Chapter 6: What She Decided at Thirty Thousand Feet
The turbulence came in slow rolls.
The cabin lights dimmed slightly and then steadied.
I sat with the number in my head and thought about my daughter.
She was at home right now.
She had watched us leave for the airport this morning and she had hugged me at the door — longer than usual, tighter than usual — and I had assumed it was because she was going to miss me.
I had kissed her hair and told her we'd be back in four days.
She had known what I was flying into.
She had tried to make sure I wouldn't be alone when I got there.
"I need to call her," I said.
"Not now—"
"She's my daughter and she has been carrying this for three years and she arranged all of this to protect me.
I am calling her." I reached for my phone.
My husband put his hand on my arm.
Not grabbing.
Just resting.
"Please," he said.
"Wait until we land.
Give me until we land."
I looked at his hand on my arm.
I thought about every late night.
Every business trip.
Every time I had asked if everything was all right and he had said yes, fine, everything's fine.
I moved my arm.
"Talk," I said.
"You have until we land."
He talked.
It came out slowly at first, then faster.
The full shape of it.
He had known about Daniel's debts for three years — the same three years.
It had started just before the affair ended.
He had ended things with Rachel partly because of it, he said — the weight of the secret had become too much, and he had told himself that ending one wrong thing would balance the other.
Rachel's expression when he said this was unreadable.
The payments to Mercer had begun eighteen months in.
Before that, Daniel had been managing — barely.
Then Mercer had increased the pressure and Daniel had called his brother at two in the morning and my husband had said yes because what else do you say at two in the morning when someone tells you his children are being threatened.
"You should have told me," I said.
"I know."
"Not just about the money.
About all of it.
From the beginning."
"I know."
"You made every decision alone.
You decided what I could handle.
You decided what our daughter could be asked to carry.
You decided what our money was for." I kept my voice level.
"You decided everything and you told me nothing."
"I was trying to keep the family together."
"You were keeping secrets.
That's not the same thing."
He had no answer for that.
Rachel had been quiet for some time.
She spoke now.
"What are you going to do about Mercer?"
I looked at her.
"We," I said.
"What are we going to do."
She blinked.
"You came on this flight," I said.
"You're here.
So you're part of this now."
"I'm not sure what I can—"
"You said my daughter asked you to help me find the truth.
You've done that.
Now I'm asking you to help me figure out what to do with it." I held her gaze.
"Will you?"
Rachel looked at my husband.
Then back at me.
"Yes," she said.
My husband leaned forward.
"You can't be serious.
You're going to trust her—"
"I'm going to trust the person who told me the truth," I said.
"That's the only qualification that matters right now."
He sat back.
I turned to Rachel.
"Tell me everything you know about how Mercer operates.
Everything my daughter told you, everything you've worked out.
All of it."
Rachel nodded.
"There's one more thing," she said.
"Something your daughter found that I haven't shown you yet."
She reached back into her jacket.
May you like
This time it wasn't a bank statement.
It was a photograph.
