Chapter 5 - What Daniel ForgotDaniel insisted he was sixteen.
He insisted he remembered nothing.
But the photographs said otherwise.
Richard carried them downstairs to the study.
Margaret was gone.
Her bedroom door was locked.
The front entrance was open.
She had left before sunrise.
Richard looked furious.
“She knew we found the office.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“I don't remember being there.”
“You were.”
“I said I don't remember.”
I studied him.
There was something different in his face.
Not guilt.
Fear.
Real fear.
I sat across from him.
“Tell me everything you remember about your father when you were sixteen.”
He thought for a long time.
“He was angry all the time.”
“At your mother?”
“At everyone.”
“Did he ever mention my father?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Not that I remember.”
Richard placed another photograph on the desk.
This one showed Daniel standing beside my father.
My father had one hand on Daniel's shoulder.
I stared at the image.
He looked happy.
Almost proud.
“Why would my father know you?”
Daniel swallowed.
“I don't know.”
Richard leaned against the desk.
“He was teaching Daniel something.”
“What?”
“Business.”
I looked at Daniel.
“Your father trained you to manage money?”
“No.”
Richard answered.
“He trained you to recognize fraud.”
That surprised me.
“What happened?”
Richard's face became distant.
“One night, Thomas came to me and said he'd found something strange in Margaret's accounts.”
“Her theft?”
“More than that.”
He opened the black notebook.
“She was not stealing alone.”
I leaned closer.
“Who was helping her?”
Richard pointed to several names.
One of them was Peter Collins.
Daniel's uncle.
Another was Victor Hale.
And another was a man named Samuel Reed.
“Who is Samuel?”
Richard was silent for several seconds.
Then he said:
“My father.”
I stared at him.
“Your grandfather?”
Richard nodded.
“He owned the company before me.”
Daniel looked shocked.
“So this goes back generations?”
“Yes.”
Richard closed the notebook.
“Your grandfather had hidden accounts. Money flowed through shell companies for years.”
“Why?”
“Power.”
I understood very little.
Richard continued.
“Thomas discovered it.”
“And tried to stop it.”
“Yes.”
“What did that have to do with my father dying?”
Richard looked at Daniel.
“That is the question.”
Daniel stood.
“I need air.”
He walked out.
I remained with Richard.
“You believe Daniel was involved?”
“No.”
“Then why are you worried?”
Richard looked at the photographs.
“Because children remember trauma differently.”
I frowned.
“What are you saying?”
“I think Daniel saw something terrible.”
My stomach tightened.
“Something connected to my father's death?”
“I think so.”
We searched the room again.
Behind the desk, I found a loose floorboard.
Under it was an old audio recorder.
The battery had corroded.
But the cassette tape from the safe fit.
Richard found an old player.
He inserted the tape.
Static.
Then my father's voice.
“If you're hearing this, I was right.”
I closed my eyes.
His voice sounded exactly the way I remembered.
Warm.
Calm.
Alive.
Then:
“Margaret knows.”
Static.
“She knows Thomas discovered the account.”
My breath stopped.
“My brother Peter is involved.”
Richard looked at Daniel.
Then the recording continued.
“But there is one person neither of them knows about.”
A pause.
A breath.
Then my father's voice dropped.
“My son.”
Daniel froze.
I looked at him.
The tape crackled.
“Daniel is not their accomplice.”
“He is their witness.”
Then came a sound.
A door opening.
My father's voice suddenly became urgent.
“Someone is here.”
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
Daniel slowly sat down.
His face was blank.
Then he whispered:
“I remember.”
Richard turned.
“What?”
Daniel looked at me.
“I remember that night.”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“What happened?”
He stared at the floor.
“I was in the car.”
“With your father?”
He nodded.
“And Victor.”
“Where were you going?”
Daniel's breathing became uneven.
“To your house.”
I felt sick.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“Daniel.”
He looked up.
There were tears in his eyes.
“I remember your father yelling.”
“What did he say?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Then whispered:
“He told Victor, ‘If you hurt Emily, I will expose every one of you.’”
I stood.
“What happened after that?”
Daniel's voice broke.
“There was a crash.”
Silence.
May you like
Then he whispered the sentence that changed everything.
“I don't think my father died in the crash.”
