Chapter 8 - The Father Arthur Feared
Richard did not speak for almost a minute.
Arthur’s recorded voice had stopped.
The ruined bedroom around them seemed unnaturally quiet.
Leo stared at his grandfather.
“Dad was afraid of you.”
Richard lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
Clara watched him carefully.
“Why?”
Richard leaned against the blackened wall.
“Because I threatened him.”
Leo’s expression changed.
“With what?”
“The company.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
Richard gave a broken laugh.
“No.”
“It probably doesn’t.”
He looked at Clara.
“In my world, the company was everything.”
“Arthur disagreed.”
“I know that now.”
Richard rubbed his hands together.
“When he discovered the missing trust money, he wanted to call federal investigators.”
“I told him if he did, I would remove him from Sterling Energy.”
Leo frowned.
“Could you?”
“Yes.”
“Did he care?”
“At first.”
Richard looked toward the burned window.
“Then he told me something I should have listened to.”
“What?”
“He said he would rather lose the company than become me.”
Leo said nothing.
Richard swallowed.
“I told him if he took Leo out of the country, I would challenge custody.”
Clara stared.
“You threatened to take his son.”
“I told myself I was protecting the family.”
“You were protecting your reputation.”
Richard nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
It was the first time he admitted it without excuse.
Clara replayed Arthur’s recording.
This time, they listened beyond the accusation.
“My father is not trying to hurt Leo.”
Arthur’s voice crackled.
“But he is willing to protect people who might.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“He knows Eleanor moved money.”
“He knows Marcus covered it.”
“And because admitting it would expose his own decisions, he will hesitate.”
“If something happens to me, that hesitation may become dangerous.”
Leo looked at Richard.
“Dad knew exactly what you would do.”
Richard whispered, “Yes.”
The recording continued.
“There is one person I trust to notice what the rest of them ignore.”
Clara felt her breath catch.
“Clara Hayes.”
Leo turned toward her.
Arthur’s voice softened.
“She thinks she is only the housekeeper.”
“She is wrong.”
“If Leo is alone, find Clara.”
“She will choose the child before the name.”
Clara covered her mouth.
For years, she had wondered whether Arthur even remembered the small kindnesses she offered him.
He had.
More than she knew.
The recorder ended.
Leo reached for Clara’s hand.
She held it tightly.
Richard looked at both of them.
“I’m sorry.”
Leo did not respond.
Not yet.
Back at the bay house, Detective Brooks collected the recorder.
The fire investigation advanced quickly.
Eleanor was arrested on charges related to attempted murder, arson conspiracy, and endangering a child.
Her attorney insisted the recordings were misleading.
She denied everything.
But the wheelchair wheels were found in her vehicle.
A duplicate key to Leo’s room was discovered in her purse.
And gasoline residue matched traces from her gloves.
The case against her seemed overwhelming.
Then Eleanor requested a private meeting with Richard.
He refused.
She requested Clara.
Clara almost refused too.
Detective Brooks convinced her otherwise.
“She may talk.”
“She hates me.”
“People talk most when they hate someone.”
The meeting took place through reinforced glass at the county detention center.
Eleanor looked different without makeup.
Smaller.
Tired.
But not defeated.
She picked up the phone.
Clara did the same.
“You look disappointed,” Eleanor said.
“In what?”
“That I’m alive.”
Clara stared.
“You tried to kill an eleven-year-old boy.”
Eleanor smiled faintly.
“No.”
Clara’s hand tightened around the receiver.
“Leo saw you.”
“I locked him in the room.”
“You removed his wheels.”
“Yes.”
“You left him during a fire.”
“Yes.”
“Then what exactly are you denying?”
Eleanor leaned closer.
“Starting the fire.”
Clara went still.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to believe nothing.”
“Then why am I here?”
“Because you are the only person Leo trusts.”
Clara’s stomach tightened.
“What do you want?”
“To keep him alive.”
Clara almost laughed.
Eleanor’s expression did not change.
“You think the fire was my plan?”
“It was.”
“No.”
“Then why trap him?”
Eleanor looked toward the camera in the corner.
Then back.
“Because I was supposed to move him.”
“Where?”
“To the east gate.”
“Why?”
“Marcus told me Richard had agreed to place Leo in a private facility.”
Clara stared.
“You believed him?”
“I wanted to.”
That answer was brutally honest.
“Marcus said Leo would be transported quietly.”
“Then why lock the room?”
Eleanor looked down.
“Because Leo refused.”
“You took his wheels.”
“He threatened to tell Richard.”
Clara’s disgust grew.
“So you imprisoned him.”
“Yes.”
“And then the fire started.”
Eleanor looked at her.
“I panicked.”
“You walked out.”
“Yes.”
“You heard him screaming.”
Eleanor’s face cracked for the first time.
“Yes.”
“And you tried to stop me from going back.”
“I thought the corridor would kill you.”
Clara stared through the glass.
“You still left him.”
“Yes.”
No apology.
Only fact.
Clara lowered her voice.
“Who started the fire?”
Eleanor answered immediately.
“Marcus.”
“Why?”
“To erase evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“The west wing.”
Clara frowned.
“What was there?”
“Arthur’s archive.”
Clara thought of the hidden recorder.
“There was more?”
“Much more.”
“Where?”
Eleanor looked at her.
“That is what Marcus is going to Switzerland to find.”
Clara’s heart jumped.
“What did Arthur have?”
“Proof of everything.”
“Everything meaning?”
“Trust theft.”
“Company fraud.”
“Flight tampering.”
“And?”
Eleanor hesitated.
Clara leaned closer.
“And?”
“My mother’s death.”
Clara stared.
“What are you talking about?”
Eleanor’s voice became almost inaudible.
“Our mother did not die from a stroke.”
Clara felt cold.
“What happened?”
“She found out what Marcus was doing.”
“Marcus?”
Eleanor nodded.
“He has been stealing from this family for twenty years.”
Clara’s mind raced.
“Then why did you work with him?”
“Because by the time I understood who he was, he owned every secret I had.”
“Arthur knew?”
“Yes.”
“Richard?”
“Not all of it.”
Clara stared at her.
“Why tell me now?”
Eleanor leaned toward the glass.
“Because Marcus is not running.”
“What is he doing?”
“He is cleaning.”
“Cleaning what?”
“Everyone who can prove what he did.”
Clara felt her pulse quicken.
“Who is next?”
Eleanor looked directly at her.
“Leo.”
The meeting ended.
Clara drove back toward Narragansett Bay with Detective Brooks.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
Then Brooks’s phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
Clara looked over.
Brooks accelerated.
“What happened?”
“Richard.”
Clara’s heart stopped.
“What about him?”
“Someone got into the bay house.”
They arrived eleven minutes later.
Security lights flashed across the property.
Owen Bell stood near the entrance.
Blood ran from a cut above his eyebrow.
Clara ran inside.
“Leo!”
No answer.
“Leo!”
Richard appeared from the hall.
“He’s gone.”
Clara froze.
“What?”
“They took him.”
On the floor near Leo’s overturned chair lay the Polaroid of Arthur holding him as a newborn.
Someone had placed a note on top.
May you like
One sentence.
BRING ARTHUR’S RECORDS TO ZURICH IF YOU WANT THE BOY BACK.
