“Put the weapon down,” Daniel said.
The older man shook his head.
“I don't want to hurt either of you.”
“Then lower it.”
“You don't understand what happens if those records leave this property.”
I stepped around Daniel.
“You knew my father.”
The man looked at me.
“Yes.”
“You knew Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew Victor Caldwell.”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“Who are you?”
He lowered the weapon slightly.
“My name is Samuel Reed.”
I remembered the initials from one of the land records.
S.R.
“You worked with my father.”
“I did.”
“What were you?”
“An investigator.”
“For whom?”
“For your father.”
Daniel stared at him.
“My father knew you?”
Samuel nodded.
“Victor knew me too.”
I looked at the gun.
“Why did you threaten us?”
“I wanted the records.”
“To destroy them?”
“To keep them from being destroyed.”
He slowly placed the gun on the floor.
“I knew someone would come for them.”
“Who?”
“People who are still alive.”
The words landed heavily.
“Victor is dead.”
Samuel looked at Daniel.
“Not everyone involved died with him.”
I opened my father's letter again.
“Who did he mean when he said not to trust the man who speaks for the Caldwell family?”
Samuel gave a humorless smile.
“Elias Mercer.”
Daniel's face changed.
“Mercer?”
“You know him.”
“He was my father's attorney.”
“He was more than that.”
Samuel walked toward the boxes.
“Mercer created the shell companies.”
I felt a cold knot form in my stomach.
“Why?”
“To move property without leaving the real owners' names attached.”
“Why would my father get involved?”
“Because one family lost everything.”
“What family?”
Samuel looked at me.
“The Holloways.”
The name meant nothing.
Daniel shook his head.
“I've heard it.”
“Your father had heard it too.”
Samuel picked up one of the documents.
“The Holloways owned thousands of acres. Victor and Mercer wanted the land. They pressured them, forged documents, created debts, and eventually forced a sale.”
My father had discovered it.
That was the beginning.
Not the end.
“What did my father do?”
“He collected evidence.”
“And then?”
“Victor found out.”
I looked at Daniel.
“And my father?”
Samuel's voice softened.
“He planned to expose everything.”
“Why didn't he?”
“Because he discovered something worse.”
I waited.
Samuel opened another box.
Inside were bank statements.
“This money wasn't only coming from land.”
He handed one to me.
The account numbers were unfamiliar.
But the transfers were enormous.
“Where did it come from?”
“People paid to make problems disappear.”
“What kind of problems?”
“Witnesses. Lawsuits. Investigations.”
Daniel stared at the documents.
“My father was laundering money.”
Samuel nodded.
“And Mercer controlled the mechanism.”
I thought of the secret account.
“Then whose money was in Daniel's account?”
Samuel looked at me.
“Your father's.”
I stopped breathing.
“What?”
Daniel stepped forward.
“My father told me the account was mine.”
“He lied.”
Samuel pointed to the records.
“The account was created to protect money your father was trying to recover.”
I looked at Daniel.
“You knew?”
“I didn't know.”
“Then why were you keeping it?”
“Because my father told me it was mine.”
Samuel shook his head.
“He used you.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“For what?”
“To make the money look legitimate.”
Silence filled the room.
I finally understood why Daniel had never known the full truth.
He had been useful precisely because he was ignorant.
A wealthy heir with a clean name was far more convenient than a criminal's name attached to suspicious transfers.
Samuel looked at me.
“Your father wanted the money returned to the people who had lost their land.”
“And he trusted Daniel to help.”
“Yes.”
“What happened that night?”
Samuel took a breath.
“Victor confronted your father.”
“Why?”
“He wanted the evidence.”
“My father refused.”
“Then Mercer arrived.”
I felt my stomach turn.
“Was Mercer driving the second car?”
Samuel nodded.
“He was.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“But the video showed my father.”
“Your father arrived after the crash.”
“Then why did the video show him there?”
“Because he came back.”
I looked at Samuel.
“Why?”
“To take the file.”
“What happened?”
“Your father was already injured.”
“Did Mercer hit him?”
Samuel looked away.
“I wasn't there.”
“But you know.”
“I know what your father told me afterward.”
My voice became unsteady.
“He survived?”
“For a few minutes.”
The room blurred.
“What did he say?”
Samuel looked directly at me.
“He told me to find you.”
I pressed my hand against my mouth.
“Why didn't you?”
“Because Mercer found me first.”
“What happened?”
“I was threatened.”
“By whom?”
“Mercer.”
I looked at the box.
“And the video?”
Samuel shook his head.
“I didn't send it.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Then who did?”
A phone began ringing.
All three of us froze.
It wasn't mine.
It wasn't Daniel's.
Samuel reached into his coat.
The phone was old.
He answered.
“Hello?”
He listened.
Then his face drained of color.
He handed the phone to me.
A voice came through the speaker.
A woman's voice.
Margaret.
“You need to leave that property immediately.”
I stared at the phone.
“How do you know where we are?”
Her answer was almost a whisper.
“Because Mercer has known for years.”
Then the line went dead.
Click here to continue reading: PART 8: Margaret’s Confession Forced Me to Question Every Memory of My Marriage, Especially the Night Daniel First Entered My Life
The Dinner Table Went Silent After His Family Finally Revealed What They Had Always Thought About Me
Part 7 of 12
