Chapter 8 - Caroline’s Brother Lied TooDaniel Reeves lived in Vermont.
He answered Arthur’s call on the first ring.
“Arthur.”
“You lied to me.”
Silence.
That was all Arthur needed.
“Caroline was supposed to meet you the night she died.”
Daniel exhaled.
“Where are you?”
“Answer me.”
“I will. Not on the phone.”
Arthur almost shouted.
Then stopped.
Secrets had survived because everyone kept moving conversations into private places.
“No.”
Daniel went quiet.
“You tell me now.”
A longer pause.
“Yes.”
Arthur’s stomach tightened.
“You met her?”
“No.”
“You were supposed to.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Someone called me.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Arthur laughed bitterly.
“Convenient.”
“They knew the meeting location.”
“What did they say?”
“That Caroline changed her mind.”
“You believed them?”
“At first.”
“And after she died?”
Daniel’s voice broke slightly.
“No.”
Arthur gripped the phone.
“Why did you never tell me?”
“Because I thought she died because of me.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
Daniel explained.
Caroline had contacted him three weeks earlier. She suspected theft from the foundation and forged trust documents. She didn’t trust Arthur to take it seriously.
The sentence hurt.
Arthur let it.
“She wanted me to hold copies,” Daniel said.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Not anymore.”
Arthur’s heart sank.
“What happened?”
“Someone broke into my house two days after Caroline’s funeral.”
“What was taken?”
“Only the files.”
“Did you call police?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I was scared.”
Arthur felt fury rise.
“Everyone was scared, Daniel. Meanwhile I married the woman Caroline was investigating.”
Silence.
“I know.”
“Did you know Vanessa?”
“No.”
“Did Caroline name her?”
“Yes.”
Arthur’s grip tightened.
“And you still said nothing?”
“I came to your house once.”
Arthur remembered.
Six months after Caroline died.
Daniel visited.
They argued.
Daniel told Arthur he was moving too quickly with “new people.”
Arthur thought he meant grief.
Vanessa had already begun appearing around Arthur socially.
“I tried,” Daniel said.
“No.”
Arthur’s voice sharpened.
“You hinted. That is not the same as telling me my dead wife believed a specific woman was stealing millions.”
Daniel accepted the accusation.
“You’re right.”
Arthur forced himself back to the facts.
“What proof were you bringing Caroline?”
“A bank employee gave me records.”
“Who?”
“Laura Bennett.”
Arthur didn’t recognize the name.
“She worked in compliance at one of the foundation’s intermediary banks.”
“Where is she?”
Silence.
Arthur’s pulse rose.
“She died.”
“When?”
“Six months after Caroline.”
“How?”
“Suicide.”
Arthur stared at the wall.
Another dead person.
Another convenient ending.
“Are you saying Vanessa killed people?”
“No.”
Daniel answered immediately.
“I don’t know that.”
Good.
A boundary.
“What do you know?”
“Laura found transfers authorized with copied signatures. She traced a shell company to Thomas Grayson’s office administrator.”
“Vanessa?”
“Not directly.”
“So why Caroline?”
“She believed Vanessa was recruiting vendors and moving documents.”
Arthur remembered Caroline’s note.
Vanessa involved. Thomas protecting her.
“Where were you supposed to meet Caroline?”
“A diner near Bedford.”
“What time?”
“Ten.”
Caroline left home at 10:18.
She had been heading there.
She crashed around eleven-thirty.
“Did you go?”
“I did.”
“How long did you wait?”
“An hour.”
“Did anyone else show?”
“No.”
Arthur looked at Ava.
“Can you prove you were there?”
Daniel hesitated.
“I paid cash.”
Of course.
Then he added:
“But there may have been cameras.”
Three years old.
Likely gone.
Still, Ava wrote it down.
Arthur asked the question he feared most.
“Did Caroline think she was being followed?”
“Yes.”
His chest tightened.
“By who?”
“She didn’t know.”
Daniel continued.
“She said a black SUV had been outside the house twice.”
Arthur thought of Ethan’s memory.
Vanessa’s car at the gate.
Not an SUV.
Maybe there were multiple people.
“Why did Caroline say she wasn’t meeting Vanessa?”
Daniel sounded confused.
“She probably wanted you to know Vanessa wasn’t the person with the proof.”
Arthur looked at the locker contents.
Then something occurred to him.
“Who knew you were meeting Caroline?”
“No one.”
“Someone did. They called you.”
Silence.
“Think.”
Daniel did.
Then:
“Thomas.”
Arthur’s body went cold.
“You told Thomas?”
“I asked him a legal question earlier that day.”
“What question?”
“Whether whistleblower evidence could be protected if Caroline turned it over to me.”
Arthur shut his eyes.
Thomas knew enough.
Maybe Vanessa did too.
Arthur returned home after dark.
Ethan was waiting again.
This time with the christening photograph.
Arthur sat with him.
“Uncle Daniel lied.”
Ethan looked startled.
“About Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Is he bad?”
Arthur paused.
“I don’t know.”
It mattered how he answered.
“He was scared and made a bad decision.”
“That’s what Vanessa says.”
Arthur looked at him.
“What?”
“When she hurts Maya.”
Ethan’s voice tightened.
“She says she was stressed or scared.”
Arthur absorbed the correction.
His son was right.
Explanations could become excuses if repeated carelessly.
“You’re right,” Arthur said.
Ethan seemed surprised.
Arthur continued.
“Being scared can explain why someone did something. It doesn’t erase the damage.”
The boy nodded.
Then Maya appeared in the doorway, dragging her yellow dress behind her.
Arthur frowned.
“Where did you get that?”
“Laundry.”
She held it up proudly.
Then something fell from the pocket.
A folded piece of paper.
Arthur picked it up.
Maya must have taken it with the key.
He unfolded it.
Vanessa’s handwriting.
Three words:
Find key. Destroy phone.
Arthur stared.
Caroline’s backup phone was sitting in Ava’s evidence bag.
May you like
Vanessa knew it existed.
Which meant she knew about locker 318 too.
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