Chapter 6: The Confession on Paper
They wrote for two hours.
I sat at the far end of the dining table with my phone in front of me and let them work.
Marcus stood near the door.
No one spoke except once, when Julian asked for a second pen because the first one ran dry, and once when Victoria asked, without looking up, whether Daniel wanted them to include the name of the man who had physically carried out her instructions regarding Maya.
"Yes," I said.
"Every name."
She wrote it down.
At four-thirty in the morning, Victoria set her pen on the table and pushed the pages toward me.
Julian did the same a few minutes later.
His handwriting had deteriorated badly by the final page.
The letters were uneven.
One line ran off the edge of the paper.
I read both statements in full.
The man Victoria named was a private security contractor she had been using for years.
His name was Garrett Sims.
He had been on my payroll once, three years ago, for a single job, and I had let him go because he had a habit of exceeding instructions.
Victoria had hired him privately six months ago, two weeks before I left for the coast.
The timeline in her statement made something cold settle in my chest.
She had hired Garrett Sims before I left.
Not after.
Before.
"You planned this before I was even gone," I said.
Victoria looked at the table.
"I planned for contingencies."
"You hired a man to manage my pregnant wife before I walked out the door."
She said nothing.
"Look at me," I said.
She looked up.
"Did you know what he would do to her?"
A long pause.
"I told him to keep her calm and cooperative.
I told him not to leave marks."
"But he did."
"He exceeded his instructions."
"And you kept him on."
Her mouth tightened.
"By then it was too late to change the arrangement without risking everything unraveling."
I put the statements in the envelope with my father's letter.
"I want you both out of this house by six a.m.," I said.
"You will not contact Maya.
You will not contact Warren Holt after I have spoken to him.
You will not attempt to access any account, property, or asset connected to my name or Maya's name.
If either of you violates any of those conditions, the statements go directly to the U.S.
Attorney's office in Richmond."
Julian looked up.
His eyes were red.
"Daniel.
I'm your brother."
"I know what you are," I said.
He flinched like I had moved toward him, though I hadn't.
Victoria stood.
She straightened her dress.
She touched the pearls at her throat once, briefly, like a woman checking that something important was still in place.
"You'll regret this," she said.
Not as a threat.
Almost sadly.
"When you understand what I was protecting you from, you'll regret it."
"Get out of my house."
She walked to the door.
Julian followed.
At the threshold, Victoria paused and turned back once.
"The baby," she said.
"Whatever you believe about me — I hope the child is healthy."
I said nothing.
She left.
I sat at the dining table for a long time after the front door closed.
The champagne bottle was still on the coffee table.
Two glasses.
One of them still had lipstick on the rim.
Marcus appeared in the doorway.
"They're in the car.
Should I—"
"Let them go," I said.
"For now."
He nodded.
I picked up my phone and looked at the time.
Five-twelve a.m.
I had one call to make before I went back upstairs to Maya.
Raymond Chu's office number was in my father's letter.
I dialed it and left a message on the after-hours line.
"This is Daniel Carter.
Robert Carter's son.
I believe you've been waiting for this call."
I ended the call and sat in the silence of my own house.
Somewhere upstairs, behind a locked door, my wife and my unborn child were waiting.
I had told Maya it was handled.
May you like
It wasn't handled yet.
Because Garrett Sims was still out there — and his name was in Victoria's statement, which meant he would know, very soon, that she had written it.
