I had thought he was being paranoid.
He wasn’t.
“What happened the night he died?”
My wife looked down.
“Daniel called me from the hotel.”
“The same hotel?”
“Yes.”
“He told me he had proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“The money.”
My hands began shaking.
“He said he was going to expose them.”
“And then?”
“He never made it home.”
I stared at her.
“You knew all this?”
“I knew enough to be afraid.”
“Why didn’t you tell the police?”
“I did.”
She pulled another document from her purse.
“The police couldn’t prove the accident wasn’t an accident.”
I looked at the report.
Daniel’s car had crashed on a wet highway.
No witnesses.
No camera footage.
No evidence of foul play.
Then my wife whispered,
“But there was one thing they never found.”
“What?”
“The second phone.”
My heart stopped.
“What second phone?”
“Daniel had two.”
She reached into her purse.
And placed a small black phone on the table.
I stared at it.
“Where did you get that?”
“Daniel gave it to me that night.”
I looked at her.
“Why have you kept it?”
“Because I was waiting for you to finally tell me the truth.”
I couldn’t speak.
She pushed the phone toward me.
“Your affair wasn’t the only betrayal that night.”
I turned it on.
There was one recording.
I pressed play.
Daniel’s voice filled the quiet restaurant.
“Olive, if you’re hearing this, I’m probably gone.”
My wife covered her mouth.
Daniel continued.
“I found the money.”
A second voice answered.
A voice I recognized immediately.
My former business partner.
Then came the sentence that destroyed everything I thought I knew.
“You don’t understand, Daniel. Your brother already knows.”
I froze.
My own voice was on the recording.
“Stop.”
I looked at my wife.
“I didn’t know.”
“I know.”
“That isn’t me.”
“It is.”
I listened again.
The recording revealed something I had completely forgotten.
Months earlier, I’d discovered the missing money.
I’d confronted my business partner.
But I’d been drinking heavily.
I’d been angry.
I’d threatened to expose him.
Then I’d walked away.
He had assumed I’d eventually forget.
Daniel hadn’t.
