Mara did not answer Samuel.
She reached immediately for the nurse call button.
Samuel noticed.
"Please do."
That surprised her.
He remained by the doorway.
Robert's face appeared on her phone screen from the basement.
"Mara?"
She turned the camera.
Robert saw Samuel.
His expression changed.
"Samuel."
Samuel looked toward the phone.
"Robert."
Mara pressed the call button.
"Don't come closer."
Samuel nodded.
"I won't."
"Where's Elliot's backpack?"
Samuel slowly removed one shoulder strap.
Mara had mistaken the faded canvas bag for his own.
He placed it on the floor.
"Here."
Robert's voice came through the phone.
"Why did you break into the locker?"
Samuel looked at the screen.
"Because Evelyn had the key."
Daniel's voice came next.
"You knew?"
"Thomas told me she'd probably take it once his box was opened."
"So you stole the evidence first."
"I moved it."
"Without telling police."
"I called them before I came here."
Mara looked toward the hallway.
Two security officers arrived with her nurse.
Samuel raised his hands again.
"I asked the front desk to call security too."
Mara studied him.
This did not look like a man trying to escape.
Security remained at the door while Samuel identified himself.
Daniel and the others began returning upstairs.
Mara asked, "Why bring the backpack to me?"
Samuel looked at the baby.
"Because Thomas told me Daniel might repeat the mistake."
"What mistake?"
"Making a child responsible for dead people."
Mara felt anger.
"Don't look at my son."
Samuel immediately looked away.
"You're right."
The response disarmed her slightly.
"Sit."
He chose the chair farthest from the bed.
"Did you help Thomas commit insurance fraud?"
"Yes."
"Arson?"
Samuel took several seconds.
"Yes."
"Did you hurt Elliot?"
"No."
"Did you follow him the night he died?"
"Yes."
"Did you film the crash?"
Samuel's face tightened.
"Part of it."
"Why?"
"Thomas told me to document Elliot carrying stolen business records."
"So you could accuse him of theft?"
"Yes."
Mara stared.
"You were preparing to frame him."
Samuel nodded.
"I was."
"At eighteen."
"Yes."
The lack of excuses made him more disturbing, not less.
"Why leave the recorder at the storage unit?"
"Because I knew police would arrive."
"Why not surrender everything there?"
"Because one piece belongs to Daniel before it belongs to anyone else."
"The paternity information."
Samuel nodded.
Mara looked at him carefully.
"Are you Daniel's father?"
Samuel's face changed.
"I don't know."
"You refused testing."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Samuel looked toward the floor.
"Because when Thomas asked, I was afraid of the answer."
Mara almost laughed at the familiar word.
"Everyone in this family seems terrified of laboratory reports."
Samuel gave a tired smile.
"I'm not family."
"Maybe you are."
He accepted that.
The baby made a soft sound.
Samuel's eyes instinctively moved toward the bassinet and immediately away again.
Mara asked, "Were you sleeping with Evelyn?"
"Once."
"When?"
"Several weeks after Elliot died."
Mara stared.
"Daniel was conceived after the crash?"
"I don't know exactly."
"Robert believed the pregnancy already existed."
"Robert believed what Evelyn told him."
Mara felt the timeline shift.
"Was she pregnant when Elliot died?"
"She said she was."
"Was she?"
"I don't know."
"Did Thomas?"
"He eventually doubted it."
That explained the tests.
Mara asked, "Why would Evelyn lie?"
Samuel rubbed his jaw.
"To keep Robert."
"But Robert refused to leave Patricia."
"Yes."
"Then Elliot died."
Samuel nodded.
"After that, Evelyn fell apart."
"And you slept with her."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I was selfish."
Mara appreciated the absence of romantic explanation.
"Did Thomas know?"
"Years later."
"Did Robert?"
"No."
Mara looked toward the door.
"He's about to."
Samuel nodded.
Daniel arrived first.
He stopped when he saw the backpack.
Then looked at Samuel.
Rebecca and Robert entered behind him.
Robert saw Samuel and went rigid.
Daniel closed the door after security confirmed they could remain nearby.
"Are you my father?"
No greeting.
Samuel stood.
"I don't know."
Daniel laughed bitterly.
"Excellent."
Samuel looked at him.
"Thomas tested himself and Robert."
"I saw."
"I refused."
"Why?"
"Because I thought knowing would hurt everyone."
Daniel stared at him.
"Have you met my family?"
Samuel almost smiled.
"No."
"Knowing isn't the thing that hurt everyone."
Samuel nodded.
"You're right."
Daniel picked up Elliot's backpack.
The canvas was faded green. One strap had been repaired with black thread.
Rebecca touched the stitching.
"I did that."
Daniel looked at her.
"Elliot ripped it climbing a fence."
Her voice softened.
"I fixed it badly."
Samuel said, "Thomas kept it exactly that way."
Daniel unzipped the bag.
Inside were photocopied invoices, photographs, notebooks and a sealed plastic pouch.
There was also a VHS-C cassette.
"The video?" Daniel asked.
Samuel nodded.
"I made the recording."
"Where can we play it?"
"I brought a converter."
Samuel removed a small digital transfer device from his coat pocket.
Security had already checked his belongings downstairs.
Daniel looked toward Mara.
"Do you want to see this?"
Mara looked at their son.
Then at Daniel.
"Yes."
Samuel connected the device to Daniel's laptop.
The footage began with darkness.
Rain streaked across a windshield.
A timestamp appeared.
11:41 p.m.
A car moved ahead.
Thomas's truck.
Beyond it, another vehicle.
Robert whispered, "Mine."
Samuel's younger voice could be heard muttering as he drove.
The footage shook.
Thomas pulled onto the shoulder.
Robert's car continued.
Another vehicle passed Samuel from behind.
Robert leaned closer.
"Patricia."
Samuel nodded.
Then another car appeared.
Evelyn.
Rebecca stared.
"There were both."
The footage contradicted nearly everyone's memory.
Patricia followed Robert.
Evelyn followed Patricia.
Samuel followed all of them.
At 11:46, the vehicles stopped.
The camera remained distant, but figures could be seen arguing.
Thomas.
Robert.
Elliot.
Patricia remained inside her car at first.
Evelyn stopped farther back.
Samuel parked even farther away.
Daniel watched.
"Why didn't you get closer?"
"I was afraid Elliot would see me."
The video showed Patricia leaving her car and walking toward Evelyn.
The two women argued.
No audio reached them.
Then Patricia returned to her vehicle.
Evelyn remained.
Elliot drove away.
Robert followed.
Thomas followed.
Then Evelyn.
Patricia did not.
Rebecca stared.
"But Mom said she followed."
Samuel nodded.
"She lied."
The video showed Patricia turning around.
Mara frowned.
"She went back toward the house."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Samuel shook his head.
"I didn't know."
He continued following.
Evelyn accelerated.
She passed Thomas.
Then Robert.
Robert whispered, "I remember headlights passing."
The rain worsened.
Elliot's car appeared ahead.
Evelyn moved close behind it.
Rebecca's breathing changed.
"Those were the headlights."
"Yes."
Evelyn followed through one curve.
Then another.
Samuel's recording captured the distance narrowing.
Daniel stared.
"She was chasing him."
"Yes."
At 11:53, Elliot's brake lights flashed.
Once.
Twice.
Then continuously.
His car swerved.
Evelyn's vehicle backed away.
"She saw something was wrong," Mara whispered.
Samuel nodded.
Elliot regained control.
For several seconds the car slowed.
Then something happened that nobody expected.
Another vehicle appeared from a side road.
A pickup truck.
It pulled directly behind Elliot.
Rebecca stood.
"Whose truck?"
Samuel paused the footage.
"No one knew it was there."
Daniel stared.
"Thomas drove a truck."
"Thomas's is behind us."
"Then whose?"
Samuel enlarged the image.
A company logo appeared faintly on the door.
Ortega Site Services.
Robert looked at Samuel.
"Yours."
Samuel shook his head.
"My brother's."
"Luis?"
"Yes."
Rebecca stared.
"The mechanic."
Samuel nodded.
Mara felt the story shift violently.
"Luis was following Elliot too."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Samuel's eyes filled.
"Because Thomas called him from the roadside."
Daniel stood.
"You said Thomas didn't catch up."
"He didn't."
"But he sent Luis."
"Yes."
"To do what?"
"Get the backpack."
Rebecca whispered, "And Luis knew the brakes."
Samuel looked at her.
"Yes."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"Did Luis cut them?"
Samuel shook his head.
"I don't know."
"Convenient."
"It's the truth."
Daniel restarted the video.
Luis's truck moved close.
Too close.
Elliot accelerated.
Rebecca stared at the screen.
"That's what I remember."
The truck's headlights filled Elliot's rear window.
Evelyn had backed away.
The final pursuer was Luis.
The road curved.
Elliot's brake lights came on.
The car swerved.
Then disappeared through the guardrail.
Rebecca covered her mouth.
The camera jerked as Samuel braked.
For several seconds nothing was visible except rain.
Then Samuel's younger voice said one sentence.
"Luis, what did you do?"
The footage ended.
No one spoke.
Samuel looked at Rebecca.
"I'm sorry."
She stared at him.
"You knew."
"Not until I saw the truck."
"You knew seventeen years ago."
"Yes."
"And you said nothing."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because Luis was my brother."
Rebecca turned away.
Mara looked at Samuel.
"Did Luis force Elliot off the road?"
"I don't think he touched the car."
"That's not what I asked."
Samuel swallowed.
"He chased him."
"Knowing there might be a brake problem?"
"I don't know whether Luis knew."
"Did Thomas?"
"No."
"Did you?"
"No."
Mara looked toward Robert.
"Patricia did."
Robert closed his eyes.
Daniel asked, "Where is Luis now?"
Samuel looked at him.
"Dead."
"How?"
"Heart attack."
"When?"
"Nine years ago."
Daniel laughed without humor.
"Everyone who can answer anything is dead."
Samuel shook his head.
"Not everyone."
Daniel looked at him.
"Before Luis died, he confessed something to me."
Rebecca turned.
"What?"
Samuel's eyes filled.
"He cut Robert's brake line."
Silence.
Robert stared.
"The second cut?"
Samuel nodded.
Mara frowned.
"But Patricia confessed."
"Patricia made the first shallow cut that night."
Samuel looked toward the laptop.
"Luis deepened it."
Daniel stared.
"When?"
"At the house."
"How?"
"Thomas called him after Elliot arrived. Luis came through the alley."
Robert looked sick.
"I never saw him."
"He never entered the house."
"Why cut my brakes?"
Samuel looked at Elliot's backpack.
"He believed Robert would be the one driving the evidence to police."
Mara understood.
"Luis intended to stop Robert."
"Yes."
"But Elliot took the car instead."
"Yes."
Daniel's voice became quiet.
"And Luis followed because he realized the wrong person was driving."
Samuel nodded.
"He wanted to stop Elliot and recover the evidence."
Rebecca whispered, "So he knew he'd damaged the brakes."
Samuel closed his eyes.
"Yes."
The room went silent.
There it was.
Not a planned murder of Elliot.
Something uglier in its carelessness.
Luis had damaged Robert's car to prevent evidence from reaching police. Then, after seeing Elliot take it, he had chased the very car whose brakes he knew were failing.
Daniel stared at Samuel.
"And you protected him."
"For nine years."
"Then he died."
"Yes."
"And after that?"
"I told Thomas."
Rebecca looked shocked.
"When?"
"Eight years ago."
Daniel's expression changed.
"That's why Thomas reopened everything."
Samuel nodded.
"That's why he tested paternity, interviewed Patricia, rebuilt the timeline."
Robert whispered, "But he never told me."
"He wanted proof."
Daniel looked at the backpack.
"Is Luis's confession in here?"
Samuel nodded.
"Audio."
"Original?"
"Yes."
Daniel exhaled.
"Then police get it."
Samuel looked relieved.
"Yes."
Mara studied him.
"What aren't you telling Daniel?"
Samuel's eyes moved toward her.
She had learned the family's pauses.
That one was unmistakable.
Daniel noticed too.
"What?"
Samuel looked at him.
"Luis told me something else before he died."
"About the crash?"
"No."
"Then what?"
Samuel looked toward Robert.
"About your birth."
Robert went rigid.
Daniel waited.
Samuel's voice became quiet.
"Luis said Evelyn knew Robert wasn't your father."
Daniel stared.
"How could she know?"
"Because she knew when you were conceived."
Samuel lowered his eyes.
"And Robert couldn't have been there."
Click here to continue reading: PART 16: The Truth About Daniel’s Conception Finally Broke Robert’s Claim to Fatherhood, While Elliot’s Last Notebook Pointed Toward One Unanswered Choice
I Woke After the Delivery to Discover My Husband Had Made One Permanent Decision While I Was Still Unconscious
Part 15 of 20
