Chapter 4 - THE HUSBAND I NEVER REALLY KNEW
I did not sleep.
At four in the morning, I sat on the edge of the guest bed staring at an old photograph on my phone.
Daniel holding newborn Maisie.
He was crying.
I had teased him about it for years.
“You look more upset than I did after seventeen hours of labor.”
He always answered the same way.
“I just met the most important person in my life.”
Had he lied about everything else?
His work?
His trips?
The people he knew?
Had the quiet husband who packed Maisie’s lunches and sang terribly in the shower also spent years investigating a criminal empire?
At five, Nathaniel knocked.
I opened the door before he could knock again.
“Is Julian here?”
“No.”
“Where?”
“Missing.”
“Convenient.”
“Yes.”
“Do you think he did this?”
“I think his office was used.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No.”
He looked tired.
“So you don’t trust your own cousin.”
“I trust evidence.”
“Did Daniel?”
Nathaniel paused.
“What?”
“My husband. Did he trust evidence?”
A shadow crossed his face.
“Yes.”
“Tell me about him.”
“Emma—”
“No.”
I stepped into the hallway and pulled the door shut so Maisie wouldn’t hear.
“For two years, I have been telling my daughter her father died because his car failed.”
My voice shook.
“If you know something about Daniel, you tell me now.”
Nathaniel studied me.
Then nodded.
We went downstairs.
Ruth made coffee and disappeared without asking questions.
Nathaniel sat across from me at the kitchen table.
“Daniel worked for a private investigations firm when I first met him.”
“That part I knew.”
“He specialized in financial fraud.”
“Yes.”
“My brother Caleb hired the firm because money was disappearing from several businesses.”
“Legal businesses?”
“Some.”
“Illegal?”
Nathaniel held my gaze.
“Yes.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Fantastic.”
“He was good.”
“Daniel?”
“Very.”
Nathaniel looked almost reluctant to say more.
“He wasn’t impressed by us.”
“That sounds like him.”
“He argued with Caleb constantly.”
“That also sounds like him.”
“He refused cash bonuses because he said they made investigators stupid.”
A memory struck me.
Daniel once returned from a trip to Boston furious because a client had “tried to turn gratitude into a bribe.”
I thought it was an insurance executive.
Nathaniel continued.
“Over time, Caleb trusted him.”
“And you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“He was an outsider.”
“That’s all?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever threaten him?”
Nathaniel’s eyes sharpened.
“No.”
“Did anyone?”
“Probably.”
“That is a terrible answer.”
“It is an honest one.”
I hated that honesty felt better.
“What did Daniel find?”
“A network of payments routed through legitimate construction accounts.”
“To who?”
“Police. city inspectors. one federal contractor.”
“And people in your organization?”
“Yes.”
“Julian?”
Nathaniel paused.
“Daniel suspected someone close to the family.”
“But didn’t know who.”
“No.”
“What happened next?”
“Caleb died.”
The kitchen seemed colder.
“How long after Daniel warned him?”
“Twenty-three days.”
“And the ledger?”
“Caleb had started compiling everything Daniel found.”
“Then Caleb dies, ledger disappears.”
“Yes.”
“And Daniel?”
“Quit.”
I looked up sharply.
“He quit?”
“Immediately.”
“Why?”
“He told me he had a wife and a child on the way.”
My heart stopped.
Maisie had been born six months later.
“He knew I was pregnant.”
Nathaniel nodded.
“Daniel said the work had become too dangerous.”
“He never told me.”
“No.”
“Did you blame him?”
“Yes.”
I laughed once.
“Of course you did.”
Nathaniel accepted that.
“I told him walking away wouldn’t protect him.”
“What did he say?”
Nathaniel’s expression changed.
“He said, ‘Maybe not me.’”
My eyes filled.
Daniel.
Always Daniel.
Protecting everyone by hiding things.
I pressed my fingers against my mouth.
“What happened after he quit?”
“He disappeared from my life.”
“Until he died.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know?”
“Not until this morning.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“I never knew Daniel Walker was dead.”
“Why not?”
“He stopped using Walker professionally. Most of our records list Daniel Mercer.”
My brows drew together.
“His middle name was Mercer.”
Nathaniel nodded.
“He used it as a surname.”
Everything had been hidden in plain sight.
“Why?”
“To keep you separate.”
That hurt.
Because it made sense.
And because I had no idea whether to feel betrayed or loved.
“Did Daniel have the ledger?”
Nathaniel looked at me.
“I don’t know.”
“But someone thinks you know where it is.”
“Yes.”
“And now they think I might.”
“Yes.”
I stood.
“I want police.”
“They’re already involved.”
“Real police.”
Nathaniel’s mouth tightened.
“Three people in the missing ledger were Boston police.”
I stopped.
“Then state police.”
“Evan is coordinating with one unit.”
“FBI.”
“That becomes complicated.”
I stared.
“You’re worried about yourself.”
“Yes.”
The answer surprised me.
He continued.
“I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But I’m more worried about you.”
“Why?”
“Because if federal agents raid every Caldwell property today, whoever wants the ledger may panic.”
“And come after us.”
“Yes.”
I sat again.
“Great.”
Maisie appeared in the doorway.
Neither of us heard her.
She wore one sock and Nathaniel’s enormous gray sweatshirt, which Ruth had apparently found for her.
“Why are you talking about Daddy?”
My heart broke.
“Sweetheart.”
“You said Daddy.”
She looked at Nathaniel.
“Did you know my daddy?”
Nathaniel went very still.
I could have lied.
I wanted to.
Instead, I remembered his rule.
No secrets.
“Yes,” I said.
Maisie walked closer.
“How?”
I opened my mouth.
Nathaniel answered gently.
“He helped my brother with some important work.”
“What work?”
“He found people who were cheating.”
Her eyes widened.
“Like a detective?”
“Something like that.”
Maisie smiled.
“I knew Daddy was cool.”
I almost cried.
Then she looked at Nathaniel.
“Did he know you?”
“Yes.”
“Did he like you?”
Nathaniel’s face changed.
“Probably not.”
Maisie laughed.
“Daddy didn’t like mean people.”
I covered my eyes.
Nathaniel actually smiled.
Then Maisie noticed the framed photograph on the counter.
Daniel.
Caleb.
Nathaniel.
She picked it up.
“That’s Daddy.”
“Yes.”
She stared at it.
Then frowned.
“What?”
I leaned closer.
Maisie pointed toward the dock behind them.
“There.”
“What?”
“That boat.”
Nathaniel looked.
A white fishing boat sat in the background.
Maisie tapped it.
“Daddy had that picture.”
My pulse jumped.
“What picture?”
“At Grandma’s house.”
“My mother?”
Maisie nodded.
“In Daddy’s old box.”
I looked at Nathaniel.
“What box?”
Maisie shrugged.
“The one Grandma says is boring grown-up stuff.”
My mother had stored Daniel’s belongings after his death because I couldn’t bear to go through them.
Boxes of paperwork.
Old coats.
Tools.
Photographs.
I had never opened most of them.
Nathaniel stood.
“We go now.”
I looked at him.
“Not Maisie.”
“No.”
Ruth appeared instantly.
“I’ll stay with her.”
Maisie frowned.
“I found the clue.”
“You did,” I said.
“And now you get pancakes.”
She considered.
“With chocolate chips?”
Nathaniel nodded.
“Unlimited.”
“You’re rich.”
“So I’ve been told.”
An hour later, Nathaniel and I were driving toward my mother’s house in Lexington with two security vehicles behind us.
Halfway there, my phone rang.
My mother.
I answered.
“Mom?”
Her voice was shaking.
“Emma.”
I sat straighter.
“What happened?”
“Someone broke into the garage.”
My blood went cold.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“The boxes?”
Silence.
“Mom.”
“Daniel’s things are everywhere.”
I looked at Nathaniel.
“Did they take anything?”
“I don’t know.”
Then my mother started crying.
“But there’s a man here.”
“What man?”
“He was hiding in the basement.”
Nathaniel grabbed the phone and put it on speaker.
“Mrs. Walker, lock yourself in a room.”
“Who is this?”
“Nathaniel Caldwell.”
That was perhaps not comforting.
Still, my mother obeyed.
Nathaniel called his men.
Police were dispatched.
We reached the house fourteen minutes later.
A man was already in custody.
Not Julian.
Not anyone Nathaniel recognized.
A hired burglar.
He refused to talk.
Daniel’s boxes had been opened.
Files scattered.
Photographs ripped from envelopes.
Then I saw the fishing boat picture.
Exactly as Maisie remembered.
On the back, Daniel had written three words.
Caleb knew first.
Nathaniel stared.
“Knew what?”
I turned the photograph over again.
Something was taped behind it.
A tiny brass key.
My hands trembled.
“What does this open?”
Nathaniel’s face had gone pale.
“I know.”
“Where?”
May you like
He looked toward me.
“Caleb’s grave.”
