The next morning, Thomas found the Ellis address.<\/p>\n
It belonged to a woman named Clara Ellis.<\/p>\n
Seventy-four years old.<\/p>\n
Widowed.<\/p>\n
Living alone outside Sacramento.<\/p>\n
She had no known connection to Eleanor.<\/p>\n
But when Thomas called her, she immediately recognized Richard's name.<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
She said she had been waiting for someone from the Harris family to contact her.<\/p>\n
That sentence stopped me.<\/p>\n
"How long?"<\/p>\n
"Twenty years."<\/p>\n
I looked at Thomas.<\/p>\n
He put the call on speaker.<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
Clara's voice was tired.<\/p>\n
"Because Richard promised he would return what was taken."<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
"What was taken?"<\/p>\n
"Our land."<\/p>\n
"Willow Creek?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"How do you know Richard?"<\/p>\n
"He came to see my father."<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"1994."<\/p>\n
I calculated.<\/p>\n
Richard had already been married to me for years.<\/p>\n
We had children.<\/p>\n
I had never known.<\/p>\n
"What did he say?"<\/p>\n
"He apologized."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Because he had signed one of the original documents."<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
"Did he tell you he had been involved?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Did you forgive him?"<\/p>\n
There was a long pause.<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
I understood.<\/p>\n
"What happened afterward?"<\/p>\n
"He said he would make it right."<\/p>\n
"Did he?"<\/p>\n
"Partly."<\/p>\n
"How?"<\/p>\n
"He bought the property."<\/p>\n
I looked at Thomas.<\/p>\n
"He told us the land was his."<\/p>\n
Clara gave a bitter laugh.<\/p>\n
"It was."<\/p>\n
"Why didn't he return it?"<\/p>\n
"He couldn't find my father."<\/p>\n
"Your father disappeared?"<\/p>\n
"Not exactly."<\/p>\n
She explained that her father had moved from state to state.<\/p>\n
He had refused to speak about Willow Creek.<\/p>\n
He believed the people who took the property would eventually come after his family.<\/p>\n
"Did anyone?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Who?"<\/p>\n
"Men asking questions."<\/p>\n
I felt cold.<\/p>\n
"What kind of questions?"<\/p>\n
"Whether my father still had the documents."<\/p>\n
"What documents?"<\/p>\n
"The originals."<\/p>\n
I thought of the ledger.<\/p>\n
"Did he?"<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
Clara's voice became quieter.<\/p>\n
"He died without telling me."<\/p>\n
I asked her one final question.<\/p>\n
"Do you know Samuel Reed?"<\/p>\n
She went silent.<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"How?"<\/p>\n
"He worked with my grandfather."<\/p>\n
I stared at Thomas.<\/p>\n
"Did he ever contact you?"<\/p>\n
"Once."<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"Three months ago."<\/p>\n
"What did he want?"<\/p>\n
"He asked whether Richard had ever contacted me."<\/p>\n
My pulse quickened.<\/p>\n
"Did you tell him?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Because I didn't trust him."<\/p>\n
I thanked her.<\/p>\n
Then ended the call.<\/p>\n
Thomas leaned back.<\/p>\n
"There's a pattern."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Samuel has been looking for the same documents."<\/p>\n
"And so has someone else."<\/p>\n
I thought about the phone calls.<\/p>\n
The person who knew about the recordings.<\/p>\n
The person who entered Eleanor's house.<\/p>\n
The person who knew exactly where the documents were kept.<\/p>\n
"Michael."<\/p>\n
Thomas didn't respond.<\/p>\n
"Say it."<\/p>\n
"I don't have enough evidence."<\/p>\n
"But you suspect him."<\/p>\n
"I suspect everyone."<\/p>\n
That answer was fair.<\/p>\n
We returned to the house.<\/p>\n
I searched the old family albums.<\/p>\n
Not for Richard.<\/p>\n
For Michael.<\/p>\n
I found a photograph from his college graduation.<\/p>\n
He was standing beside a man I didn't recognize.<\/p>\n
I enlarged it.<\/p>\n
Thomas leaned closer.<\/p>\n
The man had gray hair.<\/p>\n
A faint scar near his jaw.<\/p>\n
Samuel Reed.<\/p>\n
"Why was he with Michael?"<\/p>\n
I didn't know.<\/p>\n
I called Michael.<\/p>\n
He answered after three rings.<\/p>\n
"Mom?"<\/p>\n
"Who is Samuel Reed?"<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Then:<\/p>\n
"Where did you hear that name?"<\/p>\n
"Answer me."<\/p>\n
"He's nobody."<\/p>\n
"That's not an answer."<\/p>\n
"I met him through Dad."<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"Years ago."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
Michael became defensive.<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
"Did he give you money?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did he ask you to find something?"<\/p>\n
Another pause.<\/p>\n
"Mom, what are you doing?"<\/p>\n
"Trying to understand why you lied to me."<\/p>\n
"I didn't."<\/p>\n
"You knew about Samuel."<\/p>\n
"So?"<\/p>\n
"So he was looking for Richard's records."<\/p>\n
Michael's breathing changed.<\/p>\n
"I don't know anything about records."<\/p>\n
"You know about the ledger."<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Then he said, "You need to stop."<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Because you don't understand what you're dealing with."<\/p>\n
"Then explain it."<\/p>\n
"I can't."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Because people could get hurt."<\/p>\n
I sat down.<\/p>\n
"Who?"<\/p>\n
He didn't answer.<\/p>\n
"Michael."<\/p>\n
"I have to go."<\/p>\n
He hung up.<\/p>\n
I stared at the phone.<\/p>\n
Thomas took it from my hand.<\/p>\n
"That sounded like fear."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Not guilt."<\/p>\n
I thought about it.<\/p>\n
"You may be right."<\/p>\n
That evening, Michael appeared at the house.<\/p>\n
Alone.<\/p>\n
He looked exhausted.<\/p>\n
I opened the door but didn't invite him inside immediately.<\/p>\n
"What happened?"<\/p>\n
He looked past me.<\/p>\n
"Can I come in?"<\/p>\n
I stepped aside.<\/p>\n
He entered.<\/p>\n
He sat in the kitchen.<\/p>\n
For several minutes he said nothing.<\/p>\n
Then he placed a folder on the table.<\/p>\n
"I should have told you."<\/p>\n
I didn't touch it.<\/p>\n
"Told me what?"<\/p>\n
"I met Samuel because Dad asked me to."<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"About two years before Dad died."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Dad wanted me to find someone."<\/p>\n
"Who?"<\/p>\n
"Clara Ellis."<\/p>\n
My heart stopped.<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"He believed her family still had the original deed."<\/p>\n
"And did you find her?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Did you meet her?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Why not?"<\/p>\n
"Samuel told me not to."<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
"Why were you working with Samuel?"<\/p>\n
"I wasn't working for him."<\/p>\n
"Then what?"<\/p>\n
Michael rubbed his face.<\/p>\n
"Dad asked me to investigate because he was sick."<\/p>\n
"You could have told me."<\/p>\n
"He didn't want you involved."<\/p>\n
"Neither did you."<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
"You're right."<\/p>\n
I opened the folder.<\/p>\n
Inside were photographs.<\/p>\n
Documents.<\/p>\n
Addresses.<\/p>\n
And a letter from Richard.<\/p>\n
Michael had kept it.<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Because I was ashamed."<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
"What does it say?"<\/p>\n
He swallowed.<\/p>\n
"Dad told me that if I found Clara, I should give her something."<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"The original deed."<\/p>\n
I stared at the folder.<\/p>\n
"Do you have it?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Who does?"<\/p>\n
Michael looked at me.<\/p>\n
"Samuel."<\/p>\n
The room went silent.<\/p>\n
"Then why did you come here?"<\/p>\n
"Because Samuel knows you have the ledger."<\/p>\n
I stood.<\/p>\n
"How?"<\/p>\n
"He followed me."<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"After you called me, he knew I had come here."<\/p>\n
I walked toward the window.<\/p>\n
A black car sat at the end of the street.<\/p>\n
Michael saw it.<\/p>\n
His face went pale.<\/p>\n
"That's him."<\/p>\n
Thomas reached for his phone.<\/p>\n
The car remained still.<\/p>\n
Then the headlights came on.<\/p>\n
It drove slowly past the house.<\/p>\n
Michael whispered, "He's warning us."<\/p>\n
I looked at my son.<\/p>\n
For the first time since the inheritance fight began, I saw something other than greed in his face.<\/p>\n
Fear.<\/p>\n
Real fear.<\/p>\n
And I realized the danger around us had become bigger than any family disagreement.<\/p>\n
The next morning, Thomas found the Ellis address. It belonged to a woman named Clara Ellis. Seventy-four years old. Widowed. Living alone outside Sacramento. She had no known connection to … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feel-every-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14560"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14644,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14560\/revisions\/14644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}