Chapter 6 - The Night My Father Died
My mother had confessed to something.
I just didn’t know what.
For the next two hours, police tried to trace her call.
Burner phone.
Tower ping near Dublin.
Too broad.
Detective Mitchell sent units to check motels, parking lots, hospitals and properties connected to Rachel Pike.
Nothing.
At 10:46 p.m., we returned to police headquarters.
A digital forensics technician had already begun recovering video from the Riverstone hard drive.
He found one intact folder.
The date matched the night my father died.
Four years earlier.
2:03 a.m.
The footage had no sound.
At first, the warehouse appeared empty.
Then Dad entered.
I had forgotten how strong he looked before the final year aged him.
Thomas Hayes.
Sixty-three.
Silver hair.
Broad shoulders.
He carried a folder beneath one arm.
Three minutes later, Nathan entered.
I stopped breathing.
My brother looked terrified.
Dad pointed at a chair.
Nathan sat.
They argued.
Even without audio, I could tell.
Dad slammed documents onto the table.
Nathan covered his face.
Then a third person entered.
My mother.
She rushed toward Nathan and slapped him.
Nathan stood.
Dad stepped between them.
Mom began crying.
Then she pulled something from her purse.
A small bottle.
She placed it on the table.
Dad stared at it.
The footage glitched.
Eight seconds vanished.
When the picture returned, a fourth person stood inside the office.
A man.
Tall.
Thin.
Gray jacket.
His back faced the camera.
Nathan stumbled backward.
My mother looked horrified.
Dad didn’t.
He looked angry.
The man held out his hand.
Dad refused.
Then the stranger suddenly grabbed him.
They struggled.
Nathan tried to intervene.
Mom picked up the bottle.
Then everything happened quickly.
Dad shoved the man away.
The stranger fled.
Dad turned toward Nathan.
Took two steps.
Then collapsed.
My mother screamed.
Nathan dropped beside him.
The footage ended nine minutes later when Nathan and Mom carried Dad outside.
I couldn’t move.
Mitchell paused the video on the stranger.
“Do you recognize him?”
“No.”
Emily leaned closer.
“Maybe.”
She zoomed in on a reflection in the office window.
The man’s face appeared faintly.
Older now in my memory.
But unmistakable from photographs.
Leonard Pike.
“He was there,” I whispered.
Mitchell nodded.
“Looks like it.”
“But Dad collapsed after Pike left.”
“That doesn’t mean Pike didn’t cause it.”
“What was in the bottle Mom put on the table?”
“We need your mother to answer that.”
At 11:12, another officer entered.
“We found Nathan.”
I stood so quickly my chair fell.
“Where?”
“Grant Medical Center.”
Nathan had walked into the emergency department alone.
Bruised.
Cut above the eye.
Two broken fingers.
He claimed he escaped from two men near an abandoned service road.
When I entered his hospital room, he looked at me and started crying.
I had seen Nathan cry only twice.
At Dad’s funeral.
And when his first child died during childbirth.
“Daniel.”
I stopped beside the bed.
“You told Mom to lie to police.”
His face tightened.
“I know.”
“You let her accuse Emily.”
“I know.”
“My wife has a fractured wrist.”
“I didn’t think Mom would swing the bat.”
“You brought her there.”
“No.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I swear.”
He looked desperate.
“Mom called me. Said Emily had Dad’s letter. I panicked and drove over.”
“Why?”
“Because Pike contacted me yesterday.”
That silenced me.
“He’s been watching us again.”
“Again?”
Nathan nodded.
“After Dad died, he disappeared. I thought it was over.”
“What did he want?”
“The Riverstone evidence.”
“And you knew Emily found the letter?”
“Mom told me.”
“How did she know?”
“She’d been going through your house.”
My chest tightened.
“What?”
Nathan looked ashamed.
“She was scared.”
“Of Emily?”
“Of what Dad left behind.”
I stepped closer.
“Mom called me tonight and confessed.”
Nathan went still.
“To what?”
“She said she betrayed Dad.”
His eyes closed.
“That’s not what she means.”
“Then tell me.”
Nathan stared at the ceiling.
“She didn’t kill Dad.”
“I didn’t say she did.”
“She thinks she did.”
The room felt suddenly smaller.
“What was in the bottle?”
Nathan’s face changed.
“You saw the video?”
“Yes.”
He took a breath.
“Dad had heart medication.”
“I know.”
“Pike convinced Mom the medication was dangerous.”
“What?”
“He told her Dad’s doctor was overprescribing him. Told her he had a specialist who could help.”
“And?”
“Mom switched Dad’s pills.”
My stomach dropped.
“With what?”
“Supplements.”
I stared at him.
“She stopped his heart medication?”
“For three days.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“She thought she was helping him.”
“And Pike knew exactly what would happen.”
Nathan nodded.
“Dad confronted him at Riverstone. He already felt sick. During the argument, his heart gave out.”
My fists clenched.
“Why did you hide it?”
“Because Dad made me promise.”
“He was unconscious.”
“Before he collapsed.”
Nathan’s voice broke.
“He told me if anything happened, protect Mom.”
I turned away.
All these years, I had believed Dad died peacefully beside the woman he loved.
Instead, his final hours had been lies, blackmail, fear and betrayal.
Then Nathan said, “Daniel, there’s something else.”
I looked back.
“Pike didn’t target Mom randomly.”
“What do you mean?”
“He knew she would believe him.”
“Why?”
Nathan swallowed.
“Because Mom and Leonard Pike had been seeing each other.”
The words hit harder than anything before them.
“What?”
“Before Dad died.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
Nathan looked away.
“Maybe a year.”
My father hadn’t only been betrayed in business.
May you like
He had been betrayed in his marriage.
And now the man responsible had my mother again.
