Chapter 6 - VICTOR’S CONFESSION
Victor stopped denying everything after the photograph appeared.
But his confession was not what Claire expected.
“I didn’t cut the brakes.”
He said.
“I paid the mechanic who repaired them afterward.”
Claire stared through the interview-room glass.
“Why?”
“To keep the police from seeing what happened.”
Ethan slammed his palm against the table.
“You covered up an attempt on my wife’s life?”
Victor looked at him.
“I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
“Your mother.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“That sentence makes no sense.”
Victor leaned back.
“You have no idea what Eleanor has done to keep control of this family.”
Claire asked the question.
“Did she cut the brakes?”
Victor looked at her.
“I don’t know.”
“That means you suspect she did.”
“I suspect many things.”
He rubbed his face.
“Your mother has spent thirty years protecting the Hawthorne Trust.”
Ethan frowned.
“Protecting it from who?”
“From Richard.”
“My father?”
Victor nodded.
“Richard discovered the trust wasn’t built the way you were told.”
Claire leaned closer.
“What does that mean?”
Victor glanced toward the detective.
“I need immunity.”
The detective shook his head.
“Not happening.”
Victor smiled without humor.
“Then you may never find Richard.”
Ethan froze.
“You said you didn’t know when he died.”
“I don’t.”
Victor said.
“Because I’m not sure he is dead.”
The room went silent.
Claire stared at Ethan.
He looked as if someone had pulled the floor from beneath him.
“Where is he?”
Victor asked for paper.
He wrote one address.
A private rehabilitation facility in Maine.
Then he pushed it across the table.
“If Eleanor hasn’t moved him, Richard is there.”
Ethan stood so quickly his chair fell backward.
Claire caught his arm.
“Wait.”
He looked at her.
“My father might be alive.”
“I know.”
“Thirteen years.”
May you like
His eyes filled.
“She let me bury an empty coffin.”
