Chapter 14 - WHAT ROBERT CONFESSED
Helen did not deny it.
She sat in Robert's old study while Evan placed the codicil in front of her.
"When?"
"Three months after Mara died."
"Martin confessed he caused the crash?"
Helen nodded.
Claire made a broken sound behind him.
"Mom, you knew for twenty-nine years?"
"I knew he forced her off the road."
"And you let him come to Christmas dinner."
Helen covered her face.
"Robert said if we accused Martin, he would expose the forged transfers and destroy the company."
"So?"
"Hundreds of people worked there."
"You always had a reason."
Helen looked at him through tears.
"Yes."
"I told myself I was protecting Claire."
Helen looked at her daughter.
"Then I told myself I was protecting you."
"Then I stopped telling myself anything because the truth was too ugly."
Claire walked to the window.
"What else does Martin have on us?"
Helen took a long breath.
"Nothing that matters anymore."
"What does that mean?"
Helen opened Robert's desk safe.
Inside was a sealed envelope addressed to the district attorney.
"Dad prepared evidence."
"He never sent it."
"Why not?"
Helen looked at the framed photograph of Robert on the shelf.
"He died the night before he planned to."
Robert had died from what doctors called a sudden cardiac event while driving home from the office.
Martin had arranged the funeral.
"You think Dad's death wasn't natural."
Helen's face said she had thought it for two years.
Claire whispered, "Martin was with him that night."
"How do you know?"
"Because I saw them arguing in the parking garage."
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
Claire started crying.
"Because Martin told me Dad had discovered the money in my account and was going to accuse me of stealing."
Evan stared at his sister.
May you like
Martin had not just hidden the family's secrets.
He had designed the way they blamed one another.
