Chapter 6 - CEDAR HOLLOW
They reached Cedar Hollow shortly after sunrise.
Anna had refused to leave Lily behind.
Gabriel had resisted.
Anna won.
So Lily slept in the back seat beside Rachel while Gabriel drove north through gray Pennsylvania morning light.
Lauren followed with Evelyn and Eleanor.
Anthony remained at the estate under medical supervision.
Cedar Hollow Farm sat beyond a narrow road bordered by turning leaves.
The farmhouse was old but cared for.
A red barn stood behind it.
Lily woke as they stopped.
“Horses?”
Two chestnut horses grazed beyond the fence.
Anna touched her daughter’s hair.
“Yes.”
For the first time all night, Lily smiled.
An elderly man came from the barn carrying a bucket.
Eleanor stepped from the car.
“Samuel?”
The man dropped the bucket.
Water spilled across the dirt.
“Ellie?”
Gabriel moved forward.
Samuel Bennett stared at him.
His expression changed instantly.
“Michael.”
Gabriel stopped.
“No.”
Samuel blinked.
Then his eyes filled.
“God.”
He wiped his face.
“You’re Gabriel.”
Gabriel nodded.
Samuel looked toward Eleanor.
“You finally brought him.”
“No,” Eleanor said. “The lies finally ran out.”
Inside the farmhouse, Samuel placed coffee on the table while Lily sat by a window watching the horses.
Anna stayed close.
Gabriel placed Michael’s broken watch on the table.
Samuel froze.
“Where did you get that?”
“My father had it.”
Samuel’s jaw tightened.
“Anthony.”
“You knew him?”
“I knew enough.”
Gabriel sat across from him.
“Was Michael murdered?”
Samuel looked at Evelyn.
Then Eleanor.
Finally Gabriel.
“Yes.”
Nobody spoke.
“By my grandfather?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Gabriel frowned.
“Then who?”
Samuel’s eyes moved to Lauren.
“I don’t know who she is.”
“My fiancée,” Gabriel said.
Lauren looked down at the ring still in her palm.
“Maybe.”
Samuel almost smiled.
“Complicated family.”
“You have no idea,” Anna murmured.
Samuel continued.
“Michael came here in 2001. He’d spent two years searching for Catherine.”
“Why didn’t he know where she was?”
“Because after Rose Mercer died, Catherine believed anyone near her was in danger.”
Samuel looked toward Gabriel.
“She stayed away from Michael to protect him.”
“Did he know about Isabel?”
“Yes.”
“He met her?”
“Once.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Samuel’s voice softened.
“He loved both of you.”
“Then why didn’t he come for me?”
“Because Anthony told him you wanted nothing to do with him.”
Gabriel looked stunned.
Evelyn whispered, “Anthony.”
Samuel nodded.
“Michael wrote you letters.”
Gabriel stared.
“I never received one.”
“I know.”
Samuel stood and opened a drawer.
He removed a bundle tied with faded blue ribbon.
Dozens of envelopes.
Every one addressed:
Gabriel DeLuca.
“He kept copies.”
Gabriel touched them but didn’t open one.
Not yet.
Anna understood.
There are some truths people wait their whole lives to hear, only to discover they need another minute before they can bear them.
“What happened in 2001?” Gabriel asked.
“Michael found Catherine.”
Samuel’s face tightened.
“They planned to expose everything. Rose’s death. Your grandfather’s men. Anthony’s cover-up.”
“Then?”
“Michael’s truck went off a bridge.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“Accident?”
“The police said so.”
“You don’t believe it.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Samuel walked to a cabinet.
He removed a dented metal toolbox.
Inside was a broken brake line wrapped in cloth.
“This came from Michael’s truck.”
Gabriel examined it.
Samuel said, “It was cut.”
Lauren whispered, “Who had access?”
“Plenty of people.”
“Martin’s father?” Gabriel asked.
Samuel’s eyes sharpened.
“Walter Hale.”
Evelyn gripped her cane.
Samuel nodded.
“He came here two days before Michael died.”
Anna felt the pieces shifting.
Martin’s father had driven for Gabriel’s grandfather.
“What did Walter want?”
“To warn Michael.”
That was not the answer anyone expected.
Gabriel frowned.
“Warn him?”
“Walter said somebody inside the DeLuca organization had learned Michael intended to go to the police.”
“Who?”
“He wouldn’t say.”
Gabriel looked at Evelyn.
“So Walter Hale may not have been the enemy.”
“No,” Samuel said. “He was terrified.”
Anna thought of Martin bringing Lily the photograph.
Not hurting her.
Leaving a clue.
Maybe Lauren had been right.
Gabriel took out his phone.
“Then Martin may be trying to tell us something.”
Samuel looked toward Lily.
“He already did.”
Anna turned.
“What?”
Samuel pointed toward Lily’s purple inhaler bag.
A small leather tag hung from the zipper.
Anna frowned.
“That wasn’t there before.”
She took it.
Stamped into the leather was a symbol.
A tiny cedar tree.
Samuel went pale.
“Michael used that mark on his furniture.”
Anna opened the tag.
Inside was a folded strip of paper.
Three words:
CHECK THE RED COAT.
Lauren inhaled sharply.
“The coat from the locker.”
“Where is it?” Gabriel asked.
Lauren looked sick.
“At the estate.”
They drove back immediately.
The red coat was still locked inside Lauren’s dressing room closet.
She laid it across the bed.
Gabriel searched the pockets.
Empty.
Anna ran her fingers along the lining.
“Wait.”
One seam felt thicker.
Evelyn brought scissors.
Anna carefully opened three stitches.
Something dropped onto the bed.
A silver St. Christopher medal.
Gabriel picked it up.
Eleanor began crying.
“Catherine’s.”
The chain was missing.
But the medal was unmistakable.
Then a second object slipped from the lining.
A small cassette tape.
Lauren stared.
“Who still has something that plays that?”
Evelyn did.
Of course she did.
Ten minutes later they sat around an old cassette recorder in Evelyn’s room.
Gabriel pressed play.
Static.
Then Catherine DeLuca’s voice filled the room.
Older than the voice Gabriel remembered.
But unmistakable.
“If Gabriel ever hears this, then someone finally found the coat.”
Gabriel shut his eyes.
Anna watched his hand grip the chair.
Catherine continued.
“Michael is dead. I know his death was not an accident.”
Static crackled.
“I was wrong about Anthony.”
Gabriel opened his eyes.
“He lied to me. He hurt me. But he did not kill Michael.”
Lauren glanced at Gabriel.
The tape continued.
“The person responsible has been protecting the DeLuca family longer than Anthony has.”
Evelyn went white.
“No.”
Catherine’s voice trembled.
“I trusted him because he helped me escape the night Rose died.”
Samuel had mentioned Walter Hale.
Gabriel whispered the name.
“Walter.”
The tape continued.
“But Walter did not cut Michael’s brakes.”
Everyone froze.
“I found the payment ledger. Walter was being blackmailed.”
Static swallowed several seconds.
Then Catherine’s voice returned.
“The person who ordered Michael’s death is someone Gabriel still trusts.”
Anna’s skin prickled.
Catherine coughed.
“If Evelyn is still alive, ask her about the silver rosary.”
Evelyn dropped her cane.
Gabriel looked at her.
“What silver rosary?”
Evelyn’s lips trembled.
“My husband’s.”
Anna stared.
She had never heard Evelyn mention a husband.
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“You were married?”
Evelyn looked at him with tears running down her face.
“Yes.”
“To whom?”
Before she answered, Anna remembered the initials.
E.S.H.
Evelyn Shaw.
But Eleanor’s full name was Eleanor Shaw Hart.
Hart.
Evelyn looked at Gabriel.
“My husband’s name was Thomas Hart.”
Eleanor gasped.
“My father.”
Gabriel stared between them.
Evelyn nodded.
“Eleanor is not my niece.”
May you like
Silence.
“She’s my daughter.”
