Chapter 5 - Five Years Earlier.
Claire did not remember walking back down the stairs.
She remembered Daniel looking at her.
She remembered Margaret following two steps behind.
She remembered the Christmas tree lights reflected in the dark window like dozens of tiny warning signals.
"What did she tell you?" Daniel asked.
Claire stopped at the bottom step.
"Your father wrote a letter before he died."
Daniel's face became blank.
Margaret whispered, "Claire."
Claire kept going.
"He wrote that you were at the lake house the night he fell."
Rebecca covered her mouth.
Daniel's uncle stood so quickly his chair tipped over.
"Richard was alone."
Daniel looked at his mother.
"You told them?"
Margaret's expression collapsed.
That sentence was another confession.
Detective Cole stepped closer.
"Mr. Bennett, what exactly did your mother tell them?"
Daniel backed toward the fireplace.
"Nothing."
Claire could see memory arriving behind his eyes.
Five years earlier, three months after Richard Bennett's death, Daniel had come home after midnight shaking so badly he could not fit his key into the front door.
He had carried the steel document box against his chest.
He told Claire the foundation was being investigated because his father had kept sloppy records.
He told her Margaret could lose everything.
He told her one box of internal papers had to disappear until the lawyers sorted out the mess.
Claire had refused at first.
Then Daniel cried.
She had never seen him cry before.
He said his father's death had broken him.
He said Margaret might hurt herself if another scandal destroyed the family.
He said Claire was the only person he trusted.
So Claire helped him hide the box.
She thought that was the beginning of the secret.
Now she understood it had started before Richard died.
Ortiz returned from the foyer.
"Margaret's attorney confirms she called him at five twelve and spoke for thirty-eight minutes."
Margaret lifted her chin.
"There."
Ortiz continued.
"He also says he heard a vehicle navigation system giving directions in the background."
Margaret's face drained.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Ortiz looked at Cole.
"She was driving."
Cole asked where.
Margaret refused to answer.
Rebecca began crying quietly.
"Mom, what happened to Dad?"
Margaret looked at her daughter, but Daniel answered.
"He fell."
Rebecca turned on him.
"Were you there?"
"He fell."
"Were you there?"
Daniel slammed his fist against the mantel.
"Yes!"
The room exploded into voices.
Cole ordered everyone to remain where they were.
Claire felt no satisfaction.
Only a deep, sick certainty that five years of her marriage had been built over a grave she had never seen.
Daniel stared at Claire.
"I didn't push him."
"Then what happened?"
His face twisted.
"He was drunk."
Margaret whispered, "Daniel, stop."
He ignored her.
"He found out about the foundation transfers."
Claire's pulse pounded.
"The missing scholarship money?"
Daniel nodded once.
"He threatened to call the board."
"And the police?"
Daniel looked away.
That was enough.
Claire saw the terrace in her mind without ever having been there that night.
Snow.
Anger.
A father confronting a son.
A railing above black water and frozen ground.
Daniel spoke more quietly.
"We argued."
Cole asked, "Did you touch him?"
Daniel said nothing.
Margaret stepped in front of her son.
"He needs an attorney."
Cole agreed.
Daniel laughed bitterly.
"You burned the letter, didn't you?"
Margaret stared at him.
"I protected you."
Claire flinched at the words.
They sounded like an echo of her own.
Daniel's face hardened.
"No."
He pointed at his mother.
"You protected yourself."
Then Rebecca whispered something that silenced everyone.
"Dad didn't fall from the terrace."
They turned toward her.
Rebecca was staring at the floor.
"I saw the body."
May you like
She looked up slowly.
"He was found near the boathouse."
