Chapter 11 - What Happened to My Mother
“My mother died in a car accident.”
I said it slowly.
Nobody responded.
I looked at Gabriel.
“You told me that.”
“She did.”
His voice was careful.
“Then why is everyone acting like there’s more?”
Damian stared at the table.
Victoria spoke first.
“Because there was.”
My chest tightened.
Rachel leaned toward me.
“We can stop.”
“No.”
I looked at Victoria.
“Keep talking.”
She inhaled.
“Your mother spent her final year investigating the construction financing on three Mercer hospital campuses.”
Gabriel’s face was hard.
“I told Tessa some of that.”
“Not all.”
Victoria looked at me.
“She believed Halloway subcontractors were inflating costs.”
“Your company?”
“At the time, Halloway Development was controlled by my husband.”
Bennett’s father.
Charles Halloway.
Dead eight years.
I remembered him only from photographs.
“What did Mom find?”
“Enough to frighten people.”
Gabriel spoke.
“She never proved criminal conduct.”
Damian added quietly.
“But she found accounting irregularities.”
I turned toward him.
“How were you involved?”
“Vale Meridian financed one subcontractor.”
My stomach tightened.
“You were all connected.”
“Yes.”
Victoria looked ashamed.
“Eleanor threatened to take everything public.”
“And then she died.”
The room went silent.
Gabriel stood.
“No.”
His voice was sharp.
“Tessa, do not make that connection.”
I stared at him.
“Why not?”
“Because investigators found no evidence the crash was intentional.”
“Were you suspicious?”
He did not answer.
That was enough.
My pulse raced.
Victoria leaned forward.
“Your mother’s brakes failed on Interstate 17.”
I could barely breathe.
“The report said mechanical failure.”
“It did.”
“Did she tell anyone she felt threatened?”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
The answer hit me like another shove.
“You never told me.”
“You were nineteen.”
“I’m thirty-two now.”
“I know.”
“You still never told me.”
“I wanted you to have a life that wasn’t built around suspicion.”
I stood.
“So instead I married into the family she was investigating.”
Gabriel’s face broke.
That silenced me.
“I blamed myself for years.”
His voice became rough.
“She called me the night before she died.”
“She wanted me to delay a board vote.”
“I told her she was becoming obsessed.”
“I told her to sleep.”
He looked away.
“The next morning, she died.”
I had never seen Gabriel cry.
He did not now.
But he came close.
Victoria looked toward me.
“Your mother distrusted my husband.”
“Did you?”
A long pause.
“Yes.”
Bennett stared at her.
“Mother.”
She ignored him.
“Charles believed rules existed for people without power.”
The description sounded familiar.
“I stayed because I thought I could control the worst of him.”
She laughed bitterly.
“I told myself many things.”
Damian spoke.
“After Eleanor died, the investigation collapsed.”
I looked at him.
“Convenient.”
“Yes.”
His honesty was unsettling.
I turned to Rachel.
“Can we reopen it?”
“Maybe.”
Victoria immediately shook her head.
“Tessa.”
“Why not?”
“Because Charles is dead.”
“Other people aren’t.”
She looked toward Damian.
His expression hardened.
I saw it.
“What?”
Damian said nothing.
I pointed at him.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
He looked at Gabriel.
Gabriel looked confused.
Damian finally spoke.
“Three weeks before Eleanor died, she sent me a copy of a ledger.”
My hands trembled.
“What ledger?”
“A set of payments.”
“To whom?”
“I never knew.”
“Where is it?”
“I gave it back.”
“To my mother?”
“No.”
The room went silent.
“To Victoria.”
I stared at my mother-in-law.
Her face had gone completely white.
“You had my mother’s evidence?”
Victoria whispered.
“Yes.”
“What did you do with it?”
“I hid it.”
Bennett looked shocked.
“Where?”
Victoria stood slowly.
“In a place Charles never knew existed.”
I could hear my heartbeat.
“Does it still exist?”
She nodded.
“Where?”
May you like
Her eyes met mine.
“In the Sedona house.”
