Chapter 4 - Monday Never Came
Ethan did not accuse Vivian of causing Anna’s death.
He made that clear immediately.
The police investigation three years earlier had concluded Anna lost control on black ice after another vehicle spun ahead of her.
Witnesses confirmed it.
Traffic-camera footage confirmed it.
No suspicious mechanical failure.
No second vehicle forcing her off the road.
Anna’s death was an accident.
Lily was almost disappointed.
Then hated herself for feeling that.
A murder would have made the world simpler.
Someone evil.
Someone innocent.
A crime with one shape.
Instead Anna had died by chance.
Everything afterward was about what the living chose to do.
Martin Keene came to the house that evening.
Vivian stayed because Ethan asked her to.
Not out of trust.
Because he wanted answers in one room.
Martin was sixty-two, gray-haired and visibly uncomfortable.
He carried an archival box.
“I should have come sooner.”
Ethan stared.
“Three years sooner?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because after Anna died, the board panicked.”
Martin placed the box down.
“BrightSteps depended on grants. A financial scandal could have killed every program.”
“So you buried it.”
“We investigated.”
“Quietly.”
“Yes.”
“Who led the internal review?”
Martin hesitated.
“Vivian.”
Lily laughed once.
No humor.
“Of course.”
Vivian snapped, “Anna was dead. Someone had to.”
Martin continued.
“Vivian produced access records showing the suspicious payments were authorized through Anna’s credentials.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You told me they were mistakes.”
“I was protecting Anna’s reputation.”
“Were you?”
“Yes.”
Martin opened the box.
“There were fourteen transfers totaling $147,600.”
Lily’s stomach tightened.
Money that funded school meals.
Tutors.
Transportation.
Martin said, “All went to three vendors.”
“Real companies?”
“Registered companies.”
“Doing real work?”
“No.”
“Who owned them?”
“We couldn’t identify the beneficial owner at the time.”
Vivian folded her arms.
“You still can’t.”
Martin looked at her.
“No.”
Then he turned to Ethan.
“But Anna believed she had.”
He removed a photocopy.
Handwritten note.
Anna’s writing.
Vendor 3 — same routing as V reimbursement acct?
Lily stepped closer.
“V.”
Vivian’s expression did not change.
“It could mean anything.”
Martin nodded.
“That’s true.”
Ethan appreciated the distinction.
Suspicion was not proof.
“Where did this come from?”
“Anna’s office notebook.”
Vivian’s head snapped toward him.
Lily noticed.
Martin continued.
“She kept two.”
The hospital inventory showed one leather notebook.
Martin had another from the office.
That meant Vivian did not control everything.
Lily leaned over the photocopies.
Dates.
Transaction codes.
Questions.
Anna had been following the money.
Then one line:
Ask V directly after backup copied.
Lily looked at Vivian.
Her stepmother said, “She was asking me because I managed vendor contracts.”
“Or asking you because she thought it was you,” Lily replied.
“Lily.”
Ethan’s warning was gentler this time.
Facts first.
Lily understood.
Martin produced another page.
Anna had written:
Phone backup incomplete. Brown book has rest.
The brown leather notebook.
The one Vivian collected from the hospital.
Lily stared at her.
“Where is it?”
Vivian’s face closed.
“I don’t know.”
“You signed for it.”
“I handled a dozen bags that week.”
“There were seven items.”
“You were not there.”
“I was at my mother’s funeral.”
The sentence landed.
Vivian looked away.
Ethan said quietly:
“Where is Anna’s notebook?”
“I don’t know.”
“And her phone?”
“It was damaged.”
“You told me it was missing.”
“I may have misremembered.”
“You don’t misremember collecting a dead woman’s phone.”
“I was grieving too.”
Lily’s anger flared.
“You don’t get to use that.”
Vivian turned.
“I loved her.”
“Then why did you steal her necklace?”
Vivian slapped her hand against the table.
“I did not steal it!”
Noah was not there.
Ethan was grateful.
Martin slowly reached into the archival box.
“There is one more thing.”
A sealed envelope.
It had been addressed to Ethan but never mailed.
Anna’s handwriting.
Ethan stared.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was in the audit file.”
“Why didn’t you give it to me?”
Martin looked ashamed.
“I did not know it was there until last week when the old records were being digitized.”
Vivian’s face had gone very still.
Ethan opened the envelope.
Inside was a single sheet.
Ethan—
I need to tell you something about BrightSteps and Vivian.
I am not ready to accuse her because I still need one bank record.
Please don’t ask her about this before I do.
If I’m wrong, I don’t want to destroy a friendship.
If I’m right, I don’t know what comes next.
There was more.
A second paragraph.
And something personal.
I know we’ve been distant. I know I’ve blamed your work while using mine as an excuse to stay angry. I don’t want to leave you. I want us to fix this after Monday.
Ethan stopped reading.
Vivian had told him Anna was planning to leave.
Anna’s own words said the opposite.
Lily saw her father’s hands shaking.
He continued.
There is one other thing I haven’t told you.
Vivian knows because she helped me arrange it.
If something happens before I can explain, ask her about the children’s account.
Ethan looked up.
“The children’s account?”
Vivian reached for her coat.
This time Ethan did not block her.
He simply said:
“If you leave now, I will assume you have no intention of explaining.”
Vivian stopped.
Slowly turned.
Then whispered:
May you like
“You are going to wish Anna had never written that.”
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