Vanessa again.”
Dad nodded.
But before they could leave, Harold spoke.
“There is still something you haven't heard.”
The recorder had not ended.
The file continued.
Mom's breathing was faint.
Then another voice appeared.
Dad's voice.
I stared.
“That isn't possible.”
Dad looked at me.
“I wasn't there.”
But the recording proved someone had been speaking as him.
The voice said:
“Eleanor, you need to tell me where Natalie has the documents.”
Mom answered:
“Thomas?”
The voice repeated the question.
Mom began crying.
“You aren't Thomas.”
The recording stopped.
Dad stared at the recorder.
Someone had impersonated him.
Sheriff Mercer immediately looked at Harold.
“Who?”
Harold smiled.
“You.”
Dad looked horrified.
“I never made that call.”
“You didn't.”
“Then who did?”
Harold didn't answer.
The sheriff played the recording again.
The voice sounded almost identical to Dad.
But there was a faint difference.
A slight rasp.
A particular hesitation.
I recognized it.
“Grant.”
Dad looked at me.
“What?”
“Grant can imitate you.”
Sheriff Mercer frowned.
“How do you know?”
“He used to prank Mom when we were kids.”
Dad remembered.
Grant had copied Dad’s voice over the phone countless times.
Harold looked pleased.
“You finally understand.”
Dad stood.
“Grant threatened Eleanor.”
“He wanted the documents.”
“But he didn't know you planned to kill her.”
“No.”
Harold looked toward the floor.
“He thought he was helping me frighten her.”
Dad shook his head.
“Why?”
“Because I told him you were going to send him to prison.”
Dad closed his eyes.
The manipulation had been carefully constructed.
Every person had been given a different version of the truth.
Grant believed Dad hated him.
Vanessa believed Harold could destroy the family.
Harold alone knew the full plan.
And Mom had understood it too late.
Sheriff Mercer gathered the evidence.
“We're finished here.”
Harold smiled.
“No.”
She stopped.
“What?”
“There is still the account.”
“What account?”
“The one Eleanor opened.”
“We know about it.”
“No.”
Harold shook his head.
“You know about the money.”
He looked at Dad.
“You don't know where the money came from.”
Dad stared.
Harold continued.
“Eleanor didn't inherit it.”
“Then where?”
“She earned it.”
Dad looked confused.
Harold leaned toward the glass.
“She had been investigating me for years.”
Sheriff Mercer frowned.
“She was working with someone.”
“Who?”
Harold smiled.
“Your wife was the informant.”
The sheriff stared at him.
“Informant for what?”
Harold's smile disappeared.
“An investigation into fraud.”
Dad looked at me.
Mom hadn't merely been gathering evidence to protect herself.
She had been building a case against Harold.
The financial records.
The photographs.
The recordings.
The hidden account.
Everything had been part of a much larger investigation.
Sheriff Mercer took the recorder.
“We need the full file.”
“You'll get it.”
“Where?”
Harold looked at Dad.
“Under the floor of the old repair shop.”
Dad went pale.
“The shop?”
“The place where you trusted me most.”
He smiled.
“That's where Eleanor hid the last evidence.”
The sheriff ordered deputies to secure the property.
Dad remained silent.
Then he said:
“I want to go.”
“You're not going inside.”
“I want to see it.”
Sheriff Mercer considered him.
“From outside.”
Dad nodded.
As we left, Harold called after him.
“Thomas.”
Dad turned.
Harold's voice was almost gentle.
“You were never the fool.”
Dad looked at him.
“I was.”
Harold shook his head.
“No. Eleanor knew exactly who you were.”
The doors closed.
Outside, Dad looked at the dark sky.
“She knew.”
I nodded.
“She knew I'd keep looking.”
Sheriff Mercer received a call.
The deputies had arrived at the old repair shop.
They found the hidden compartment.
But it was empty.
Except for one handwritten note.
It contained only six words.
Thomas, ask Frank what he saw that night.
Dad stared at the message.
The mystery wasn't over.
It had moved to the one person who had been beside Harold from the beginning.
Click Here to continue read next: PART11: Frank Finally Revealed What He Witnessed Outside Mom’s House, and His Memory Exposed the One Detail Harold Had Failed to Control
My Sister Announced Our Father’s Death Before Sunrise, but the Man She Buried Was Sitting Across From Me Planning Something She Never Expected
Part 10 of 16
