Chapter 4 - The Night of the Crash
William made Diana tell him everything.
No softening.
No omissions.
At least that was what he demanded.
Whether he received it was another matter.
“Eleanor called me at 8:17,” Diana said. “She had discovered the trust amendment had been entered into the estate files.”
“She was alive for another three hours.”
“Yes.”
“What did she want?”
“The Shaw ledger.”
“You didn’t have it.”
“No.”
“But you came here.”
“She said she had enough evidence without it.”
William folded his arms.
“Why did she need you?”
Diana’s eyes filled.
“She wanted me to testify.”
“Against Malcolm.”
“And Gregory.”
“And you?”
Diana hesitated.
“That pause tells me yes.”
“She didn’t think you stole from her.”
“What did she think?”
“That you had become dangerous because you refused to know what your brother was doing.”
William looked away.
Eleanor’s judgment was worse than hatred.
Hatred would have allowed him to call her unfair.
This did not.
Diana continued.
“We argued.”
“About?”
“I asked her to wait.”
“Why?”
“Malcolm said refinancing would collapse if the board learned the shares were disputed.”
“You were still protecting him.”
“I was protecting myself.”
William nodded coldly.
“At least that’s honest.”
“She told me exactly that.”
Diana smiled through tears.
“She said, ‘Stop calling fear loyalty.’”
William remembered Eleanor saying similar things to him.
“What happened next?”
“She put the documents in the suitcase. She gave me an envelope to take to Gregory Shaw’s clerk.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Malcolm called.”
William’s stomach tightened.
“You told him you were here.”
“Yes.”
“Did he come?”
Diana looked toward the door.
“Not while I was here.”
“Then?”
“I left. Eleanor left later.”
“And crashed on Route 17.”
“Yes.”
William stared.
“Did Malcolm follow her?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’ve had five years to find out.”
“I was afraid.”
William stepped toward her.
“My wife died.”
“I know.”
“You married me.”
“I know.”
“You tucked Maya into bed.”
Diana covered her face.
“I know.”
“You knew there was a possibility my brother followed Eleanor the night she died.”
“I didn’t know then.”
“When did you suspect?”
“Two days after the funeral.”
William stopped.
Diana lowered her hands.
“Malcolm asked if Eleanor had copied the Shaw ledger.”
“And?”
“He knew she had been looking for it.”
“That proves nothing.”
“No.”
“But?”
“He also knew she had planned to drive to Evelyn’s house that night.”
William’s heart stuttered.
Only a few people had known Eleanor’s destination.
He had always assumed she left after an argument with him.
“You told Malcolm.”
Diana looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
The room became unbearably small.
William left without another word.
He drove to Evelyn’s house.
Maya was asleep upstairs.
Evelyn sat at the kitchen table waiting.
“You found the room.”
“Yes.”
“She finally left it for you.”
William frowned.
“You knew?”
“Not exactly where it was.”
“But you knew it existed.”
“Eleanor told me she had hidden copies of financial records.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Evelyn looked at him for a long time.
“Would you have listened?”
The same accusation.
Again.
William sat.
“What happened between me and Eleanor before she died?”
“You want the comfortable version or the true one?”
“The true one.”
“She was planning to leave you.”
Pain hit anyway.
He had suspected.
Never known.
“Why?”
“Because you were becoming Malcolm.”
William’s jaw tightened.
“I was nothing like him.”
“You let your brother decide what information was important enough for you to hear. You came home angry. You drank too much. You called Eleanor suspicious when she asked about finances.”
“I never hurt her.”
“No.”
Evelyn softened slightly.
“You were not cruel. But you were absent in the way powerful men can afford to be absent. Other people cleaned up the consequences.”
William stared at his hands.
“She wanted a divorce?”
“She had met with an attorney.”
His chest tightened.
“Diana told me that was paranoia.”
“Diana lies when she is afraid.”
“And Eleanor?”
“She hid things when she was afraid.”
Evelyn looked upstairs.
“That family disease didn’t begin with Diana.”
William understood.
Maya had already learned to hide the key in her fist.
The adults around her had taught secrecy before anyone taught her truth.
Evelyn slid an envelope across the table.
“I kept this because Eleanor mailed it to me the morning she died.”
William stared at his name.
“Why didn’t you give it to me?”
“Because the day after the funeral, Malcolm came here.”
William went cold.
“What did he say?”
“That if I interfered with Eleanor’s estate, he would make sure you believed I had manipulated her against you.”
“Would I have?”
Evelyn’s eyes answered.
William looked away.
He opened the envelope.
Inside was a single handwritten page.
William, if you ever decide to ask what you signed in Boston, start with Schedule 9. Not the agreement. The schedule. Malcolm buried everything important where he knew you wouldn’t read.
Below that:
And ask Diana why she was paid through Pinecroft before I died.
William read the sentence twice.
Diana had told him her ownership came eight months after Eleanor’s death.
Eleanor’s letter said Diana had already been paid.
May you like
One of them was lying.
Again.
