Chapter 4 - The Red Barn
We found the photograph beneath a loose floorboard in Ruth's kitchen.
It showed four people standing beside the red barn.
John Carter.
Eleanor Hayes.
Ruth.
And a man I had never seen.
The photograph was dated thirty-one years earlier.
On the back was a handwritten note.
The truth is under the barn.
At sunrise, Ethan and I walked across the field.
The barn had weathered the years surprisingly well.
Inside were old tractors, tools, hay, and shelves.
Nothing suspicious.
Then Ethan noticed a wooden beam with a newer nail.
He pulled it.
A section of wall opened.
Behind it was a metal staircase.
We looked at each other.
“Your mom knew about this?” Ethan asked.
“I think she knew more than anyone.”
We descended.
At the bottom was a small room.
Metal cabinets.
Boxes.
One desk.
A safe.
The safe was locked.
I tried my mother's birthday.
Nothing.
Ethan tried John's.
Nothing.
Then Ruth came down the stairs.
She looked at the safe.
“Try November 18.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“That's the day John and I met.”
I entered it.
The safe opened.
Inside were legal documents.
Photographs.
Cassette tapes.
And a black notebook.
I opened the notebook.
My mother's handwriting.
Page after page.
Names.
Dates.
Amounts.
Everything.
She had documented years of financial theft.
At the end was one sentence.
Dean knows.
I closed the book.
My hands shook.
“He knew.”
Ruth looked sad.
“Yes.”
“But why protect Melissa?”
“Maybe he thought he could control her.”
Ethan frowned.
“He couldn't.”
There was another file.
Inside was a marriage certificate.
Dean Hayes and Melissa Bennett.
Then an older contract.
Melissa Bennett agreeing to transfer ownership rights of several properties to Richard Sloan if Dean died.
“She was planning to take everything.”
“Not everything,” Ethan said.
He pointed to a final document.
The Carter-Hayes Trust.
The beneficiary was me.
The amount was enormous.
I stared.
“I had no idea.”
“Neither did your father,” Ethan said.
Ruth corrected him.
“He knew.”
A noise came from upstairs.
We all froze.
Someone had entered the barn.
Ethan grabbed a flashlight.
“Stay behind me.”
Footsteps moved above.
Then a voice.
“Nora.”
Dad.
I climbed the stairs.
He stood inside the barn.
Alone.
His face looked older than it had two days earlier.
“I came to tell you everything.”
I folded my arms.
“You had twenty-eight years.”
“I know.”
“Why now?”
“Because Melissa knows you've found the trust.”
Ethan stepped beside me.
Dad stared at him.
“John's son.”
Ethan nodded.
“Dean.”
Dad looked down.
“You've grown into a good man.”
“You don't know me.”
“I know your father would have been proud.”
That sentence silenced us.
Dad stepped closer.
“I didn't throw you out because I believed you stole the money.”
I stared.
“What?”
“I did it because Melissa threatened Paige.”
My breath caught.
“She said she had people watching Paige.”
“She used your sister?”
Dad nodded.
“She told me if I didn't blame you, she would destroy Paige's life.”
I felt dizzy.
“That doesn't excuse you.”
“No.”
His voice broke.
“It doesn't.”
“Then why didn't you call the police?”
“I was afraid.”
“Of her?”
“Of what she'd already done.”
Dad reached into his coat.
He pulled out a small key.
“This belonged to your mother.”
My heart stopped.
“She gave it to me before she died.”
“For what?”
“There is another safe.”
“Where?”
“Bennett Home Supply.”
Ethan frowned.
“That's the company where Nora found the suspicious payment.”
Dad nodded.
“Because the company isn't really owned by you.”
I stared at him.
“Who owns it?”
Dad looked at me.
“Your mother.”
Silence.
Everything flipped.
The company I'd worked in.
The money I'd been accused of stealing.
The records I'd tried to access.
They all belonged to my mother.
And Melissa had been trying to take them.
Dad turned toward the barn door.
“They'll come tonight.”
“Who?”
He looked back.
“Richard Sloan.”
Then he walked away.
That night, we didn't sleep.
Ethan called his lawyer.
I called Lillian again.
This time, she answered.
Her voice was shaky.
“Nora?”
“Where are you?”
“I've been scared.”
“Melissa?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
There was a pause.
“Richard Sloan.”
I closed my eyes.
“What happened?”
“He found me after I accessed the company server.”
“Where are you now?”
“Locked in my apartment.”
I heard something crash.
Lillian screamed.
The call dropped.
Ethan was already grabbing his jacket.
“We're going.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I'm not losing another person because I'm afraid.”
We rushed to Nashville.
Police arrived with us.
Lillian was found hiding in a closet.
Richard was gone.
On her computer was one file.
A list of payments.
The largest payment was made yesterday.
To a private investigator.
The target:
Ruth Carter.
I looked at Ethan.
“They're going after your mother.”
We drove back to the farm.
The house was dark.
The door stood open.
Ruth was gone.
On the kitchen table was my mother's blue scarf.
Beside it was a note.
May you like
Bring Nora.
Alone.
