Chapter 2 - THE ENVELOPE THOMAS HID
Helen arrived after the officers had ordered Sarah and Greg to leave the property.
She brought a battered brown envelope that Thomas had entrusted to her before he died.
The flap bore his handwriting: FOR MARGARET, IF SARAH EVER COMES FOR THE SAFE.
I had to sit down before I could touch it.
"Why didn't you give this to me years ago?" I asked.
Helen's face was gray with fatigue.
"He instructed me to keep it sealed unless a specific condition occurred. I tried to persuade him otherwise."
Inside lay copies of bank statements, photographs of canceled checks, and a handwritten letter.
Thomas apologized for the secret.
He wrote that three years before his death, he had discovered Greg using forged invoices to pull money from a family-owned construction supply company.
Thomas had been a silent investor.
Sarah had begged him not to expose her husband.
So Thomas paid back the missing funds, but kept records in case the theft began again.
He had also removed Sarah as a contingent beneficiary from one investment account after an unauthorized withdrawal attempt.
My hands shook.
I had spent four years believing Thomas had gone to his grave at peace.
Now I saw that he had been frightened for me.
The final page described a second safe-deposit box and a person identified only as E.M.
"Who is E.M.?" I asked.
Helen hesitated.
"A former bookkeeper who helped Thomas trace the invoices."
I reread one line in his letter.
Greg is not acting alone.
The words lodged in my throat.
"Did Thomas think Sarah knew?"
"He thought she knew more than she admitted."
Outside, the roses moved in the wind.
I pictured Sarah screaming at me from the porch while Greg hid his tool.
Then Helen turned over a bank statement and showed me a transfer dated only three weeks before Thomas died.
The recipient was not Greg.
It was someone named David Hale.
May you like
My son.
