Chapter 6: Thirty Minutes
He looked like he hadn't slept.
His jacket was the same one he'd taken from the hook the night before.
He sat down at the kitchen table across from me and Ruth and he folded his hands on the surface in front of him the way a man does when he's decided to stop running.
"My legal name is Christopher Allen Rowe," he said.
"I changed it to Bennett nine years ago.
Bennett was my mother's maiden name.
The change was legal and properly filed.
I can show you the documentation."
"Why?" I said.
"Because of my father." He looked at the table.
"Robert Rowe.
He was not a good man.
He was investigated twice for financial fraud.
He had a reputation in three states.
I didn't want his name.
I didn't want any connection to him.
So when I was twenty-three I changed it and I moved and I started over."
"And you didn't tell me."
"I didn't tell anyone.
It wasn't a secret I was keeping from you specifically.
It was a chapter I had closed."
"That's not the same as it not being a secret."
He looked up.
"No.
It isn't.
You're right."
Ruth spoke for the first time.
"The property in Culpeper.
Tell us about that."
He shifted his gaze to her.
"My father left it to both of us.
To me and Daniel.
Equal shares.
Neither of us knew the other existed until eight months ago when the estate attorney contacted us both."
"What's the property worth?" Ruth said.
"The land alone is about four hundred thousand.
There's a structure on it that may have additional value.
We were told an offer had come in.
A developer.
The sale would have required both signatures."
"And Daniel needed access to your address for documents," I said.
"That's what you told me this morning."
"Yes."
"But that's not all he needed, was it."
Christopher was quiet.
"The message on the phone," I said.
"'It's done.
She didn't wake up.' Christopher, someone wanted me unconscious last night.
The medication, the milk — I fell asleep faster than I ever have.
And while I was asleep, someone used that third fingerprint to enter this apartment.
What were they looking for?"
He pressed his lips together.
"The signature documents," he said.
"For the property sale.
I had already signed my portion.
The originals were in the filing cabinet."
Ruth set her coffee down very carefully.
"Someone entered this apartment to steal legal documents," she said.
"Yes."
"While your wife was sedated."
"I didn't know she would be sedated.
I didn't know about the milk.
I didn't know about any of that." His voice rose slightly.
"I gave Daniel access to the apartment because he said he needed to drop off paperwork.
That was months ago.
I didn't know he was still using it.
I didn't know what last night was supposed to be."
"But you gave him your truck," I said.
"Your wallet.
Your ring.
Your watch.
Last night specifically."
He looked at me.
"He said he needed to meet the developer's attorney.
That it had to be in person and it had to look official.
He said the attorney had only ever dealt with me — with Christopher Bennett — and that if Daniel showed up as himself it would complicate the sale." He paused.
"He said he just needed to look like me for one meeting.
Two hours.
He'd return everything by midnight."
"And you believed him."
"He was my brother."
"He was a man with two fraud charges who had been entering your home in the middle of the night for eight months."
Christopher said nothing.
"Did you know about the charges?" Ruth asked.
A long pause.
"I found out six weeks ago."
"And you still gave him your identity for the night."
"He said the charges were old.
He said he'd changed." He looked at his hands.
"I wanted to believe him."
The room was quiet for a moment.
Then I said, "Who sent the message on the prepaid phone?
'It's done.
She didn't wake up.' If Daniel was already d@ad by then, who sent it?"
Christopher's head came up slowly.
"What time was the message sent?" he said.
"3:04 a.m."
"The acc!dent was called in at 2:51."
We looked at each other.
"Daniel was already d@ad when that message was sent," I said.
Christopher stood up from the table.
His chair scraped back hard.
"Someone else was here," he said.
May you like
"Someone else was in this apartment last night."
And from the look on his face, I understood that he knew exactly who.
