Chapter 8: The Night Daniel Came Back
He came back at eleven.
Lily was asleep.
I was at the kitchen table with a cup of tea and Patricia's number on the screen in case I needed it fast.
I heard his key in the lock.
He came into the kitchen and stopped when he saw me.
He looked like he'd been driving for hours.
His coat was still on.
His eyes moved to the phone on the table.
"The police came to Richard's," he said.
"I know."
"Emma." He sat down across from me.
Not the calculated sit from this morning.
He dropped into the chair.
"What have you done?"
"I found out that Richard was going to sell my mother's house in February.
Did you know that?"
His face told me before his mouth did.
"No," he said.
But the word came half a second too late.
"Daniel."
"I didn't know about the sale.
I knew he'd had conversations with a developer.
He told me it was exploratory.
He said nothing would happen without—" He stopped.
"Without my consent?" I said.
"Like the deed transfer?"
He put his face in his hands.
"He told me it was handled," he said from behind his palms.
"He said you'd agreed.
He showed me a document with your signature."
"The same document where you forged my name."
"I didn't — Emma, the signature I put on was for the collateral agreement.
One page.
Richard must have used it as part of a larger filing.
I didn't know what he did with it afterward."
I looked at him.
"You are telling me," I said slowly, "that you forged my signature on one document and then trusted Richard to use it responsibly."
He lowered his hands.
He looked, for the first time, like he understood exactly how that sounded.
"Yes," he said.
"Daniel.
You handed your brother a weapon and then acted surprised when he used it."
He said nothing.
"The police want to speak with you," I said.
"Detective Sergeant Marsh.
You need to call him tonight."
"If I speak to them—"
"You need to call him tonight and you need to tell them exactly what you told me this morning.
All of it.
The collateral agreement, the signature, what Richard told you, what you didn't know." I kept my voice level.
"If you cooperate now, that is different from being found later."
"And if I do?
What happens to us?"
I looked at him across the table.
The kitchen was quiet.
Upstairs, Lily was asleep in the room with the yellow curtains my mother had made for her.
"I don't know," I said honestly.
"But right now that is not the most important question."
"What is?"
"Whether you are going to do the right thing.
Finally."
A long silence.
He reached into his coat pocket and took out his phone.
He set it on the table.
He looked at it.
"Marsh," I said.
"Detective Sergeant Marsh."
Daniel picked up the phone.
He dialed.
I sat and listened while he asked to speak with DS Marsh and said his name and said, *I understand you're looking for me.
I'd like to come in.* His voice was steady.
I didn't know if that was courage or simply the sound a man makes when he has run out of other options.
He ended the call and set the phone down.
"Tomorrow morning," he said.
"Eight o'clock."
"Good."
He stood.
He looked around the kitchen like he was memorizing it.
"I'll stay at a hotel tonight," he said.
"Yes."
He walked to the door.
Stopped with his hand on the frame.
"Emma.
I am sorry.
I know that doesn't—"
"Go, Daniel," I said.
Not unkindly.
"Just go."
The front door closed.
I sat alone in the kitchen for a while.
Then I washed both cups — the one I'd used and the one I'd set out without thinking and then hadn't offered him.
I turned off the light and went upstairs.
Lily had kicked her blanket to the foot of the bed.
I pulled it back over her.
She didn't wake.
I lay down beside her and looked at the ceiling.
Somewhere across the city, Richard was making calls.
I could feel it the way you feel weather coming.
He would be building his version.
He would be calling his solicitor, calling contacts, deciding who to sacrifice.
He had been doing this for twenty years, Carol had said.
No one had ever called his bluff.
May you like
I closed my eyes.
Tomorrow, someone would.
