Chapter 3 - THE MAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
“My father knew?”
Dominic's voice sounded unfamiliar.
For twelve years, I'd watched my husband control rooms full of powerful men without raising his voice.
Now he looked like a boy discovering that his childhood home had been built on a lie.
Evelyn stared at the photograph.
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't he tell me?”
“Because by the time he understood what happened, telling you would have meant admitting what he'd allowed.”
Dominic pulled out a chair.
He didn't sit.
“Stop speaking in riddles.”
I almost laughed.
He'd just admitted to cheating on me for five months, and he still expected every woman in the room to obey him.
“No,” I said.
All three turned toward me.
“You don't get to give orders tonight.”
Dominic opened his mouth.
I held up my hand.
“You brought your mistress into our home. You admitted to lying to me. And now I discover your family may have stolen money from people who trusted you.”
“Caroline—”
“Sit down.”
This time, he did.
I looked at Evelyn.
“Tell us about the truck.”
She ran her fingers along the photograph's edges.
“In September 2008, Mercer Logistics was struggling. Fuel prices were high. Two major customers had left. Arthur was desperate to keep the company afloat.”
“And?” I asked.
“Daniel Rourke proposed a private freight arrangement. Certain trucks would be listed as carrying special commercial loads.”
Dominic frowned.
“We had specialized contracts.”
“Yes,” Evelyn said. “But some of those trucks weren't carrying anything.”
I looked toward Lena.
“Empty trucks?”
She nodded.
“My mother found invoices for deliveries that never happened. Thousands of dollars were being moved through freight accounts, and employee retirement contributions were disappearing into the same system.”
Dominic shook his head.
“Daniel said June was altering invoices.”
“Because Daniel wrote the report accusing her,” Evelyn replied.
The room fell quiet.
Dominic looked as if she'd slapped him.
“He showed me evidence.”
“Evidence he controlled.”
I studied my husband's face.
He wasn't pretending.
He genuinely hadn't understood the entire scheme.
But that didn't make him innocent.
“You signed the papers anyway,” I reminded him.
He looked down.
“Yes.”
“Did you ever speak to June?”
“Once.”
“What did she tell you?”
He hesitated.
Then answered.
“She said I was trusting the wrong man.”
Lena closed her eyes.
“My mother begged you to listen.”
“I was twenty-four,” Dominic said. “My father was sick. Daniel had been with the company for years.”
“You were old enough to destroy someone's reputation,” Lena replied.
He had no answer.
Evelyn pushed the photograph toward me.
“Look at Daniel's hand.”
I examined it.
He was holding a clipboard.
Attached to its corner was a small metal tag.
Number four.
“What's that?”
“The old dispatch cabinet,” Evelyn said. “Every freight movement was recorded there before we computerized everything.”
Dominic looked up.
“That office was closed years ago.”
“The building is still ours.”
Lena suddenly reached for her handbag.
“My mother told me something before I came to St. Louis.”
She turned it upside down.
Nothing fell out.
Then she examined the blue stitching along the handle.
“She said this bag was supposed to protect me.”
Evelyn leaned forward.
“What exactly did she say?”
“She told me never to throw it away. Even if everything else was taken.”
Lena pulled a small pair of manicure scissors from her wallet.
Carefully, she loosened the old stitches.
I watched her open the damaged seam.
Inside was a narrow leather compartment.
And inside that compartment—
A brass key.
Number four.
Evelyn covered her mouth.
“My God.”
Lena held it up.
“My mother kept this for eighteen years.”
Dominic stood.
“Give it to me.”
Lena withdrew her hand.
“No.”
He froze.
“You don't trust me?”
She stared at him.
“Should I?”
The question hung between them.
Then I reached across the table.
“Give it to me instead.”
Lena looked surprised.
So did Dominic.
I kept my hand extended.
“You wanted to learn what happened to your mother. I want to know what kind of family I've married into.”
She placed the key in my palm.
It was cold.
Heavy.
Real.
And for some reason, holding it frightened me more than anything I'd heard that night.
Dominic reached for his phone.
“I'll have someone open the warehouse.”
“Not Daniel,” I said immediately.
His thumb stopped moving.
“You don't know he's responsible.”
“Neither do you. That's why we shouldn't warn him.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Caroline's right.”
Dominic slowly lowered the phone.
I turned toward Lena.
“Does your mother still live nearby?”
“In Belleville.”
“Is she well?”
Lena shook her head.
“She had a stroke two years ago. She's doing better, but she gets tired easily.”
Something in her voice softened my anger for half a second.
Then I remembered my husband's hand against her back.
Compassion wasn't forgiveness.
Not tonight.
I looked at Dominic.
“Tomorrow morning, we go to that warehouse.”
He glanced at Lena.
“All of us?”
“No,” I answered.
“You, me, and Evelyn. Lena can meet us there after she checks on her mother.”
Dominic frowned.
“Caroline, this isn't your business.”
I looked him directly in the eyes.
“You made it my business when you brought your mistress through my front door.”
Nobody argued.
I placed the brass key beside my wedding ring.
Evelyn looked down at the two objects.
And something in her expression changed.
“Caroline,” she whispered, “there's something else you should know before you open that cabinet.”
“What?”
She swallowed.
“Daniel wasn't the only person who benefited from those missing payments.”
I stared at her.
“Who else?”
Her eyes moved toward Dominic.
Then back to me.
May you like
And she said five words that made my blood run cold.
“Your name is involved too.”
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