Chapter 4 - What Margaret Had DoneDaniel returned to the hospital with the photograph.
He didn't call first.
He entered Margaret's room and closed the door.
She saw his face.
Then the phone in his hand.
And immediately knew.
“Vanessa opened the ledger.”
“Yes.”
Margaret looked toward the window.
“What did she send you?”
Daniel placed the photograph on her blanket.
The color left her face.
“What did Dad pay seventy-five thousand dollars for?”
She didn't answer.
“Mom.”
“That was a long time ago.”
“So?”
“It has nothing to do with today.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Vanessa tried to murder you and said you're not the victim I think you are.”
“She wants you against me.”
“Then help me stay on your side.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Daniel waited.
Finally she whispered:
“I drove drunk.”
He stared.
“When?”
“Twenty-four years ago.”
Daniel tried to calculate.
He had been fourteen.
Vanessa eleven.
“Was there an accident?”
“Yes.”
“Was someone hurt?”
Margaret looked at him.
“A man.”
“How badly?”
“He survived.”
Daniel exhaled.
“Then why prison?”
“Because I left.”
Daniel stopped.
“You hit someone and drove away.”
Tears filled Margaret's eyes.
“Yes.”
“Dad covered it up.”
“He paid for the man's medical care.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“I know.”
“Was there a police report?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Your father knew someone.”
Daniel turned away.
This family.
Secrets layered over secrets.
“Vanessa knows.”
“She found out years ago.”
“How?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel looked back.
“Why would she use this now?”
Margaret's mouth tightened.
“Because Vanessa has always collected things she can hold over people.”
“That sounds like Dad.”
Margaret flinched.
“What?”
“Dad kept a ledger of everyone's crimes.”
“He kept records.”
“Same difference.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“Did Vanessa ever threaten to expose you?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After your father died.”
“What did she want?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“Fifty thousand.”
Daniel stared.
“You paid her?”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“Another eighty.”
“You kept paying.”
“I was ashamed.”
Daniel laughed without humor.
“And all this time I thought Vanessa's expensive life came from real estate.”
“Some did.”
“How much have you given her?”
Margaret hesitated.
“Over the years?”
“Yes.”
“Almost four hundred thousand.”
Daniel sat.
The pattern was clearer now.
Vanessa had been blackmailing Margaret long before the forged mortgage.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you looked at me like I was good.”
Daniel's anger faltered.
Margaret stared at her hands.
“Your father knew what I did. Vanessa knew. I couldn't bear the thought of you knowing too.”
Daniel remembered childhood.
Margaret volunteering at school.
Packing lunches.
Driving him to baseball practice.
The woman in front of him was still that woman.
And also someone who had committed a terrible crime.
Both could be true.
“Who was the man?”
“Samuel Price.”
“Alive?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“We can find out.”
Margaret looked terrified.
“Daniel—”
“No more hiding.”
“Please.”
“No.”
He leaned closer.
“Vanessa nearly killed you because secrets have controlled this family for decades.”
Margaret began crying.
“I know.”
“Then we're done.”
Daniel took her hand.
“If there are consequences, we'll deal with them.”
She looked at him.
“You'd still help me?”
“You're my mother.”
“That doesn't make me innocent.”
“No.”
Daniel's voice softened.
“But it means you don't face it alone.”
Margaret squeezed his hand.
Then she looked suddenly worried.
“What?”
“There is something else.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“Of course there is.”
“About the ledger.”
“What?”
“Vanessa doesn't understand all of it.”
“Meaning?”
“Your father used codes.”
“For what?”
“Payments.”
Daniel stared.
“Illegal payments?”
“Some.”
“To who?”
“I don't know all of them.”
“But you know some.”
Margaret nodded.
“Your father discovered Vanessa stealing from the company.”
“We covered that.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“He discovered why.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why she stole?”
“She owed someone.”
“Who?”
“Your father never told me the name.”
“How much?”
“More than she stole.”
Daniel's stomach tightened.
“What had Vanessa gotten involved in?”
Margaret lowered her voice.
“Your sister started investing when she was twenty-one.”
“In what?”
“Properties.”
“That doesn't sound criminal.”
“Not normal properties.”
Daniel waited.
“She was using investor money to buy distressed houses, renovate them, then flip them.”
“Okay.”
“She started falsifying appraisals.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“Mortgage fraud.”
“Yes.”
“And Dad found out?”
“Yes.”
“Did he report her?”
“No.”
Daniel almost shouted.
“Why does nobody in this family report anything?”
Margaret stared at him.
“Because your father thought he could fix people by controlling them.”
Daniel thought of the ledger.
Every secret documented.
Every debt recorded.
Henry Hale hadn't protected his family.
He had built leverage over them.
“Did Vanessa continue?”
“I think so.”
“Think?”
“She told your father she'd stopped.”
“And then he died.”
“Yes.”
Daniel stared at the photograph.
“What's in the letter he left me?”
“I don't know.”
“You never opened it?”
“No.”
For the first time, Daniel believed her immediately.
Margaret looked frightened.
“Your father said if Vanessa ever became desperate enough to force the sale of this house, you were supposed to read it.”
Daniel felt a chill.
“Why me?”
“Because he believed you were the only person she might still listen to.”
Daniel thought of the dock.
His sister watching their mother drown.
“That version of Vanessa is gone.”
Margaret looked at him.
“No.”
“What?”
“She was never there.”
Daniel stared.
Margaret wiped her eyes.
“Your father told me something before he died.”
“What?”
“He said Vanessa wasn't afraid of consequences.”
Daniel waited.
“She was afraid of being exposed.”
Daniel's phone buzzed.
A message from Vanessa.
A photograph of the sealed letter.
But now the envelope was torn open.
Below it:
DAD LIED TO BOTH OF US.
Then another photograph loaded.
The first page of Henry's letter.
Daniel zoomed in.
Dear Daniel,
If you are reading this, then Vanessa has probably done something unforgivable to keep the lake house.
Do not assume it is because of money.
Your sister believes something is buried there.
Daniel's heartbeat slowed.
He looked at Margaret.
“Buried where?”
She stared at the screen.
“I have no idea.”
May you like
But Daniel knew immediately from her face.
She was lying again.
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