Chapter 7 - The Brother Who Lied
Daniel dropped before I understood who had been hit.
Vanessa screamed.
The tactical team moved.
“Police! Drop the weapon!”
She fired once toward the trees and ran behind the SUV.
I hit the dock boards on instinct.
Another shot shattered a marina window.
Then there was shouting, boots pounding, and the sharp metallic clatter of a handgun skidding across pavement.
When I lifted my head, Vanessa was facedown beside the SUV with Naomi’s knee between her shoulder blades.
Daniel lay curled near the dock.
I crawled toward him.
“Daniel!”
He rolled over.
Blood covered his shirt.
My heart stopped.
Then he lifted one hand.
“It’s my arm.”
The bullet had gone through the outside of his upper arm.
“Idiot,” I said.
“Nice to see you too.”
Paramedics rushed in.
Vanessa twisted against the handcuffs.
“You have no idea what he did!” she screamed at me.
I turned.
“What did he do?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Vanessa laughed.
“Oh, she doesn’t know.”
“Vanessa,” Naomi warned.
“No, let her hear it.”
Daniel sat up despite the medic pressing gauze to his arm.
“Shut up.”
Vanessa’s eyes gleamed.
“Thirteen years ago, your brother gave Martin Shaw the Price file.”
I looked at Daniel.
He did not deny it.
The world narrowed.
“You did?”
He stared at the blood on his hand.
“I was in debt.”
“How much?”
“Eighty thousand.”
“What kind of debt?”
“Gambling.”
I almost laughed because it sounded too ordinary.
Dad dead. Helen Price dead. A network of stolen estates.
And at the beginning, a son who owed money.
“Shaw knew,” Daniel continued. “He offered me forty thousand dollars for a copy of one file from Dad’s office.”
“You took it.”
“Yes.”
“Did Dad know?”
“Eventually.”
The paramedic tried to move him.
“Sir, we need to transport you.”
Daniel waved him off.
“Give me one minute.”
I crouched in front of my brother.
“Did that file get Helen Price hurt?”
“I don’t know.”
Naomi flinched.
I saw it.
Daniel saw it too.
“I’m sorry,” he said to her.
Naomi’s expression was ice.
“Save it.”
I looked back at him.
“Did Dad confront you?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Two days before he died.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did he say?”
“That Shaw had figured out he was collecting evidence. He told me to take you and Mom somewhere safe.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I thought he was being dramatic.”
“Dad died forty-eight hours later.”
Daniel’s face broke.
“I know.”
There were no tears now.
Only shame.
“What happened after?”
“Shaw told me Dad’s death was natural and that if I kept quiet, he’d forget what I’d done.”
“And you believed him?”
“I wanted to.”
For thirteen years.
I stood.
“You let me think Dad died with nothing unfinished.”
“I was scared.”
“You let Mom keep living in the same house while these people knew who she was.”
“I watched her.”
“You tied her to a bed.”
His face hardened.
“I did restrain her twice. But not for money.”
“Then why?”
“She kept trying to go to the police with Dad’s story.”
“So you imprisoned her.”
“I thought Shaw would kill her if she started talking.”
“You could have called me.”
“And tell my prosecutor sister that I sold Dad’s client file?”
“Yes!”
He stared at me.
“I thought you’d hate me.”
“I do right now.”
The words landed.
He nodded once.
“That’s fair.”
Vanessa laughed from the pavement.
“Poor Daniel. Still trying to make himself the victim.”
I walked toward her.
“Why did you hit my mother?”
She smiled up at me.
“Because your mother is not the helpless saint you think she is.”
Naomi pulled her to her feet.
“Save it for your lawyer.”
Vanessa looked directly at me.
“She recorded us.”
“What?”
“She hid recorders all over the house. That sweet confused old lady heard everything.”
Daniel looked stunned.
“You knew?”
Vanessa ignored him.
“She knew about Northline. She knew about Shaw. She knew Daniel had betrayed your father.”
“Then why didn’t she tell me?”
“Because she didn’t trust you either.”
That hurt.
Vanessa leaned closer as Naomi guided her toward the cruiser.
“Ask Evelyn what she did with the original Price file.”
Then she was gone.
At the hospital, Daniel needed surgery but was stable.
I sat alone in a family waiting room when Mom called from the secure facility.
“Ruth told me there was a shooting.”
“Daniel’s alive.”
“Vanessa?”
“Arrested.”
Mom exhaled.
Then quietly: “I’m sorry.”
I stared at the wall.
“Did you know Daniel sold Dad’s file?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
“Since your father died.”
I shut my eyes.
“You lied to me.”
“I was trying to keep you out.”
“You let me spend thirteen years thinking Daniel was just selfish.”
“He was selfish.”
“Mom.”
“I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Vanessa says you made recordings.”
Silence.
“Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Where are they?”
“In the house.”
“Where?”
She hesitated.
“Inside the old upright piano.”
I almost smiled. Dad had bought that piano for her when they were newlyweds.
“What’s on them?”
“Arguments. Phone calls. Meetings.”
“With Shaw?”
“Some.”
“Kessler?”
“Yes.”
“Daniel?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you give them to police?”
“Because I heard something I didn’t understand.”
“What?”
“A man came to the house three months ago.”
“Who?”
“I never saw him. Daniel made me stay upstairs.”
“But you recorded him.”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Mom’s voice dropped.
“He told Daniel, ‘Your sister is getting too close to Mercer.’”
I sat very still.
“Judge Mercer?”
“I think so.”
“Too close how?”
“I don’t know.”
My protective order.
The man I had called.
The judge Dad apparently trusted enough that Lydia accepted his intervention.
“Mom, where exactly in the piano?”
“Behind the lower panel.”
“I’ll have Miles retrieve it.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel already gave the police permission to search the house.”
“That’s good.”
“No, Claire.”
Her breathing grew quick.
“What?”
“The piano was gone when Ruth took me back for clothes this afternoon.”
“Gone where?”
“I asked the neighbor.”
“And?”
“A moving truck came an hour after I left.”
“Who hired it?”
May you like
She whispered the answer.
“Judge Mercer.”
