Chapter 7 - The Warehouse
Police traced Daniel's call to Baltimore's industrial waterfront.
They found Nathan inside an abandoned jewelry-distribution warehouse.
Alive.
Beaten.
Handcuffed.
Daniel was gone.
But he left something behind.
A ledger.
At first, investigators assumed it was accidental.
It wasn't.
Daniel wanted us to find it.
The ledger implicated Eleanor.
My mother.
Transfers from twenty years earlier appeared to show Mom receiving money from offshore accounts Daniel used.
I confronted her.
She stared at the pages.
“These are fake.”
“Can you prove it?”
“No.”
For the first time, doubt returned.
What if both my parents had lied?
What if Daniel wasn't the only thief?
Forensic accountants examined the ledger.
Paper was old.
Ink appeared appropriately aged.
Signatures looked genuine.
Then Rebecca noticed one number.
A bank account supposedly used in 2005.
The account didn't exist until 2008.
Daniel had manufactured historical evidence.
He was still trying to isolate me from Mom.
Still trying to turn family against family.
The ledger became evidence against him instead.
Nathan recovered.
He requested to see me.
This time, I agreed.
He looked terrible.
“I'm sorry.”
“For which part?”
“All of it.”
“That's broad.”
He cried.
I didn't comfort him.
“I loved you, Emma.”
“I believe you.”
He looked surprised.
“Then—”
“And you still hit me.”
Silence.
“Love doesn't erase behavior.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
“Good.”
I stood.
“Then maybe you'll become someone who never does that again.”
“Us?”
“No.”
One word.
Clean.
Final.
“No us.”
May you like
I left.
And for the first time, Nathan didn't follow.
