I Found My Housekeeper Eating Cold Rice at 2 A.M.—Then I Learned Someone Was Stealing Half Her Pay

Victor stood beside Evelyn's headstone when police surrounded the cemetery.

He was not armed.

He was holding white roses.

The same flowers I brought every year on our anniversary.

I arrived before they put him in the car.

"Why are you here?"

Victor looked older than he had forty-eight hours earlier.

"Because this is where everything ended."

"You mean where you ended it?"

He shook his head.

"I damaged the brake line. I admit that."

My hands clenched.

Officers stepped closer.

Victor continued. "It was supposed to leak slowly. She'd feel the pedal soften. She'd pull over. She'd be scared enough to stop digging."

"She died."

"Because Stephen widened the puncture after I left."

"Convenient."

"I found out after the crash."

"And you covered it."

His eyes filled with something I almost mistook for grief.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because your father built a machine that could not survive daylight. After he died, I thought I could control it. Keep the company alive. Keep you out of prison for things you didn't know."

"So you stole from June."

"I stole from thousands of places. She was one line in a spreadsheet."

Behind me, June inhaled sharply.

Victor saw her.

His face changed.

"That sounds worse out loud."

"It should," she said.

He looked at her. "I am sorry about Caleb."

June walked closer until an officer stopped her.

"My son learned to tie his shoes from a video because his father was dead. My daughter stopped asking why other kids had dads at school events. Don't give me a sentence because you're scared of a courtroom."

Victor lowered his eyes.

Then he looked at me.

"There's one thing you still don't know."

"I'm done with your secrets."

"No, you're not."

He nodded toward Rachel.

"Ask her why the duplicate foundation account was opened using her law firm's registered address."

Everything went silent.

I turned to Rachel.