Chapter 5 - THE WIFE WHO KEPT HER DEAD HUSBAND’S SECRET
Sofia stared at Rebecca.
“Yesterday?”
Rebecca sank into a chair.
Leo looked physically ill.
“For nine years I visited Dad’s grave.”
Rebecca covered her face.
“There is no grave.”
“The memorial garden.”
“You know what I mean!”
His voice echoed through the basement corridor.
Hale closed the door.
“Mrs. Bennett, start talking.”
Rebecca’s shoulders shook.
“Robert left.”
“When?”
“The night before the crash.”
Leo stared.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He was afraid.”
“Of what?”
Rebecca looked at Sofia.
“Of the trust.”
Sofia’s jaw tightened.
“Everything comes back to that money.”
“It wasn’t only money.”
Rebecca wiped her tears.
“Your father discovered someone had been moving money through Bennett Development.”
Leo frowned.
“Who?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“How much?”
“Nearly eighteen million.”
Hale wrote quickly.
Rebecca continued.
“Robert believed someone inside the company was preparing to frame him.”
“So he faked his death?”
“He said disappearing was the only way to find out who was behind it.”
Leo stared.
“And you agreed?”
“No.”
“Then why did you lie for nine years?”
Rebecca broke.
“Because two days after he disappeared, I received photographs of you and Sofia.”
Sofia went still.
“What photographs?”
“You leaving school.”
“Leo walking into his apartment.”
“Me standing outside the grocery store.”
Rebecca’s voice cracked.
“There was a message.”
“What did it say?”
“If Robert Bennett comes home, one child dies.”
Silence.
Leo’s anger faltered.
Rebecca continued.
“Then the burned car was found.”
“I thought whoever threatened us had killed someone to make Robert’s death convincing.”
“Did Dad contact you?”
“Six months later.”
Leo closed his eyes.
“And since then?”
“Occasionally.”
“How occasionally?”
“Once or twice a year.”
“You talked to him for nine years.”
“Yes.”
“And never told us.”
“He made me promise.”
Sofia laughed bitterly.
“Everyone in this family makes promises using our lives.”
Rebecca looked at her.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“By telling a hospital I was dead?”
Rebecca shook her head violently.
“That was different.”
“How?”
“When Victoria called after your crash, she already knew Robert was alive.”
The room changed.
Leo stared.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Rebecca continued.
“She told me Sofia’s crash was connected to Robert’s disappearance.”
“She said the people looking for him had found Sofia.”
“So when the hospital called…”
“You believed hiding Sofia’s identity would save her.”
“Yes.”
Sofia looked wounded.
“You still should have come.”
Rebecca began crying harder.
“I know.”
“You could have come under another name.”
“I know.”
“You could have sat beside me.”
“I know.”
“You chose fear.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Yes.”
The honesty silenced Sofia.
Detective Hale’s phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Then looked toward them.
“The storage warrant cleared.”
Two hours later, they stood outside Unit 317 at a private storage facility near the interstate.
Hale cut the lock.
The metal door rolled upward.
Inside were boxes.
Dozens.
Every box carried a year.
Photographs covered one wall.
Leo.
Sofia.
Emma.
Rebecca.
Victoria.
Someone had been documenting the family for years.
Sofia stepped closer.
One photograph showed her six months pregnant outside a grocery store.
Another showed Emma leaving school.
Another showed Victoria meeting a man outside a restaurant.
Leo grabbed it.
The man’s face was turned away.
Hale looked at the date.
“Three months ago.”
Sofia noticed something on the man’s wrist.
A watch.
Silver case.
Black leather band.
Her face changed.
“What?”
She pointed.
“Dad wore that watch.”
Leo stared.
Robert’s watch had been engraved by Sofia when she was fifteen.
RB — ALWAYS COME HOME.
He remembered it perfectly.
Hale opened another box.
Inside were passports.
Cash.
Old company records.
And a photograph of Robert Bennett.
Recent.
Alive.
Standing beside Victoria.
Leo felt something inside him break.
The date was seven weeks before Sofia’s crash.
Sofia whispered:
“He knew her.”
Rebecca stared.
“No.”
“He was meeting her.”
“No.”
Hale turned the photograph over.
Something had been written on the back.
VICTORIA CONFIRMED. PHASE TWO READY.
Leo’s voice became cold.
“What is Phase Two?”
Nobody knew.
Then Emma, who had been waiting in the car with an officer, suddenly appeared at the unit entrance.
“Mom!”
Sofia turned.
“Emma, you were supposed to stay outside.”
The little girl pointed at another photograph on the wall.
“That’s him.”
Everyone looked.
A tall man stood near the motel entrance.
His face was partially visible.
Robert Bennett.
Sofia’s father.
Emma’s grandfather.
“You saw him?”
Emma nodded.
“The night Auntie Victoria took the baby.”
Leo crouched.
“What did he do?”
Emma looked frightened.
“He was waiting by the trash bins.”
Sofia stopped breathing.
“What?”
Emma nodded.
“But when Auntie Victoria left…”
The child’s voice became smaller.
“He picked the baby up first.”
Leo stared.
“Then how did you get her?”
Emma swallowed.
“I followed him.”
“He carried her behind the building.”
“He put her down.”
“Then he saw me.”
Sofia dropped to her knees.
“What did Grandpa say?”
Emma began trembling.
“He told me to take the baby inside.”
Everyone froze.
“And then?”
May you like
Emma looked directly at Sofia.
“He said, ‘Tell your mother I’m sorry I let Victoria go this far.’”
