Chapter 4 - The Price of Gerald’s Silence
The room seemed to shrink around us.
I stared at Uncle Raymond.
He did not deny it.
That frightened me more than anger would have.
Kenneth lowered himself into a chair.
His hands shook.
I had never seen them shake before.
Gerald remained standing.
“Tell her.”
Kenneth rubbed both palms over his face.
“I was twenty-seven.”
“You were thirty-one,” Raymond snapped.
Kenneth looked up.
“That’s what you correct?”
“Enough,” Gerald said.
Kenneth’s eyes found mine.
“The company was already struggling.”
“What company?”
“Crawford Grain.”
I folded my arms.
“Keep going.”
“Dad had expanded too fast. Equipment loans, storage facilities, supplier contracts. We had assets, but not enough cash.”
Gerald shook his head.
“That’s not why the money disappeared.”
“I know.”
Kenneth swallowed.
“Raymond said he had investors who could temporarily move funds through another company. He said it would keep us afloat.”
Raymond laughed bitterly.
“Don’t make yourself a child.”
“I believed you.”
“You signed the transfers.”
“Because you told me we were borrowing against future contracts!”
Gerald stepped between them.
“What happened next?”
Kenneth looked down.
“The money didn’t come back.”
“How much?” I asked.
“Four million, two hundred thousand.”
Nearly the exact amount owed to the farmers.
Kenneth continued.
“When Dad discovered it, he demanded an audit.”
Gerald’s expression tightened.
“Raymond came to my office the night before I was supposed to meet investigators.”
Kenneth’s voice became quieter.
“He had copies of my signatures.”
Raymond shrugged.
“They were his signatures.”
“You forged the authorization pages.”
“Prove it.”
Aaron moved toward the cabinet.
“Oh, I intend to.”
Raymond’s eyes followed him.
Gerald spoke.
“Raymond told me Kenneth would be arrested before sunrise unless I cooperated.”
Kenneth looked at me.
“I was terrified.”
“Did Raymond really put a gun to your head?”
Kenneth did not answer.
Gerald did.
“Yes.”
Raymond rolled his eyes.
“It was unloaded.”
I felt something inside me snap.
“You threatened your nephew with a gun and your defense is that it wasn’t loaded?”
“He needed motivation.”
I stared at Kenneth.
“So Gerald pleaded guilty for you.”
Kenneth’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“And after he went to prison, what did you do?”
Silence.
I stepped closer.
“What did you do, Kenneth?”
“I tried to rebuild.”
“No. What did you do for him?”
His face twisted.
“I sent money.”
Gerald laughed.
“One hundred dollars twice.”
Kenneth stared at him.
“I had children.”
“So did I.”
“You were in prison!”
“And whose place was I taking?”
Kenneth stood sharply.
“I never asked you to do that!”
Gerald flinched.
The words hung there.
I watched regret arrive immediately on Kenneth’s face.
But Gerald did not yell.
He simply nodded.
“That is the first truthful thing you’ve said.”
“Dad—”
“You never asked me to save you. Correct.”
Gerald’s eyes were wet.
“But you never asked me not to.”
No one spoke.
Eventually Raymond reached for his keys.
“This family reunion is over.”
Aaron blocked his path.
“You’re not taking anything.”
“I don’t need your permission.”
“No, but you might need a lawyer.”
Raymond smiled.
“You think five years of hiding made you smart?”
“I wasn’t hiding.”
Aaron opened the cabinet.
“I was collecting.”
He pulled out the binder.
Raymond’s expression changed.
Aaron set it on the desk and flipped to a page.
“March 11. Gulf Meridian Holdings received one million eight hundred thousand dollars from Crawford Grain.”
He turned another page.
“March 14. Gulf Meridian transferred seven hundred thousand to an account controlled by Raymond Crawford.”
Another.
“March 22. Three hundred thousand paid toward a property purchase outside Mobile.”
Raymond’s face darkened.
“And?”
“And you told investigators Gulf Meridian had no relationship with the Crawford family.”
“I didn’t own it.”
“No.”
Aaron smiled.
“Your girlfriend did.”
Gerald looked stunned.
Kenneth whispered, “What?”
Aaron produced a photograph.
Raymond with a woman outside a courthouse.
“Evelyn Carter.”
Raymond snatched the photo.
“She was a business associate.”
“She was also the registered owner of Gulf Meridian Holdings for eleven months. Then she disappeared.”
Raymond looked up.
“Careful.”
Aaron’s voice lowered.
“I’ve been careful for five years.”
“What happened to her?” I asked.
Aaron glanced at Gerald.
“No one knows.”
The silence afterward felt different.
Darker.
This was no longer just fraud.
Gerald seemed to read my mind.
“Melanie, we need the original ledger.”
“In my bedroom wall.”
“Yes.”
“We can drive back tonight.”
Aaron shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if Kenneth followed us, Raymond knows we’re looking for evidence.”
Kenneth stepped forward.
“I didn’t tell him about the ledger.”
“No,” Aaron said. “But now he knows something exists.”
Raymond smiled.
“You children always did talk too much.”
He reached for the door.
Aaron moved again.
Raymond stopped.
“You want to physically keep me here?”
“No.”
Aaron stepped aside.
“I want you to leave.”
Raymond stared at him suspiciously.
“Why?”
“Because I already sent copies of those records somewhere safe.”
It was a bluff.
At least I thought it was.
Raymond’s face gave nothing away.
He left.
Kenneth followed him toward the door.
I stared.
“You’re leaving with him?”
Kenneth stopped.
“I need to make sure he doesn’t do something stupid.”
I almost laughed.
“He threatened you with a gun, sent your father to prison, and may have stolen millions, and you’re worried he might do something stupid?”
“You don’t understand Raymond.”
“No, Kenneth. I’m beginning to understand you.”
He flinched.
I removed my wedding ring.
His eyes dropped toward my hand.
“Melanie.”
“I’m not saying our marriage is over.”
Hope flashed across his face.
“Then—”
“I’m saying I don’t know who I married.”
I placed the ring inside my purse.
“And until I do, you stay away from me and the kids.”
He stared at me.
“You can’t keep my children from me.”
“I can keep them away from this.”
I gestured toward the wall covered with evidence.
He lowered his voice.
“Laura and Lucas know nothing.”
“Then let’s keep it that way until I know they’re safe.”
Kenneth left without another word.
Gerald sank into the chair.
For several seconds, he looked older than sixty-eight.
Then he looked at me.
“You should go back to your children.”
“I will.”
“Tonight.”
I nodded.
“With you.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“You’re coming home.”
“That house is the first place Raymond will look.”
“It belongs to you.”
“That won’t stop him.”
Aaron closed the office blinds.
“We need to retrieve the ledger first.”
I thought of my bedroom.
The pale-blue walls.
The dresser Kenneth had bought me for our tenth anniversary.
Fourteen years of my life.
And somewhere behind those walls was evidence that might destroy the entire Crawford family.
“How do we get it?”
Gerald looked at me.
“There’s a loose board inside the closet.”
I knew the one.
Kenneth had repaired that closet two years ago.
I remembered him becoming strangely angry when I suggested replacing the wall paneling.
My stomach dropped.
“Kenneth knows.”
Gerald stiffened.
“What?”
“He rebuilt the closet.”
Aaron grabbed his keys.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“Then we need to leave now.”
My phone rang.
Laura.
I answered immediately.
“Mom?”
Something was wrong with her voice.
“Laura, what happened?”
“Dad came home.”
My pulse jumped.
“Where are you?”
“In my room.”
“Is Lucas with you?”
“Yes.”
“Lock the door.”
“Mom…”
“What?”
She whispered so quietly I almost couldn’t hear.
“Uncle Raymond is here too.”
I looked at Aaron.
Then Gerald.
May you like
And my daughter said the words that sent all three of us running for the door.
“They’re tearing apart your bedroom wall.”
