What Richard Was Really Afraid Of
Chapter 14 - What Richard Was Really Afraid Of
Caroline was released three days later.
The embezzlement case began collapsing the moment independent investigators examined it.
Bank records had been altered.
Dates didn't match.
Digital signatures came from an office computer registered to Richard's former law firm.
But the most important discovery wasn't financial.
It was a voicemail.
Caroline had kept an old phone in a storage box.
On it was a message Richard left nine years earlier.
His voice was calm.
Almost affectionate.
"Caroline, take the money and disappear. Evelyn already believes you did it. Don't make this harder than it needs to be."
Then his voice changed.
"If you stay, I'll make sure you lose the baby."
That was why she ran.
Not because she didn't love me.
Because she loved Lucy.
I listened to the recording once.
Then I never played it again.
I didn't need to.
The words were burned into me.
Caroline came home on a Thursday afternoon.
Lucy saw her first.
"Mom!"
She ran.
Caroline dropped her bag and fell to her knees.
I turned away because that moment belonged to them.
Then Caroline looked at me.
For one awkward second, we were sisters separated by nine years of pain.
I opened my arms.
She walked into them.
We held each other in our mother's hallway beneath the crack from that stupid bicycle accident.
"I missed you," I whispered.
"I hated you sometimes."
"I deserved some of it."
She laughed through tears.
"No. Richard deserved all of it."
That evening, the three of us ate spaghetti in the kitchen.
Nothing expensive.
Nothing elegant.
Lucy spilled milk.
Caroline complained about my cooking.
I told her she had complained about my cooking since 1997.
For two hours, we were almost normal.
Then my phone rang.
May you like
Richard had disappeared.
And according to investigators, he had withdrawn nearly six million dollars that morning.
