Chapter 16 - THE FALL
By 12:07, reporters were outside Carter Industrial.
By 12:20, Evelyn's face was on local television.
By 1:00, the district attorney announced a formal investigation into fraud, conspiracy, false reporting, assault, and the twenty-two-year-old death of Samuel Reed.
Evelyn was arrested at her sister's house that afternoon.
She did not go quietly.
Camera crews caught her shouting, "Rebecca did this! That girl destroyed my family!"
I watched from Walter's living room.
Daniel turned off the television.
"No," he said. "She did."
Victor was arrested the next morning at a private airfield with two passports and eighty thousand dollars in cash.
Leonard agreed to cooperate.
Grant recovered.
The share transfer Daniel had signed under duress was voided.
Two days later, Daniel asked me to meet him at our apartment.
He had packed a suitcase.
"Where are you going?"
"Hotel."
I said nothing.
He swallowed. "I don't want you to have to leave your own home because I failed you."
"You did fail me."
"I know."
This time the words didn't irritate me.
He continued. "I'm starting therapy. Walter is too. I resigned from the board until the investigation is done."
"Why?"
"Because I've spent my whole life being protected from consequences."
I looked at him for a long time.
"Are you doing this so I'll stay?"
His eyes filled, but he shook his head.
"No. I'm doing it because whether you stay or not, I don't want to be the man who stood there while someone dragged his wife across a floor."
That was the closest thing to an apology I could believe.
He picked up his suitcase.
At the door, he stopped.
"There's something else."
He handed me an envelope.
Inside was a copy of a police report.
Evelyn had given a full statement.
On page nine, one sentence was highlighted.
I did not plant the five hundred dollars alone.
I looked up.
"Who helped her?"
May you like
Daniel's voice was barely audible.
"Aunt Susan."
