We told the police.<\/p>\n
They advised us not to meet Daniel alone, but there was a practical problem.<\/p>\n
The address led to an abandoned warehouse.<\/p>\n
No one knew whether Daniel would actually be there.<\/p>\n
The officer arranged surveillance nearby.<\/p>\n
I stayed in the car with Henry.<\/p>\n
Neither of us spoke much.<\/p>\n
Rain tapped against the windshield.<\/p>\n
Every few minutes, Henry looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don't have to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
At exactly nine o'clock, a man appeared at the far end of the street.<\/p>\n
He was older than Matthew had been, with gray beginning at his temples and a dark coat pulled tightly around him.<\/p>\n
He looked toward the warehouse.<\/p>\n
Then toward our car.<\/p>\n
Henry recognized him from the photographs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's Daniel.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart began pounding.<\/p>\n
Daniel walked closer.<\/p>\n
When he reached the passenger window, he stopped.<\/p>\n
I lowered it slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou're Eleanor's son?\u201d<\/p>\n
His expression tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI'm Matthew's brother.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words were strange to hear.<\/p>\n
I unlocked the door.<\/p>\n
Henry immediately said, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou're Henry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry stiffened.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know my name?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel's eyes moved to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Matthew wrote about you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I helped him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cHelped him with what?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked around.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot here.\u201d<\/p>\n
We followed him into the warehouse.<\/p>\n
The police remained nearby, but Daniel didn't know exactly where.<\/p>\n
He led us into a small office.<\/p>\n
Dust covered the desk.<\/p>\n
Daniel closed the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't have much time.\u201d<\/p>\n
I asked the question that had haunted me since Matthew's letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened to him?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked at me for a long moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cMatthew was investigating our father's company.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. You don't.\u201d<\/p>\n
He sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur father wasn't simply hiding debts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was he doing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was laundering money.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words landed heavily.<\/p>\n
Daniel explained that the family company had been used to move money between several accounts.<\/p>\n
Victor Hale had managed the operation.<\/p>\n
Matthew discovered it after Daniel sent him documents.<\/p>\n
Matthew wanted to go to the police.<\/p>\n
Daniel wanted more proof.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat argument lasted months,\u201d Daniel said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the sedan?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father's.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVictor kept access to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Victor was following Matthew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo find out what he knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Henry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen the accident wasn't random.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn't say that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe someone wanted Matthew frightened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about the truck driver?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked down.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was supposed to scare him.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cScare him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe driver lost control.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel's voice became quieter.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was drunk, but that wasn't the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
I covered my mouth.<\/p>\n
Henry asked, \u201cWho hired him?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked at us.<\/p>\n
\u201cVictor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
I couldn't move.<\/p>\n
For two years, I had believed Matthew's death was a terrible accident.<\/p>\n
Now I was hearing that the crash had begun with an intentional act.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you have proof?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened to it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI gave it to Matthew.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen where is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGone where?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why come here?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel reached into his coat.<\/p>\n
He pulled out a small memory card.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept a copy.\u201d<\/p>\n
My breath caught.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat's on it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBank records. Calls. A recording.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf Victor?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I reached toward it.<\/p>\n
Daniel pulled it back.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore I give you this, you need to understand something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMatthew wasn't killed because of the money.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked directly at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was killed because he was going to expose someone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVictor?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room seemed to shrink.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked toward Henry.<\/p>\n
I followed his gaze.<\/p>\n
Henry's face had gone completely white.<\/p>\n
Daniel said quietly, \u201cThe person who arranged everything was much closer to you than Victor.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart began pounding.<\/p>\n
I turned toward Henry.<\/p>\n
He looked at Daniel.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon't.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel's expression hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou promised you'd tell her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry's voice was barely audible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared between them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk your husband what he knew before he met you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
I felt the floor disappear beneath me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said you didn't know Daniel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel gave a bitter laugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou've been lying to her again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never knew Daniel before the accident.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's not what I said.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stepped backward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he know?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel placed the memory card on the desk.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk him about the night Matthew died.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry's face had changed completely.<\/p>\n
I had never seen him look so frightened.<\/p>\n
I turned toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHenry.\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn't answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me.\u201d<\/p>\n
His lips parted.<\/p>\n
Then he whispered four words.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn't following Matthew.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me with tears in his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was following Victor.\u201d<\/p>\n
We told the police. They advised us not to meet Daniel alone, but there was a practical problem. The address led to an abandoned warehouse. No one knew whether Daniel … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6690","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\/6690","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=6690"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6706,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6690\/revisions\/6706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}