Chapter 15 - THE LETTER FOR SARAH
I wanted to burn Sarah's letter without opening it.
I wanted Thomas to have left one uncomplicated truth behind.
Instead I called Michael, photographed the sealed envelope, and arranged for it to be preserved before Sarah read it.
She agreed to meet in the presence of her attorney.
At first she looked angry that David was there.
Then she saw her father's handwriting.
Her expression crumpled.
She opened the letter slowly.
Thomas wrote that he knew Greg had manipulated invoices and that Sarah had helped conceal transfers.
He also wrote about the time she came to him, shaking, and admitted she feared her husband.
He had urged her to leave and offered independent legal help.
She refused, believing Greg would change.
Thomas's final paragraph was merciless in its clarity.
Being afraid of him will never justify making someone else afraid of you.
Sarah pressed the paper against her chest.
"He knew," she whispered.
"He knew what Greg did."
I stared at her.
"And you knew what you did to me."
She began listing the humiliations Greg had inflicted on her.
I believed some of them.
I also remembered the hard oak edge against my skull.
"You can be a victim of one person and the person who harmed another," I told her.
She cried without looking away.
For the first time, she said the words I had waited to hear.
"I pushed you. I stole from you. I left you on the floor. I'm sorry."
I did not embrace her.
I did not say everything was forgiven.
I asked whether she was prepared to repeat that statement to investigators.
She nodded.
Then Greg's car pulled into the parking lot outside.
Sarah froze.
"I didn't tell him where I was going," she whispered.
May you like
But he was already walking toward the glass doors, holding a photograph of David's daughters.
