Chapter 7 - The Neighbor’s Secret
Margaret Parker had been carrying the secret for four years.
“My husband, Samuel, maintained Bellwether’s barns before he got sick,” she said.
Daniel knew that much.
Samuel Parker had been quiet, mechanically gifted, and stubbornly independent.
“What did Claire ask him to do?”
“Build the compartment behind the red saddle.”
Daniel sat opposite her.
“And the payment?”
Margaret shook her head.
“Samuel never received ninety thousand dollars.”
“But his company did.”
“No. That company had already stopped operating.”
Daniel understood immediately.
“Someone used its name.”
Margaret nodded.
“Samuel found out after Claire died. A tax document arrived showing activity he didn’t recognize.”
“What did he do?”
“He called Richard.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Of course.
“Richard told him it was a clerical error and promised to fix it.”
“Did Samuel believe him?”
“For about a week.”
Margaret went upstairs and returned with an old metal toolbox.
From beneath the removable tray she took a sealed plastic bag.
Inside was a photocopy of a cashier’s check.
$90,000.
Payable to Parker Agricultural Services.
The endorsement signature looked like Samuel’s.
Margaret pointed at it.
“That is not my husband’s handwriting.”
“Why didn’t you go to police?”
“Samuel wanted to.”
“What stopped him?”
Her face tightened.
“I did.”
Daniel stared.
Margaret’s voice broke.
“Claire was already dead. Samuel was receiving treatment. We had debts. Richard offered to buy the equipment from the old company for one hundred thousand dollars if Samuel signed a release saying the earlier payment had been legitimate.”
“You took the money.”
“Yes.”
Daniel stood and walked away.
Margaret did not defend herself.
“You let Richard clean the record.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Claire had suspected him.”
“Samuel told me.”
“And you stayed silent.”
“Yes.”
Daniel turned.
“Then why record Victoria?”
Margaret’s eyes filled.
“Because yesterday I finally saw what my silence had purchased.”
She looked toward the guesthouse.
“A child in a stall.”
Daniel had no answer.
Margaret wiped her eyes.
“Samuel regretted that money until he died. He left something.”
She removed a small digital recorder from the toolbox.
The battery was dead.
Daniel stared.
“What’s on it?”
“Samuel recorded his last meeting with Richard.”
Eleanor and Deputy Chase arrived before they played it.
The recording was dated six months after Claire’s death.
Richard’s voice was unmistakable.
“You signed the release, Sam.”
“I signed because my wife needed the money.”
“Same thing.”
“You forged my name on the ninety.”
A pause.
Then Richard said, “You really want to reopen this?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Claire was right about you.”
Another silence.
Richard’s voice lowered.
“You have no idea what Claire was doing.”
“She was protecting her daughter.”
“She was destroying Daniel’s company.”
“Bull.”
“Believe what you want. You already took the money.”
Then Samuel:
“There was an envelope you never found.”
Daniel’s breath stopped.
Richard asked, “What envelope?”
“Claire gave it to me the week before she died.”
“Where is it?”
“Somewhere you’ll never find.”
A chair scraped.
Richard’s voice hardened.
“If that document appears, your settlement disappears. I’ll sue your estate if I have to.”
Samuel laughed weakly.
“You’re scared.”
The recording ended.
Margaret whispered, “Samuel never told me where the envelope was.”
Daniel looked at the tack-room video.
“What if it was the one Victoria found?”
Eleanor shook her head.
“Samuel said ‘document,’ singular. Claire’s storage copies referenced multiple originals.”
Deputy Chase asked, “Could the envelope have contained one controlling document?”
Eleanor considered.
“Yes.”
“What kind?”
“A signed agreement. An affidavit. A letter identifying accounts. Perhaps the original side agreement related to Red Fern.”
Daniel thought of Victoria’s panic.
Whatever she had taken mattered enough to terrorize Emma over it.
Later that afternoon, Bellwether’s front gate opened.
Richard Vale arrived alone.
Daniel met him in the driveway.
“You’re not welcome here.”
Richard stepped out.
“We need to stop acting like enemies.”
“You stole from my company.”
“You don’t know that.”
“You paid a dead vendor company.”
Richard’s expression froze.
There it was.
Knowledge he should not have possessed.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Samuel recorded you.”
Richard looked toward Margaret’s property.
Then smiled faintly.
“That old woman should have sold when she had the chance.”
Daniel’s rage rose.
He controlled it.
Richard seemed almost disappointed.
“You’re learning.”
“What was in Claire’s envelope?”
Richard shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“Victoria knows.”
“Victoria knows enough to be afraid.”
“Of you?”
Richard looked Daniel in the eyes.
“Of losing everything.”
“What everything?”
Richard opened his car door.
Before getting inside, he said, “Ask your wife who actually owns Red Fern.”
Daniel immediately called Sofia.
She answered in a whisper.
“I was about to call you.”
“Why?”
“I got the Delaware ownership records.”
Daniel waited.
“Red Fern isn’t owned by Richard.”
“Who owns it?”
“Victoria.”
That should have been the revelation.
It wasn’t.
Sofia continued.
“But the original funding came from an account established by someone else.”
“Who?”
“Daniel…”
May you like
Her voice trembled.
“The account was in Claire’s name.”
