Chapter 5 - MARGARET’S CONFESSION
Margaret regained consciousness the following morning.
Doctors allowed police to question her briefly, provided the interview stopped if her condition worsened. She asked to see me before speaking to anyone else.
I did not want to go.
Part of me still saw her behind the glass door while Noah cried in the snow. But if she had been drugged, the truth might be more complicated than I had believed.
She lay in a burn-unit bed with oxygen beneath her nose and one arm covered in bandages.
When I entered, tears slipped from the corners of her eyes.
“I heard him knocking,” she whispered.
I remained standing.
“I tried to reach the door. My legs wouldn’t work. Arthur told me Noah deserved to learn obedience.”
“Why didn’t you call me before the drug took effect?”
Margaret looked away. “Because I was a coward long before anyone put medicine in my tea.”
At least she did not lie.
“Tell me about Ethan.”
Her chest rose unsteadily.
“He discovered Arthur had approved unsafe materials. Ethan recorded conversations and copied documents. He planned to take everything to a reporter.”
“What happened at the lake house?”
“Arthur asked him to meet us there. He promised he would confess and cooperate. Ethan believed him.”
Her voice broke.
“They argued in the boathouse. Ethan said he would never become like his father. Arthur struck him with a metal lantern.”
I felt the room grow colder.
“Was Ethan alive afterward?”
“Yes.”
The answer was worse than I expected.
“He was breathing. I begged Arthur to call an ambulance. Arthur said prison would destroy the family and leave Daniel with nothing.”
“What did you do?”
Margaret stared at the ceiling.
“I helped him hide Ethan beneath the floor.”
For several seconds, I could not speak.
“You buried your son alive?”
“No. Arthur said he checked. He said Ethan had stopped breathing.”
“Did you check?”
She closed her eyes.
“No.”
A monitor beside her began beeping faster.
“You erased his name,” I said. “You told Daniel his brother abandoned him.”
“Arthur controlled the story. He threatened to kill Daniel if I spoke.”
“And for twenty-three years, you stayed.”
“Yes.”
Her honesty was ugly, but it was finally honesty.
“Why did Arthur lock you in the boathouse?”
“Because I told him I was going to confess.”
“What changed?”
“Noah.”
She looked at me again.
“When I saw him outside that door, crying like Ethan cried, I understood that my silence had not protected the family. It had fed Arthur. I crawled to the study and called Daniel.”
“Daniel was already at the lake house.”
“He came because I told him where Ethan was buried.”
I frowned. “Then why did Arthur go there?”
“Rebecca warned him.”
My stomach tightened.
“Rebecca drugged you and alerted Arthur?”
Margaret nodded.
“She has been helping him for years.”
“Why?”
“Money. Arthur promised her control of the company after Daniel was discredited.”
I thought of Rebecca arriving at the hospital, desperate to minimize everything.
“What was she supposed to do?”
“Arthur planned to make Daniel look unstable and dishonest, just as he had done with Ethan. Missing company funds were going to be blamed on him.”
“And the flash drive?”
“It contained proof that Arthur and Rebecca created false accounts in Daniel’s name.”
Margaret began coughing. A nurse entered, but she lifted one hand.
“There is something else,” she said.
The nurse hesitated.
I stepped closer. “What?”
“Arthur did not only kill Ethan to hide the construction fraud.”
Her eyes filled with terror.
“Ethan discovered Arthur had caused the balcony collapse deliberately.”
I stared at her.
“Why would he do that?”
“The building owner refused to sell the surrounding land. Arthur wanted the entire block for a luxury development. He weakened the supports so the property would be condemned.”
Four people had died because Arthur wanted land.
Margaret gripped my hand with surprising strength.
“The original engineering report still exists. Arthur kept it as leverage against the inspector he bribed.”
“Where?”
“In the Whitaker Foundation archives. File box 118.”
The door opened behind me.
Daniel stood there, his face drained of color.
He had heard everything.
Margaret looked at her son.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Daniel’s expression did not soften.
“You let me believe Ethan abandoned me.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“No,” he said. “You were trying to keep yourself comfortable.”
Margaret flinched as though he had struck her.
Then Elena rushed into the room.
“Box 118 is gone.”
My heart sank.
“Arthur?”
“We checked security footage. Rebecca entered the archive building two hours ago.”
Daniel turned toward the door.
But Elena stopped him.
“She didn’t leave alone.”
“Who was with her?”
Elena showed us a frozen image from the security camera.
Arthur stood beside Rebecca.
Between them was Mason.
May you like
Arthur had one hand clamped around the boy’s shoulder.
And Mason was crying.
