Chapter 5 - The Man My Husband Paid to Stay Gone

My father’s name was Warren Finch.

For twenty years, I used it mostly in past tense.

Warren liked this.

Warren used to whistle while he fixed things.

Warren left.

The last one became the whole story.

My mother died when I was seventeen.

Warren disappeared two years later.

No note.

No forwarding address.

No birthday cards.

Grandma Opal would go silent whenever I asked.

I assumed silence meant shame.

Now I knew silence could mean fear.

“Where was this taken?” I asked.

Sierra looked at the photograph.

“Milwaukee. Six weeks ago.”

“Why were you there?”

“Brett sent me.”

My head lifted.

“He said Warren was an old vendor who had paperwork connected to the first restaurant. He wanted me to make sure he didn’t contact anyone before the anniversary.”

“Anyone meaning me.”

She nodded.

Celia’s expression hardened.

“What did you give him?”

“An envelope.”

“How much?”

“I don’t know.”

I did.

Not the amount.

The purpose.

Money buys many things.

Silence is one of the cheapest until someone becomes tired of selling it.

Micah stood close to me.

Too close.

I turned.

“Go wait with Celia in the front.”

“I’m not a baby.”

“I know.”

“Then stop sending me away when the important part happens.”

The words landed.

I knelt.

“You’re right. But some of the important part belongs to adults because adults made the mess.”

His eyes moved to Sierra.

Then back to me.

“Okay.”

That tiny okay nearly destroyed me.

Celia walked him to the front office.

When they were gone, I looked at Sierra.

“Tell me everything.”

She sat on an unopened box.

For the first time, she looked twenty-eight.

Not younger than me.

Not prettier than me.

Just tired.

“Brett told me your marriage was over.”

“It wasn’t.”

“I know that now.”

“You knew he still lived with me.”

“He said it was for Micah.”

I said nothing.

She looked down.

“I wanted to believe him.”

There it was.

Not innocence.

Choice.

Messier.

More human.

Still a choice.

“Why help me?”

“Because tonight he asked me to sign a statement saying you stole company money.”

My blood went cold.

“He wanted you to say what?”

“He said the board would need a reason to remove you after the ownership issue came out.”

I almost admired the preparation.

Brett had not brought a mistress to humiliate me.

Humiliation was merely useful.

He had brought Sierra because he planned to replace me in more ways than one.

Wife.

Brand.

Witness.

Maybe even mother, if the message about Micah meant what I thought it meant.

Sierra handed me another screenshot.

A bank transfer.

Monthly.

To W. Finch Consulting.

Celia returned before I could ask more.

“I called Warren,” she said.

I stared.

“You had his number?”

“For years.”

The room tilted.

Celia saw my face.

“Opal made me promise.”

“Everyone keeps telling me what my grandmother made them promise.”

“She believed Warren would come back when it was safe.”

“Safe from what?”

Celia looked toward the blue ledger.

“From Brett’s father.”

I laughed because the alternative was screaming.

“Brett’s father died fourteen years ago.”

“Yes.”

“What does he have to do with my father?”

“More than Brett ever told you.”

Before she could explain, her phone rang.

She answered.

Listened.

Then held it out to me.

“He wants to speak to you.”

I took the phone.

For several seconds, there was only breathing.

Then a man said my name.

“Audrey.”

Twenty years disappeared.

My knees weakened.

“Dad?”

A sound.

Half sob.

Half laugh.

“I’m sorry.”

I closed my eyes.

“Where are you?”

“Near Chicago.”

“Why?”

“Because Brett stopped paying me.”

That sentence cut.

Then he added another.

“And because he finally found the one thing his father spent years looking for.”

“What thing?”

“The original partnership addendum.”

I looked at Celia.

She went pale.

My father’s voice dropped.

“Audrey, listen to me carefully.”

I gripped the phone.

“Do not let Brett get the blue ledger.”

I stared at the book on the table.

Too late.

The back door slammed.

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Footsteps moved through the dark restaurant.

And when I turned toward the pantry entrance, the blue ledger was gone.