Chapter 4 - THE LETTER FROM THE DEAD
The church no longer felt like a church.
It felt like a courtroom.
Everyone waited for me to keep reading.
But I couldn’t.
Twenty years of grief had suddenly changed shape.
Thomas had not simply been tired before he died.
He had been afraid.
And someone connected to the family my daughter was about to marry into may have helped the man he feared.
Lauren took the letter gently from my hands.
She read it herself.
Then again.
Her eyes lifted toward Ethan.
He looked devastated.
“I didn’t know any of this.”
“I know.”
But Lauren’s voice lacked certainty.
Richard stepped forward.
“Neither did I.”
Samuel gave a bitter laugh.
“You knew enough.”
Richard turned.
“What does that mean?”
“You knew Halcyon was under investigation.”
“Yes, but I was told accounting irregularities had been resolved.”
“By David.”
Richard went silent.
Samuel nodded.
“And when Thomas tried to contact you directly, someone intercepted every message.”
Richard looked toward his wife.
Evelyn’s expression hardened.
“No.”
Samuel faced her.
“You were Richard’s executive assistant before you married him.”
Lauren stared.
So did Ethan.
Richard’s voice dropped.
“Evelyn?”
She shook her head.
“I handled hundreds of messages.”
“Did Thomas contact me?”
Silence.
Richard stepped closer.
“Did he?”
Evelyn finally whispered:
“Yes.”
The word landed like a stone.
Richard looked as if she had slapped him.
“How many times?”
“Three.”
“And you never told me?”
“You were recovering from the accident. The company was unstable. David told me Thomas was trying to extort Halcyon.”
I felt anger rise in my chest.
“Thomas would never do that.”
“I know that now.”
“Did you?”
She looked at me.
For the first time, shame replaced defensiveness.
“Not then.”
Lauren clutched the letter.
“What happened after my father tried to reach Richard?”
Samuel answered.
“He went to the state attorney’s office.”
My breath caught.
“He was going to expose everything?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t he?”
Samuel looked away.
“That meeting never happened.”
I stopped breathing.
Thomas had died on a Tuesday morning.
I remembered every detail.
He kissed Lauren goodbye.
He told me he had an appointment before work.
Four hours later, a police officer knocked on our door.
“The meeting was scheduled for the morning he died,” Samuel said.
Lauren’s hand flew to her mouth.
Ethan stepped backward.
Even Evelyn looked shaken now.
Richard whispered:
“They told us Thomas died at home.”
“He did,” I said.
But suddenly I remembered something.
Thomas had come back unexpectedly that morning.
Pale.
Sweating.
He said he felt sick.
Then he collapsed in our kitchen.
The coroner ruled it cardiac arrest.
No autopsy.
There seemed no reason for one.
Samuel slowly reached into his pocket.
“There’s something else.”
He removed a small brass key.
“I found this taped inside Thomas’s letter.”
I stared at it.
“What does it open?”
Samuel looked toward Lauren.
“According to Thomas, it opens a bank deposit box.”
Lauren swallowed.
“What’s inside?”
May you like
Samuel’s answer silenced the church.
“Proof that her father believed his death might not be natural.”
