Chapter 6 - The Dead Man in the Laundry Room
Charles disappeared before police arrived.
On Lily’s old cot sat a red ornament Sarah had painted during her first Christmas with Nathan.
Inside was a memory card.
Sarah appeared on the recording, thin from cancer.
“If Nathan is watching this, somebody finally forced the truth into daylight.”
She explained Charles was alive.
He had participated in old financial misconduct, later tried to leave it, then staged his death when he feared prison. Margaret learned the truth and used it against him.
Sarah found Charles while investigating Colewell.
“Charles is not innocent,” Sarah said. “None of them are. Do not let Lily become collateral damage in an adult war.”
Nathan whispered, “I already did.”
Dana corrected him. “You failed to see it soon enough. That isn’t the same as causing it.”
Police eventually located Charles.
Nathan faced his father.
“You abandoned us.”
“Yes.”
“You let me bury an empty coffin.”
“Yes.”
“Why come back?”
“Because Margaret crossed the last line.”
“Lily?”
Charles nodded.
He gave Nathan an old ledger.
One payment stood out: $250,000 to Merritt Private Care two days before Sarah died.
“Ask Rebecca,” Charles said.
Rebecca stopped answering calls.
Her clinic was closed.
Dana discovered she had flown to Montreal.
Nathan’s thoughts turned dark, but he refused to make accusations without evidence.
That evening Lily asked, “Daddies get scared?”
“All the time.”
“What do you do?”
“Try to do the right thing while scared.”
“Can we still have Christmas?”
Nathan smiled. “Absolutely.”
They camped beside the mansion’s Christmas tree after security cleared the house. Lily fell asleep against him during Sarah’s favorite Christmas movie.
Then Nathan noticed an unfamiliar hidden camera behind the tree.
He pulled it free.
His phone rang immediately.
A distorted voice said, “You should have stayed in Seattle.”
“Who are you?”
“Ask your daughter what she saw the night Sarah died.”
The line went dead.
Lily had been five.
May you like
Nathan had always been told she slept through Sarah’s final night.
Apparently, somebody had lied about that too.
