Chapter 11 - The Brother at the Bus Station
I found Daniel beside a bus station in Rahway, wearing a work jacket with paint on one sleeve. He looked like my father around the eyes. Everywhere else, time had been cruel.
"You got old," he said.
"You disappeared."
We stood a few feet apart until he opened his arms. I wanted to hit him. Instead I hugged him so hard he made a sound like a broken laugh.
Over coffee in a diner, he told me what he had done. In 2013 he'd worked for Adam as a junior records clerk. Adam paid him twelve thousand dollars to move a set of documents from one loan file to another. Daniel noticed Dad's name on a certification Rafael had never signed. He took the money anyway. When he confessed, Dad learned that Adam had already drained part of a family investment account through false guarantees.
"Why didn't you go to the police?" I demanded.
"Dad was dying. Adam told us that if we went public, he'd ruin your business and make Sofia a target. She was nine. I believed him."
Dad paid Daniel to leave the city and protect the originals. Daniel took a different name, then let shame make twelve years out of what should have been a few months.
"You could've called Mom."
"I know." His eyes filled. "I don't get twelve years back by explaining them."
He said an old coworker at Adam's office had warned him about new paperwork bearing Elena's name. Daniel had sent me the text about the pills from a borrowed phone because he wasn't sure whether I was part of it.
"Do you still have the ledger?" I asked.
May you like
"I have something better."
He slid a storage-unit key across the table. "Our father left a recording. But before you hear it, you need to know why Adam kept your signature."
