PART 2 Three days before I was supposed to return to Boston, I walked into my family estate 3009 - Puretale

The call went unanswered.

He tried again.

Then he sent a message demanding a meeting.

At eight thirty, a reply arrived.

I know what you've found. Meet me at the old courthouse. Come alone.

Isaac read it twice.

Then he forwarded the message to Megan.

Her response came almost immediately.

Absolutely not.

He smiled despite himself.

I wasn't planning to.

Good. I'm bringing the attorney.

You know how to make a man feel mysterious.

I prefer alive.

At ten, they returned to the courthouse with their attorney and two police officers. The building looked even more desolate in daylight, its stone steps cracked and its windows filmed with dust.

Daniel Cross was waiting in the former records room.

He appeared older than he had a few days earlier. His hands shook as he removed his hat.

"I suppose you've come for answers."

"We've come for the truth," Isaac replied.

Cross gave a humorless laugh.

"Those aren't always the same thing."

Isaac placed the report on the table.

"Your signature is on the document describing the night my father died."

Cross stared at it.

For several seconds, he said nothing.

Then he sat down.

"I was there."

"Why did you lie?"

"Because I was afraid."

"Of Charles?"

"Of what Charles could do if I told the truth."

Isaac leaned forward.

"Start at the beginning."

Cross folded his hands.

"Your father discovered that the Northstar Children's Trust had been used to move money out of the company. He confronted Charles and told him he would go to the authorities. Charles asked me to arrange a meeting between them, claiming he wanted to resolve the dispute."

"And you agreed."

"I did."

"Why?"

Cross's eyes filled with shame.

"Because I thought I could prevent violence. I believed that if I got them into the same room, your father would listen to reason."

"What happened?"

"Charles arrived first. He was furious. He said Robert was going to ruin everything. He demanded to know where the ledger was."

Cross paused.

"Your father arrived shortly afterward. They argued. Robert told Charles he would never give him the records. Then he left."

"And you?"

"I followed him. I wanted to warn him that Charles had become dangerous."

Isaac's pulse quickened.

"Did you catch up with him?"

"At the intersection near the river. His car was already damaged. He had lost control on the wet road."

"Was anyone else there?"

Cross lowered his head.

"I saw a black sedan pull away from the scene."

"Whose car?"

"It belonged to a company controlled by Charles."

Isaac felt a chill.

"Why didn't you tell the police?"

"Because Charles had my son."

The words stopped Isaac cold.

Cross continued, his voice breaking.

"My son was twenty-two. He had a drug problem and owed money to dangerous people. Charles offered to help him. Then he used that debt to make my son do things for him. When I threatened to speak, Charles told me my son would disappear."

Megan's expression softened, but she didn't excuse him.

"So you stayed silent," she said.

"Yes."

"And let an innocent man be blamed for everything."

Cross looked at her.

"Yes."

Isaac wanted to hate him.

Part of him did.

But he recognized the shape of Cross's fear. He had seen it in his mother, in Evelyn, in Thomas, and in the frightened silence of people who had spent their lives believing powerful men could do anything without consequence.

"What happened to your son?" Isaac asked.

Cross closed his eyes.

"He died three years later. An overdose. By then, Charles had no reason to keep threatening me, but I had become so accustomed to silence that I couldn't imagine breaking it."

He looked up.

"I am not asking for forgiveness. I am ready to testify."

The attorney beside Isaac spoke for the first time.

"Your testimony will need to be corroborated. The report helps, but we will need the original records and any additional witnesses."

Cross nodded.

"I know where to find one."

"Who?"

"A former driver who worked for Charles the night Robert died. His name is Peter Lawson. He left the country shortly afterward."

"Do you know where he is now?"

"Rhode Island. He returned several years ago under his wife's name."

The attorney wrote down the details.

Isaac studied Cross.

"Why tell us now?"

"Because I saw your sister's name in the news yesterday. Someone had photographed her outside the bookstore. I realized Charles was repeating the same pattern, and I couldn't stand the thought of another child growing up believing she had been abandoned."

Isaac looked away.

For years, he'd believed his father's death was a tragedy that belonged to the past.

Now he understood that every lie surrounding it had continued to injure people long after the original crime.

The attorney arranged for Cross to make a formal statement.

Outside the courthouse, Megan slipped her hand into Isaac's.

"How do you feel?"

"Angry."

"At Cross?"

"At him. At Charles. At my father for believing silence could protect anyone."

He paused.

"And at myself, because a part of me still wants to solve all this by making Charles suffer."

Megan squeezed his hand.

"Wanting justice isn't the same as wanting revenge."

"How do I know which one I'm pursuing?"

"Ask yourself what you want to happen when this is over."

Isaac considered it.

"I want Charles to face the consequences of what he did. I want Evelyn to know who she is. I want my mother to stop living in fear. And I want Harbor House to survive."

"Then those are the things you work toward."

He looked at her.

"What about you?"

"I want you to survive, too."

She said it so simply that he felt his throat tighten.

Before he could respond, his phone rang.

The caller was the physician treating Catherine.

Isaac answered immediately.

"Doctor?"

"I'm calling because your mother's condition has changed. She's experiencing increased fatigue, and we've identified a complication that needs to be evaluated today."

"Is she in danger?"

"Not necessarily, but I don't want you to ignore this. She needs to come to the hospital."

Isaac was already walking toward the car.

Megan followed.

They found Catherine in her bedroom, trying to convince a nurse that she could walk to the car without help.

"I'm perfectly capable of getting dressed," she insisted.

"Of course you are," Isaac said. "But apparently, you're also capable of terrifying your son before breakfast."

Catherine gave him a tired smile.

"You've always been dramatic."

At the hospital, the hours passed slowly.

Isaac paced the corridor. Megan sat beside him, refusing to let him disappear into his fear. Evelyn arrived from Salem, and Catherine brightened when she saw her.

The sisters spent much of the afternoon talking.

They discussed books, music, food, and the small details of their separate lives. Catherine listened with an intensity that made Evelyn occasionally look away, overwhelmed by the knowledge that she had been loved by a woman she had been told was gone.

Isaac watched them through the open door.

For the first time, he understood what the search for Evelyn had really been about.

It wasn't just proving Charles wrong.

It was giving his mother the chance to know her daughter.

At six that evening, the physician came out.

Catherine was stable. The complication could be treated, though the larger illness remained uncertain. They would need to adjust her care and monitor her closely.

It wasn't the certainty Isaac wanted.

But it was time.

And time, he was learning, was not something a person could demand. It was something to be lived.

Later, Catherine asked Isaac to sit beside her.

"I need you to do something for me," she said.

"Anything."

"Stop treating every day as if it is a battle you must win."

He stared at her.

"I don't know how."

"Then learn."

She took his hand.

"When your father was alive, I spent years waiting for him to become the man I believed he could be. I forgot to notice the man who was actually standing in front of me."

Her eyes glistened.

"I don't want you to spend your life waiting for Charles to become a decent man. I don't want you to spend your life waiting for me to get better. I want you to live while you have the chance."

Isaac bowed his head.

For once, he didn't promise to fix everything.

He simply held her hand.

"I'll try."

Catherine smiled.

"That is enough."

When he left her room, Megan was waiting in the corridor.

She wrapped her arms around him.

He held her tightly, allowing himself to feel the fear he'd been fighting all day.

"I thought I was going to lose her," he whispered.

"I know."

"I can't do that again."

Megan pulled back enough to look at him.

"You may have to face that fear someday. But you don't have to face it today."

He closed his eyes.

For a long moment, they stood together in the hospital corridor while the world continued moving around them.

Then Isaac's phone vibrated.

A message from the Harbor House board chair appeared.

We need to talk immediately. An anonymous complaint has been filed against the foundation. The authorities are requesting access to all financial records.

Isaac read it twice.

Charles had made his move.