We drove to Eleanor\u2019s Denver residence without calling first. Luna insisted. Victor objected. I stayed out of that argument because both of them had already decided what they were going to do before they began speaking.<\/p>\n
Eleanor lived in a brick house near the botanical gardens, elegant but far smaller than Blackwood. Luna had once told me her mother moved there after Richard died because the estate contained too many rooms filled with people who were gone.<\/p>\n
At seven-thirty, Eleanor answered the door wearing a robe over pajamas.<\/p>\n
Her expression changed when she saw Luna.<\/p>\n
\u201cNaomi?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Relief crossed Eleanor\u2019s face.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank God.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then she noticed Victor.<\/p>\n
Then me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
Luna walked inside.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor closed the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously.\u201d<\/p>\n
We gathered in a sitting room where family photographs sat on tables rather than walls.<\/p>\n
Luna did not sit.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you still have access to the legacy key safe at Sterling?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnswer me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard designated me years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did you last use it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor\u2019s face hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t appreciate being interrogated in my home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I don\u2019t appreciate discovering your name on an access list hours after Naomi was beaten unconscious.\u201d<\/p>\n
The color left Eleanor\u2019s face.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Victor explained.<\/p>\n
Naomi\u2019s badge.<\/p>\n
The archive room.<\/p>\n
The mechanical key.<\/p>\n
The missing file.<\/p>\n
Eleanor lowered herself into a chair.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t take it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you prove that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLuna.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Her mother stared at her.<\/p>\n
Then reached for her phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was here all night.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlone?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy housekeeper was upstairs until ten. After that, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSecurity system?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victor accepted the phone.<\/p>\n
Within minutes, he confirmed Eleanor\u2019s alarm had remained armed from 10:18 p.m. until we arrived.<\/p>\n
It did not prove she had never provided the key to someone else.<\/p>\n
Luna knew that.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo who has your access code?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDerek?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVoss?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFather?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luna flinched as though Eleanor had slapped her.<\/p>\n
Eleanor immediately softened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luna looked away.<\/p>\n
I took out my phone and showed Eleanor the messages.<\/p>\n
You are asking the wrong Sterling.<\/p>\n
Your father trusted Richard.<\/p>\n
Richard trusted Eleanor.<\/p>\n
Ask what happened the night Thomas ran.<\/p>\n
Eleanor read them.<\/p>\n
Her hands began trembling.<\/p>\n
Luna saw.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor gave the phone back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat part?\u201d<\/p>\n
Her mother looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not something I ever expected to tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat makes two of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
She stood and walked toward the window.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father did not simply disappear because Richard helped him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. You don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
She turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night Thomas left Texas, he came to me first.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Richard wasn\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere was he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt a Sterling retreat in Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen how did Thomas reach you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew I handled some of Richard\u2019s personal correspondence. He arrived at our house injured.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom\u2019s memory.<\/p>\n
Blood on his shirt.<\/p>\n
Eleanor continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said Voss had discovered that he copied records.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat records?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPayments. Client files. Surveillance orders. Things that could have destroyed several careers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he give them to you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luna sat now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI hid him.\u201d<\/p>\n
My chest tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the guesthouse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor how long?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne night.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI called Richard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor pressed her fingertips against her mouth for a moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me to get Thomas out of the state immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you helped him leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout telling my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her eyes filled with regret.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas refused to let us contact Caroline.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe believed her phone was being watched.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat didn\u2019t stop him from leaving her with a nine-year-old.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer was quiet.<\/p>\n
Not defensive.<\/p>\n
That made it worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened next?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard arranged transportation and documents through someone he believed he could trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cGraham Voss.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luna stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know what Voss had done.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sent Thomas through the man hunting him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did not know Voss was the problem yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe suspected him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cApparently correctly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt sick.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Voss try to kill him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe driver never arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor\u2019s voice dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas disappeared from the guesthouse before dawn.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn his own?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe left a note saying the route had been compromised.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you still have it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho does?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard kept it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The missing archive file.<\/p>\n
Luna understood too.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was in the cabinet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor looked at her daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard spent years trying to find Thomas afterward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me he had helped Thomas disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did, eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor almost four years, Richard had no idea whether Thomas was alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
My anger shifted.<\/p>\n
I had imagined Richard orchestrating everything cleanly.<\/p>\n
He hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
He had failed.<\/p>\n
Then tried to repair the failure in secret.<\/p>\n
Eleanor sat again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas contacted him through an intermediary when Adam was thirteen.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked up sharply.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he knew where we were?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe so.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he ask about us?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed once, bitterly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is supposed to help?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t he come back?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Voss was still working through other people. Thomas believed returning would expose you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor twenty-two years?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor held my gaze.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot defend his choice. I can only tell you what he believed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luna asked, \u201cHow did Father know Adam would eventually work at Sterling?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor looked uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what was the recruitment?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard offered Adam an interview after Thomas asked him to keep an eye on him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo my father did arrange it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIndirectly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas worried you were drifting professionally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite everything, I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds like him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor gave the smallest smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told Richard you were talented but stubborn.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat definitely sounds like him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luna said, \u201cAnd Father agreed?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe felt he owed Thomas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat explains Adam entering the company. It does not explain the letter imagining us together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor looked at Luna.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard noticed you noticed him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned toward her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Luna went very still.<\/p>\n
Her mother continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cYears ago. He mentioned it once.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said there was a young copywriter who challenged a client in a meeting and that you intervened afterward.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mouth opened.<\/p>\n
The intern incident.<\/p>\n
Luna\u2019s face reddened slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI intervened because the disciplinary recommendation was absurd.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor smiled faintly.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard thought you were interested.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was interested in fairness.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Luna.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou noticed me before the background investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
She glared at her mother.<\/p>\n
Eleanor appeared almost amused.<\/p>\n
\u201cApparently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luna said, \u201cThis is irrelevant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is deeply relevant to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
She turned to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAdam.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the first almost-normal moment we had experienced all morning.<\/p>\n
Then Eleanor\u2019s expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
The normality vanished.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course there is,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
She looked toward Luna.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe archive cabinet was not Richard\u2019s final safeguard.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know exactly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luna exhaled sharply.<\/p>\n
\u201cMother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me there were three copies of the most important records.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne with him. One with Thomas. One somewhere neither Voss nor Derek could reach.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe called it the Sterling key.\u201d<\/p>\n
We all went still.<\/p>\n
Not a physical key.<\/p>\n
A phrase.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does it mean?\u201d Luna asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNaomi was attacked because someone asked for the Sterling key.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor covered her mouth.<\/p>\n
Victor said, \u201cCould it be a person?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAccount?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLocation?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luna looked close to exploding.<\/p>\n
I stepped in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Richard say exactly?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor concentrated.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018If I fail, the Sterling key will tell Luna where to look.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTell Luna.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it was meant specifically for her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he say anything else?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor shook her head.<\/p>\n
Then stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said she would understand when she stopped thinking like his successor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luna stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd started thinking like what?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor\u2019s eyes moved to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike his daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer seemed to hurt Luna.<\/p>\n
She looked away.<\/p>\n
I understood why.<\/p>\n
Richard had spent her entire life teaching her to think like an heir.<\/p>\n
Now his final instruction required her to become something he had never given her space to be.<\/p>\n
A daughter.<\/p>\n
We spent another hour going through Eleanor\u2019s memories.<\/p>\n
Nothing else explained the phrase.<\/p>\n
Before we left, she caught my arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdam.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luna and Victor were near the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor helping Thomas leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you hadn\u2019t, would he have survived?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen neither of us knows what you should have done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her eyes filled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is kinder than I deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t say I forgive anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m trying not to punish the wrong people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor nodded.<\/p>\n
Outside, Luna waited beside the car.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou handled her better than I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wasn\u2019t my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s your explanation?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a significant variable.\u201d<\/p>\n
We climbed in.<\/p>\n
For several minutes, Luna said nothing.<\/p>\n
Then she asked, \u201cAre you angry that I noticed you?\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re trying to change the subject.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPoorly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m tired.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am delighted.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause now I know the great Luna Sterling was apparently interested in a junior copywriter years before she hired him as a temporary husband.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was not interested.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother thinks otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother enjoys inventing narratives.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father noticed too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
I smiled.<\/p>\n
It felt good.<\/p>\n
Then Victor\u2019s phone rang.<\/p>\n
He answered.<\/p>\n
His expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
We waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes. Send it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He ended the call.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d Luna asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecurity found Naomi\u2019s badge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Derek\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Luna\u2019s face hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cConvenient.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cToo convenient,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Victor nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cExactly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Five minutes later, he received the photograph.<\/p>\n
Naomi\u2019s badge lay inside the top drawer of Derek\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n
Beside it sat the mechanical archive key.<\/p>\n
And beneath both objects was an envelope.<\/p>\n
Addressed to Luna.<\/p>\n
Victor zoomed in.<\/p>\n
One line was visible through the open flap.<\/p>\n
If you want to know who killed your father, ask your brother why he waited six minutes to call for help.<\/p>\n
Luna stopped breathing.<\/p>\n
We drove to Eleanor\u2019s Denver residence without calling first. Luna insisted. Victor objected. I stayed out of that argument because both of them had already decided what they were going … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16861"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16887,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16861\/revisions\/16887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}