Chapter 13 - Daniel Came Back
Daniel returned three days later.
Not to the apartment.
To Sophie’s school.
Thankfully, Sophie was not there.
Her doctor had kept her home while she recovered from the concussion.
Daniel did not know that.
He arrived at dismissal time carrying the backpack Sophie had left at our house.
He told the school secretary he was her stepfather.
He said I had asked him to pick her up.
The school called me.
I was with Rachel when my phone rang.
“Mrs. Bennett, Mr. Bennett is here for Sophie.”
My entire body went cold.
“Do not release her.”
“She isn’t here.”
Relief hit so hard I had to sit down.
“He’s asking where she is.”
“Tell him nothing.”
The school’s security officer escorted Daniel outside.
Police met him in the parking lot.
By then investigators had enough to take him into custody for questioning connected to the financial scheme.
A judge had also approved temporary protective conditions preventing him from contacting Sophie.
Daniel had apparently believed none of that would happen quickly enough.
He was wrong.
That evening, he asked through his attorney to speak with me.
Rachel advised against it.
I agreed.
Then Daniel offered investigators something.
Everything.
Bank records.
Messages.
Passwords.
The two document boxes he had removed from our house.
He wanted cooperation considered in whatever happened next.
Detective Ortiz asked whether I wanted to hear a summary of his statement.
I said yes.
Daniel admitted planting Preston’s phone.
He admitted knowing Olivia planned to make the false bracelet accusation.
He admitted receiving money through Northline.
He admitted he had approached my father before our wedding about my trust.
That was the confession that hurt most.
He also claimed he eventually loved me.
I laughed when Ortiz told me.
Maybe he did.
People love badly all the time.
Love does not erase deceit.
Love does not turn betrayal into an accident.
Love does not make an eight-year-old child acceptable collateral.
Daniel said Preston originally promised him two million dollars if I signed the voting proxy.
Later, the amount increased because Daniel’s gambling debts had worsened.
My father knew Daniel was financially desperate.
Instead of warning me, Richard used it.
Daniel also told investigators that Project Meridian included secret payments far larger than the ones Thomas had found.
“How much larger?”
Ortiz looked at her notes.
“Possibly more than twelve million.”
My stomach dropped.
“To whom?”
“Politically connected consultants.”
“Bribes?”
“We are not calling them that without evidence.”
I nodded.
“What else?”
Daniel claimed Preston had kept a separate encrypted drive containing the true Project Meridian accounting.
“Where?”
“He doesn’t know.”
“Convenient.”
Ortiz gave me a small smile.
“I said something similar.”
Then she turned serious.
“Daniel says Preston told him one person knew where the drive was.”
“Who?”
“Your mother.”
I stared at her.
“Margaret?”
“Yes.”
I thought back to the wedding.
My mother protecting Preston.
My mother telling me to leave.
My mother insisting Sophie had caused the humiliation.
But I also remembered the library.
Her face when I mentioned Grandmother’s recordings.
Her confusion when she looked at my father.
Maybe Margaret knew more than she admitted.
Maybe less than Richard assumed.
Either way, she had spent her entire life choosing loyalty over questions.
Now that loyalty had placed her in the center of a criminal investigation.
I called her.
She answered immediately.
“Evelyn?”
“Do you have Preston’s drive?”
Silence.
A long one.
Then she whispered.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Daniel says you do.”
“You spoke to Daniel?”
“Answer me.”
Another silence.
Finally, my mother said something I never expected.
“I found it in Preston’s study the morning after the wedding.”
My heart began racing.
“Where is it now?”
“I hid it.”
“Why?”
Her voice broke.
“Because I opened one of the files.”
I waited.
“What did you see?”
She began to cry.
“Your father’s name.”
I closed my eyes.
“What else?”
“My name.”
I sat upright.
“What do you mean your name?”
May you like
Margaret whispered.
“There are accounts in my name that I have never seen before.”
