Chapter 6
I wanted to go to the warehouse.
Every angry part of me wanted to drive there, confront Richard Hale, and demand the truth.
But I remembered Detective Reed's warning.
Do not confront anyone involved.
So I called him.
He arrived at my father's house forty minutes later.
Vanessa was sitting at the kitchen table, staring into an untouched glass of water.
When the detective entered, she immediately stood.
"Am I under arrest?"
"Not at this moment," Reed answered.
Her face went pale.
He placed the warehouse note inside an evidence sleeve.
"Tell me how you received this."
Vanessa explained everything.
She described the envelope.
The apartment hallway.
The missing security camera outside her door.
Reed listened carefully.
Then he asked a question.
"Why would someone want Michael at an abandoned warehouse?"
Vanessa looked toward me.
"I think Richard wants to scare him."
"Why?"
"Because Michael knows about the red ledger."
Reed leaned forward.
"And what exactly is in that ledger?"
Vanessa shook her head.
"I never saw it."
My father entered carrying a fresh pot of coffee.
The detective turned toward him.
"Mr. Bennett, we recommend additional security until we determine who made the threat."
Dad nodded.
"Agreed."
I watched him quietly serve coffee to everyone.
Even now, with billions of dollars and security professionals at his disposal, he was still the same man who made breakfast before taking me to school.
That familiarity steadied me.
Reed arranged for officers to monitor the warehouse from a safe distance.
He also instructed Vanessa not to return to her mother's mansion.
When he left, the house became quiet.
Vanessa stood near the door.
"I should go."
I nodded.
She looked at my father.
"Mr. Bennett, I'm sorry."
Dad studied her.
"For what?"
Her lips trembled.
"For laughing."
He said nothing.
"For letting my mother humiliate you. For acting like your clothes made you less important."
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
"I knew better."
My father slowly approached her.
"Then why did you do it?"
Vanessa covered her face.
"Because I wanted my mother's approval."
Dad waited.
She lowered her hands.
"All my life, she told me being poor was the worst thing that could happen to a person. She said people only respected wealth."
I watched her struggle for words.
"I started believing her."
Dad nodded sadly.
"That explains your behavior."
Vanessa looked hopeful.
Then he continued.
"It doesn't excuse it."
She lowered her head.
"I know."
He opened the door for her.
"Then become someone who knows better and acts better."
After she left, Dad sat beside me.
"You're worried about her."
I didn't deny it.
"I don't know what to feel."
"That's all right."
I looked at him.
"Could you ever forgive her?"
He considered the question.
"Possibly."
"Really?"
"Forgiveness is not the same as allowing someone back into your life."
I stared at the floor.
"And what if I still love her?"
"Then you have a difficult decision."
He touched my shoulder.
"But don't make it while you're hurting."
The next morning, the investigation moved faster than anyone expected.
Detective Reed called just after eight.
Officers had observed Richard entering the warehouse before sunrise.
He carried two boxes.
Another man arrived in a black SUV.
The officers watched them load the boxes into the vehicle.
When the driver committed a traffic violation, police stopped him.
Inside the SUV, investigators found files linked to several Whitmore accounts.
Richard was detained for questioning.
I felt a strange sense of satisfaction.
But Reed quickly warned me.
"This doesn't mean the case is finished."
"What did you find?"
"Records that may support allegations of financial fraud."
"And the ledger?"
He hesitated.
"We haven't recovered it."
My hope faded.
That afternoon, Olivia called an emergency meeting.
She arrived with Helen Brooks.
Helen looked nervous.
"I remembered something," she said.
I leaned forward.
"What?"
"Richard didn't keep the original ledger at the office."
My heart jumped.
"Where?"
Helen looked at my father.
"At the Whitmore family lake house."
Dad frowned.
"Are you sure?"
"I saw him put it inside a metal lockbox."
Olivia immediately began taking notes.
"Did you witness where he stored it?"
Helen nodded.
"Behind a false panel in the study."
I felt my hands tighten.
"Then we have to get it."
Olivia raised her palm.
"The detectives will handle that."
Within hours, Reed obtained the necessary legal authorization.
The lake house was searched.
At six that evening, he called us.
They had found the hidden compartment.
They had found the metal box.
But when officers opened it, the box was empty.
I stared at the phone.
"Empty?"
"Yes."
I felt rage rise in my throat.
"Richard moved it!"
"That's possible."
I paced across the living room.
"Then we're back where we started."
"Not exactly," Reed replied.
"Why?"
"There were fingerprints and other traces. The box may still help us."
He paused.
"And there's something you should know."
I stopped pacing.
"What?"
"We found a photograph inside the compartment."
"Of what?"
"Your mother."
I froze.
"My mother?"
"Yes. Eleanor Bennett."
I looked toward Dad.
He had gone completely still.
Reed continued.
"On the back, someone wrote a date and a location."
My father reached for the phone.
"What location?"
The detective answered.
"The old Bennett workshop."
Dad's face changed.
For the first time in my life, he looked genuinely terrified.
I whispered, "Dad?"
He sank into a chair.
"That workshop burned down twenty-six years ago."
I stared at him.
"What does it have to do with Mom?"
He closed his eyes.
May you like
Then he said something I had never heard before.
"Michael, your mother wasn't the only person who nearly died in that fire."
