Chapter 15 - The Brother Who Did Not Show Up
Ryan's deposition was scheduled for nine the next morning.
At nine, his chair was empty.
At nine fifteen, Naomi called his attorney.
He did not have one.
At nine twenty, Judge Cole's clerk called our conference room asking whether the witness had appeared.
He had not.
At nine thirty, Dad's new lawyer, Charles Vann, announced that Ryan had "chosen to leave the area for personal reasons."
Naomi looked at him.
"How does your client know that?"
Vann's face changed slightly.
"I am repeating what Mr. Carter told me."
"Did Mr. Carter speak with Ryan?"
"I don't know."
"When was the last time he saw him?"
"I don't know."
"Then perhaps you should stop presenting your client's assumptions as facts."
Vann's jaw tightened.
The court reporter stared at her keyboard and wisely said nothing.
I sat at the end of the table with Ryan's empty chair across from me.
For years, I had told myself I did not care whether my brother came back into my life.
That morning, I discovered how untrue that was.
I was angry with him.
I did not trust him.
I had not forgiven him.
I still wanted him alive and safe enough to disappoint me again.
Naomi asked the court to issue an order compelling his appearance.
Judge Cole did.
Then she ordered Dad's deposition to proceed first.
Vann objected.
The judge overruled him.
At eleven, my father sat across from Naomi under oath.
He looked tired.
Not afraid.
Tired men can still be dangerous when they believe exhaustion entitles them to control.
Naomi began simply.
"Did you create the 2018 quitclaim deed?"
"No."
"Did you ask Derek Carter to create it?"
"No."
"Did you ask him to fix the title?"
Dad paused.
"I may have used those words."
"What did you mean?"
"I meant correct the record."
"Correct it to show what?"
"That the farmhouse belonged to me and my wife."
"Did it?"
"It should have."
Naomi looked at the reporter.
"Please read back the question and answer."
The reporter did.
Dad shifted.
"I mean according to my father's intentions."
"You were aware of the trust?"
"Not until recently."
"You were aware of it in 2010."
"No."
Naomi placed the 2010 indexing correction in front of him.
"You communicated with Derek before this was filed, correct?"
"I don't remember."
She placed a phone record beside it.
Seventeen calls between Dad and Derek in the week before the correction.
"Still don't remember?"
"It was sixteen years ago."
"Do you remember forging Everett Carter's signature in 2009?"
Vann objected.
Naomi waited.
The objection was noted.
Dad answered.
"I did not forge anything."
Naomi placed Mom's signed affidavit on the table.
Dad looked at it for a long time.
"My wife was pressured into that."
"By whom?"
"My father."
"Why would he pressure her to accuse you falsely?"
"Because he wanted to control me."
"Did he also pressure Derek into writing that he fixed Everett's guarantor signature?"
Dad's eyes lifted.
Naomi placed the 2009 email in front of him.
He stopped talking.
"Mr. Carter?"
"I want a break."
Vann immediately agreed.
Naomi checked the clock.
"Ten minutes."
Dad stood.
As he passed behind me, he leaned down just enough to speak without the reporter hearing clearly.
"Whatever happens to Ryan is on you."
I turned so fast my chair scraped the floor.
"What did you say?"
Vann stepped between us.
"Robert, hallway."
Naomi was already speaking to the court reporter.
"Please mark that there was an off-record statement by the witness to my client."
Dad left.
My hands were shaking.
Naomi sat beside me.
"Do not follow him."
"He knows where Ryan is."
"Maybe."
"You heard him."
"I heard a manipulative statement."
"That is not the same as evidence he harmed Ryan."
I hated her caution.
I needed it.
During the break, my phone vibrated.
A voicemail notification appeared from a number I did not recognize.
The message had been left at three twelve that morning.
I pressed play.
Ryan's voice filled my ear.
"Evie, it's me."
He had not called me Evie since we were children.
"If you get this, I'm okay."
I closed my eyes.
"I'm not leaving town."
"I just need Dad to think I did for a few hours."
Naomi leaned closer.
I put the phone on speaker.
Ryan continued.
"He came to my house after midnight."
"He told me if I testified, he'd say the deed was my idea and that I stole from the company."
"He has documents with my signature on transfers I never approved."
"I know how that sounds after what I did to you."
His voice cracked.
"Maybe this is what I get."
I whispered,
"No."
The recording continued.
"I put everything I have in a storage locker near Churchland."
"Naomi can get the key from Mom."
"There are bank statements in there."
"Dad moved money out of Carter Automotive while telling me we were broke."
"A lot of money."
"I think that is why the expansion failed so fast."
There was a long pause.
"And Evie, I didn't set that fire."
"I swear to you."
The message ended.
I stared at the phone.
Naomi was already dialing Mom.
She answered on the first ring.
"Margaret, Ryan said you have a key."
Mom began crying.
"Yes."
"Where are you?"
"At my sister's."
"Is Robert there?"
"No."
"Stay there."
Naomi looked at me.
"We're coming."
We did not return to Dad's deposition that afternoon.
Judge Cole suspended it after Naomi informed the court there was newly discovered evidence and a witness-safety concern.
No one accused Dad of a crime.
No one needed to.
His own words had created enough concern.
Mom's sister lived in Chesapeake.
When we arrived, Mom was sitting at the kitchen table with a small brass key in her hand.
She looked at me.
"I left him."
I stopped in the doorway.
"What?"
"I packed one suitcase."
"I told your father I was staying with Ellen until the case was over."
"What did he say?"
Mom looked down.
"He said if I walked out, I should not come back."
I waited.
"And?"
She looked at me again.
"So I walked out."
For the first time in my life, my mother had made a decision Dad did not approve.
It had taken sixty years.
I did not tell her I was proud.
Not yet.
Some words need time before they become honest.
She pushed the storage key toward Naomi.
"Ryan gave me this yesterday."
"He said if anything happened, give it to Evelyn."
I picked it up.
Attached was a white plastic tag.
Locker 314.
On the back, Ryan had written four words.
CHECK THE BLUE LEDGER TOO.
I looked at Mom.
"Blue?"
"Granddad's was green," she said.
Naomi and I exchanged a glance.
If the green ledger documented what Granddad knew about Dad, the blue ledger was something newer.
May you like
Something Ryan had been keeping.
And my brother believed it was dangerous enough to hide before he disappeared.
