Chapter 7 - What My Mother Left Behind
Ruth was waiting beside the car when I emerged from the repair shop.
She glanced at the blue folder in my hands.
"He gave it to you?"
"Yes."
"Did he explain everything?"
"Enough to make me wish I'd never come."
She opened the passenger door.
I didn't get in.
"How long did you help Mom send him money?"
Ruth looked exhausted.
"Until she died."
"And afterward?"
"I stopped the payments."
I studied her face.
"Did you ever tell him Mom was sick?"
"Yes."
"Did he come to the funeral?"
Ruth hesitated.
"Ruth."
"He watched from across the cemetery."
The words struck me harder than I'd expected.
My father had been there.
While I stood beside my mother's grave believing I had lost both my parents, he had been somewhere beyond the mourners.
Watching.
And he had left again.
I climbed into the car.
We drove in silence for nearly an hour.
Finally, Ruth said, "Your mother wasn't trying to punish you."
"Then why didn't she tell me?"
"She was going to."
"When?"
"She kept changing her mind."
I turned toward the window.
That answer sounded painfully believable.
Louise Vale could face a furious customer, a collapsed business deal, or a machine breaking down during a deadline.
But when it came to hurting someone she loved, she sometimes postponed the truth until the silence became another kind of injury.
"There's a box in her office," Ruth said.
"Behind the bottom shelf of the filing cabinet."
I looked at her.
"Another secret?"
"Letters she wrote you. Some she never finished."
I didn't answer.
By the time we reached Manhattan, darkness had settled over the city.
Maya met us at her office.
She read Celeste's letter and my mother's old agreement carefully.
"This is useful," she said.
"Will it stop the sale?"
"Not by itself. It supports your position about the design rights, and it contradicts any claim that Martin authorized Nathan to speak for your family. The forged proxy remains the central issue."
She looked at me.
"Are you willing to testify?"
"Of course."
"Even if Nathan brings up your father's disappearance?"
I thought about the cemetery.
"Yes."
Maya studied my face.
"Emma, there's something you need to understand. Nathan may try to turn this into a story about a troubled family and an unqualified daughter. He doesn't have to convince everyone. He only has to create enough doubt to buy time."
"What about the assault?"
"The detective has requested footage. We sent preservation notices to the store and its security provider. A sales associate contacted my office today, too."
"Who?"
"Ashley Bell."
I remembered a young employee standing beside the emerald display.
She'd been looking directly at us when Nathan struck me.
"She saw everything?"
"She says she did."
My phone vibrated.
A message from an unfamiliar number appeared.
Mrs. Vale, this is Ashley. I'm sorry I didn't help you. I was scared of losing my job.
I read it twice.
Then I typed:
You don't need to apologize for being frightened. Thank you for telling the truth.
Before I could put my phone away, another notification appeared.
This one came from the workshop's accounting system.
A vendor payment had been rejected.
Then another.
Then three more.
I opened the attached report.
Across the top was a warning I'd never seen before.
OPERATING CREDIT LIMIT EXCEEDED.
Maya watched my expression change.
"What's wrong?"
I turned the screen toward her.
"Nathan isn't just trying to sell the workshop."
May you like
My voice sounded hollow.
"He's already drained it."
