Chapter 6 - My Brother's Confession—and the Night Our Father Never Came Home
Gabriel had always been easier to love than to understand.
As boys, we were inseparable.
He followed me everywhere.
If I climbed a tree, he climbed higher.
If I broke a rule, he broke three.
When our father punished me, Gabriel found a way to take part of the blame.
I spent most of my childhood believing my younger brother would stand beside me no matter what happened.
As adults, that loyalty became something more complicated.
Gabriel admired power.
He admired certainty.
And he admired Victor Sloane.
For years, I interpreted those qualities as signs of strength.
Now I stood across from him in my father's old office, wondering whether he'd helped conceal a murder.
"What did Victor say?" I asked.
Gabriel placed his glass on the table.
"He said Evelyn has documents that could destroy the company."
"Then we should hope those documents are genuine."
He stared at me.
"Have you lost your mind?"
"Not yet."
"Nicholas, thousands of people depend on Walker Freight. If the federal government freezes our accounts, innocent employees lose their jobs."
"Then we should cooperate before that happens."
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
"You sound like Anna."
"Maybe I should have listened to her sooner."
His expression hardened.
"That's what this is about? You feel guilty for cheating, so now you're going to burn everything down?"
I stepped closer.
"Where were you the night Dad died?"
Gabriel stopped moving.
For a long moment, he didn't speak.
Then he asked, "Who told you to ask that?"
"Answer."
"Nicholas—"
"Where were you?"
He looked toward the door.
"I was with Victor."
My chest tightened.
"At the Westchester house?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Gabriel rubbed his forehead.
"Victor said Dad wanted to discuss changes to the company."
"What changes?"
"Removing him from financial control."
I stared at him.
"Did you know why?"
"Not then."
"What happened?"
Gabriel looked older suddenly.
As though eleven years had fallen onto his shoulders all at once.
"I arrived around seven. Dad was angry. Victor was trying to calm him down."
"About what?"
"An investigation."
"Charles Bennett?"
Gabriel nodded.
I felt my heartbeat in my throat.
"Did you meet him?"
"No. I heard his name, but I never saw him."
"Keep talking."
Gabriel sat.
"Dad accused Victor of moving money through companies he couldn't account for. He said he was going to cooperate with investigators."
"What did Victor say?"
"That doing so would destroy the family."
"And Dad?"
"He told Victor he no longer cared."
I gripped the edge of the desk.
"I've never heard you tell this story."
"Because Victor made me promise not to."
"Why?"
Gabriel looked at me.
"Because of what happened next."
He described a vicious argument.
Richard threatened to turn over account records.
Victor threatened to expose years of crimes committed by both men.
Gabriel tried to intervene.
His father ordered him out.
He walked into the hallway.
Then he heard something heavy strike the floor.
"When I came back," Gabriel whispered, "Dad was lying beside the desk."
I stopped breathing.
"Was he alive?"
"Yes."
"Did you call an ambulance?"
Gabriel shook his head.
"Victor told me to wait."
I stared at him.
"What?"
"He said Dad might recover if we let him rest. He said we needed to move certain documents before the paramedics arrived."
I could hardly believe what I was hearing.
"You left our father on the floor?"
Gabriel's eyes filled.
"I was scared."
"How long?"
"I don't know."
"Gabriel."
"Maybe fifteen minutes. Maybe twenty."
I stepped back.
Our father had suffered a medical emergency.
And Gabriel had obeyed Victor instead of calling for help.
"Why?" I whispered.
Gabriel began crying.
"Because Victor told me if the documents were found, you'd go to prison. He said you knew about the shipments. He said Dad was going to sacrifice you to save himself."
I closed my eyes.
Victor had used me as a weapon against my own brother.
Just as he'd used me against Anna.
"I believed him," Gabriel said.
"Did Dad die before the ambulance arrived?"
"I don't know."
"Gabriel."
"I don't know!"
His voice broke.
"Victor made me leave through the kitchen. He told me to go home and say nothing. The next morning, he called and told me Dad was dead."
I looked at him for a long time.
"You let me bury him believing you'd been at home."
Gabriel lowered his head.
"Yes."
"And all these years?"
"I couldn't tell you."
"You mean you wouldn't."
He began to speak.
I raised my hand.
"No. Don't tell me you had no choice."
Gabriel's face crumpled.
It would have been easy to scream at him.
To throw him out.
To let violence make the conversation simple.
Instead, I felt an exhausted sadness.
We had both allowed Victor to teach us that loyalty meant obedience.
And we'd both paid for it.
"Did Victor contact you before Anna disappeared?" I asked.
Gabriel looked away.
"Yes."
My stomach dropped.
"When?"
"Two weeks before."
"What did he want?"
"He asked whether Anna had been speaking to Evelyn."
"Did you tell him?"
"I said I didn't know."
"Did you know?"
Gabriel hesitated.
Then nodded.
I stared at him.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Anna asked me not to."
For a moment, I didn't understand.
Gabriel continued.
"She came to see me about a month before she left. She said Evelyn had contacted her. She wanted to know whether I remembered anything about Dad's death."
"And what did you say?"
"That I didn't."
"You lied."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I was afraid she'd discover what I did."
He wiped his face.
"She looked at me and said, 'Gabriel, did someone make you afraid to tell the truth?'"
My throat tightened.
"She knew," I whispered.
"She suspected."
"What did you do?"
"I told Victor she'd been asking questions."
I stepped away.
The betrayal felt almost physical.
"You told him?"
"I thought he'd help."
I laughed once, without humor.
"Help whom?"
Gabriel couldn't answer.
He looked at me with desperate eyes.
"Nicholas, I didn't know he would threaten her."
The room went silent.
"What threat?"
Gabriel froze.
I moved closer.
"What did Victor say to Anna?"
My brother swallowed.
"He went to see her."
"When?"
"Four days before she disappeared."
"Where?"
"At the mansion. You were already planning the yacht trip."
I remembered that afternoon.
Anna had been unusually quiet.
She'd declined dinner.
I'd assumed she was upset because I'd canceled another weekend with her.
"What happened?"
Gabriel rubbed his hands together.
"Victor told her to stop contacting Evelyn. He said reopening old cases would put people in danger."
"What people?"
"Her sister. Your mother. Maybe you."
I stared at him.
"Did he threaten her directly?"
"Anna said he told her the world was dangerous for women who forgot who protected them."
A wave of nausea rose.
Victor had spoken to my wife in my own house.
He'd threatened her.
And I'd left for the Caribbean believing she had nothing to worry about.
I sat down.
"Did she tell you she was leaving?"
"Not directly."
"What did she say?"
Gabriel looked toward the ceiling.
"She said she was tired of being afraid of men who called fear protection."
I closed my eyes.
Then he added, "She asked me something else."
"What?"
"Whether I thought you would hurt her if she tried to leave."
I opened my eyes.
"What did you tell her?"
Gabriel's voice broke.
"I told her I didn't know."
Those words cut more deeply than anything he'd confessed.
My own brother couldn't assure my wife she would be safe leaving me.
I thought of every locked gate.
Every security detail.
Every time I'd raised my voice when Anna questioned where I was going.
I'd never struck her.
I'd considered that proof I wasn't cruel.
But I'd built a life where she couldn't be certain what I'd do if she disobeyed me.
That realization was unbearable.
Before I could speak, Daniel entered.
He looked troubled.
"There's a situation."
"What kind?"
"Rebecca's office was broken into."
I stood.
"Is she safe?"
"Yes. She wasn't there."
"Was anything taken?"
"Computer equipment and two boxes of archived documents."
"The evidence from Victor?"
"Some of it."
Gabriel rose.
"Victor?"
"Possibly," Daniel said.
Then he turned to me.
"There's more. Someone sent a message to our security office."
He handed me his phone.
The message contained a photograph.
Anna and Evelyn were standing outside a small building near the coast.
The photograph had clearly been taken from a distance.
Beneath it were six words.
TELL YOUR WIFE TO STOP DIGGING.
I felt my hands go cold.
"Can you identify the location?" I asked.
"We're working on it."
"Don't contact them."
Daniel looked surprised.
I continued.
"Send the image to Claire Bennett. Let federal investigators handle it."
Gabriel stared at me.
"You're not going after her?"
"No."
"But someone knows where she is."
"I know."
"And you're going to sit here?"
I looked at him.
"I've spent fourteen years assuming Anna needed me to make every decision."
My voice tightened.
"I'm not going to use a threat against her as another excuse to take control."
Daniel nodded.
He left to contact Claire.
Gabriel remained beside the desk.
After a moment, he whispered, "I think Victor has something on me."
I turned.
"What?"
"He made me sign a statement after Dad died."
"What statement?"
"That I'd seen Dad threaten Charles Bennett."
"Had you?"
"No."
I stared at him.
"Then why sign it?"
"Victor said it would protect the family."
"Where is it?"
"I don't know."
Gabriel looked terrified.
"If Victor uses it, I'll be accused of lying to federal investigators."
I thought for a moment.
"Then tell Claire the truth before he does."
His face went pale.
"She could charge me."
"Yes."
"I could go to prison."
"Yes."
He stared at me.
"And you'll let that happen?"
The old Nicholas Walker would have promised to fix it.
Would have called judges.
Threatened witnesses.
Moved evidence.
Purchased silence.
Instead, I looked at my brother and said, "I'll help you get a lawyer. I'll stand beside you when you tell the truth. But I won't bury it."
Gabriel looked away.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then he nodded.
A small movement.
A terrible decision.
But the first honest one he'd made in eleven years.
That night, I received another call from Anna.
Her voice was tense.
"Nicholas, someone followed Evelyn."
"I know."
"How?"
"A photograph was sent to my security office."
She inhaled sharply.
"Did it show where we are?"
"Possibly."
"Are you sending people?"
"No."
There was a long silence.
Then she asked, "Why not?"
"Because you asked me not to."
Her breathing changed.
"Thank you."
I closed my eyes.
Those two words meant more than any expression of gratitude I'd received in years.
"Anna, Claire has the photograph. She's handling it."
"Good."
I hesitated.
"Gabriel told me what happened the night Dad died."
She didn't sound surprised.
"I hoped he would."
"He says Victor delayed calling for help."
"I know."
"Did Evelyn discover that?"
"She found part of an emergency-services log."
My chest tightened.
"What did it show?"
"The ambulance wasn't called until twenty-six minutes after someone at the house first reported a medical emergency."
I stared into the darkness.
Twenty-six minutes.
Perhaps the difference between life and death.
Anna continued.
"But that's not the entire story."
"What else?"
"Evelyn found a second emergency call."
I stood.
"From whom?"
"A woman."
"When?"
"Eleven minutes before Victor called the ambulance."
"What did she say?"
Anna's voice became very quiet.
"She said two men were fighting, one man was unconscious, and someone needed to send help immediately."
"Who was the caller?"
"The recording was damaged. Evelyn couldn't identify her."
I felt my heartbeat rise.
Anna continued.
"But the dispatcher recorded the name she gave."
"What name?"
A long pause.
"Margaret Walker."
My mother.
I gripped the phone.
May you like
Because my mother had told me she knew nothing about the final hours of my father's life.
And now I knew she had been there.
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