Chapter 7 - The Lake File
Daniel waited until the police car disappeared before speaking.
"She's trying to hurt me because she's scared."
Emily held an ice pack against her cheek. "What is the lake file?"
"Nothing."
"Then tell me."
"It's old insurance paperwork."
Henry laughed from the doorway. "No, it isn't."
Daniel turned. "You need to stop."
"You first."
Henry opened his desk drawer and removed a small brass key.
"Robert's death file was kept by our old corporate attorney. It contained photographs, marina receipts, and correspondence Robert sent the week before he died. It disappeared from storage six years ago."
Emily looked at Daniel. "The same year my trust was used to save this house."
Henry nodded.
Daniel shook his head. "You can't connect everything because dates match."
"Who signed the archive release?" Emily asked.
Henry answered. "Daniel."
Emily felt something inside her break cleanly.
"I was told to clean out old files."
"By who?"
"My mother."
"And you never opened it?"
"No."
"Then why did she just ask me to ask you what you did with it?"
He had no answer.
Emily picked up her purse.
"Where are you going?"
"Hospital. Then a hotel."
"This is your house now, apparently."
"Exactly. And I don't want to sleep in it while you're here."
Daniel grabbed his coat. "I'm coming with you."
"No."
"You're my wife."
Emily looked at the ring still beside his plate.
"Not for much longer."
His face tightened.
Henry stepped between them. "Let her go."
Outside, freezing rain tapped the driveway.
Emily reached her car, then heard Henry call her name.
He moved slowly, one hand against his chest.
"Take this."
He gave her the brass key.
"What does it open?"
"A safe-deposit box at First Franklin. Robert rented it."
Emily stared at him.
"How do you have the key?"
"He mailed it to me two days before he died. I was too afraid to use it."
"For fourteen years?"
Henry looked ashamed. "I had a family. A company. And a wife I was beginning to fear. Cowardice gets easier the longer you practice it."
Emily closed her fist around the key.
"Why now?"
"Because my heart doctor told me I may not get another Christmas."
Before Emily could answer, Henry's knees buckled.
May you like
He collapsed onto the icy driveway.
And as Emily screamed for help, she saw Daniel standing in the doorway—holding Henry's medication bottle in his hand.
