Chapter 5: The Night Her Mother Never Came Home
The audio file was only four minutes and thirty-two seconds long.
Yet nobody in the music room seemed willing to press play.
Olivia sat motionless in her wheelchair, the blue music box resting on her lap. Daniel stood beside the piano. Mrs. Harris had moved closer to the door, as though she were preparing to protect the girl from whatever came next.
Richard remained near the window.
His hands were clasped behind his back.
“Daddy,” Olivia said quietly, “what happened that night?””
He stared at the rain sliding down the glass.
“Your mother and I argued.””
“About what?””
“Money. The trust. The company.””
Daniel looked up.
“Your mother wanted the trust transferred into Olivia's name immediately.””
Richard shot him a look.
“You weren't there.””
“No,” Daniel replied.
“But my mother was.””
Richard ignored him.
“Catherine believed I was spending too much time at work. She wanted me to step away from the company and focus on you.””
Olivia looked confused.
“Why would that make you angry?””
Richard rubbed his forehead.
“Because the company was struggling. I had employees depending on me. Investors.
Banks. Hundreds of families.””
Daniel crossed his arms.
“And the money in Olivia's trust?””
Richard's voice sharpened.
“I borrowed it to keep the company alive.””
“Without permission?””
“I intended to repay it.””
Daniel shook his head.
“But you never did.””
Richard turned toward him.
“Do you think running a business is simple? Do you think you understand what it means to have hundreds of people depending on your decisions?””
Daniel lowered his eyes.
“My mother worked in your house for fourteen years. She knew what it meant to depend on your decisions.””
The room fell quiet.
Olivia looked at the laptop.
“Can we listen now?””
Richard took a breath.
“Olivia, please.””
“Daddy, I need to know.””
She looked at Daniel.
“Play it.””
Daniel pressed the button.
At first, there was only static.
Then Catherine's voice emerged.
“October seventeenth. Eleven forty-two p.m.””
A faint rustling sound followed.
“I don't know if anyone will ever hear this. But I need to record what happened tonight before Richard convinces me that I imagined it.””
Olivia's fingers tightened around the wheelchair armrests.
Catherine continued.
“We argued about the trust. Richard admitted that he had transferred money into Bennett Holdings. He said it was temporary. I told him he had no right to touch Olivia's inheritance.””
There was a pause.
Then a man's voice.
Richard's voice.
“You're making this sound criminal.””
Catherine replied.
“Because it is.””
A chair scraped across the floor.
Richard's recorded voice became louder.
“You have no idea what I'm dealing with!””
“I know exactly what you're dealing with. You're afraid of losing your company, and you've decided our daughter's future is the easiest thing to sacrifice.””
A long silence followed.
Then Catherine spoke again.
“Richard, look at me. I'm not your enemy.””
The recording crackled.
“I told him I wanted the papers returned. He said he couldn't do that. He said the money was already gone.””
Olivia looked at her father.
He had lowered his head.
Catherine's voice continued.
“Then he told me something I never expected to hear.””
The next few seconds were filled with muffled sounds.
Then Richard's recorded voice emerged clearly.
“If you go to the lawyers tomorrow, you'll destroy everything.””
Catherine answered:
“Then perhaps everything deserves to be destroyed.””
The recording stopped for a moment.
When it resumed, Catherine was crying.
“He grabbed the folder from my hands. I tried to get it back. He told me I was being unreasonable.””
Olivia's eyes widened.
The recording continued.
“I told him I was taking Olivia to my sister's house until we could sort this out. He said I wasn't leaving with her.””
Richard suddenly stepped toward the laptop.
“That's enough.””
Daniel blocked his path.
“Let it finish.””
Richard stared at him.
“You have no right.””
Daniel didn't move.
The recording continued.
There was the sound of a door slamming.
Then Catherine's voice, quieter now.
“I took Olivia upstairs. She was sleepy, and she wanted me to play our song. I told her we would play it in the morning.””
Olivia began crying.
She remembered that night.
Not clearly.
But she remembered the rain.
The piano.
Her mother's warm hand.
Then headlights flashing through the window.
Catherine continued.
“I left the house after midnight. I needed to clear my head. I had the documents in my bag, and I was going to meet Evelyn.””
A pause.
Then a faint mechanical noise.
“I don't think Richard realizes how much evidence I have.””
The audio ended abruptly.
Olivia looked at Daniel.
“Was that it?””
He checked the file.
“Yes.””
She turned toward her father.
“Why did Mommy leave that night?””
Richard's voice was barely audible.
“Because she was angry.””
“Did you stop her?””
“No.””
“Did you follow her?””
Richard closed his eyes.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Your father called my mother that night.””
Richard looked up sharply.
“How do you know that?””
“Because my mother recorded the phone conversation.””
Daniel reached into his jacket.
He removed a small, battered mobile phone.
It looked ancient, with a cracked screen and a worn keypad.
“My mother kept it because she was afraid nobody would believe her.””
He pressed a button.
A recording began.
A man's voice came through.
“Evelyn, Catherine is on her way to meet you. I need you to tell her to come back.””
Evelyn's voice followed.
“Richard, she has made her decision.””
“Listen to me. She's upset. She isn't thinking clearly.””
“She knows exactly what she's doing.””
“Don't get involved.””
“Then stop calling me.””
The recording continued.
Richard's voice became more desperate.
“Evelyn, if she leaves with those documents, I lose everything.””
Evelyn answered quietly.
“Then perhaps you should have thought about that before you took what belonged to your daughter.””
The call ended.
Olivia looked at her father.
“You knew Mommy was going to meet Evelyn?””
Richard nodded.
“I knew she was leaving.””
“Did you follow her?””
He didn't answer.
Daniel stared at him.
“Tell her.””
Richard sat down heavily on the piano bench.
“I followed her because I wanted to talk.””
Olivia's face went pale.
“What happened?””
Richard covered his face with both hands.
“It was raining. She was driving too fast.””
Daniel's voice became hard.
“That's not what my mother said.””
Richard looked up.
“What?””
“My mother said she heard you shouting at Catherine beside the car.””
Richard's expression changed.
Olivia looked between them.
“What shouting?””
Daniel took a folded note from his pocket.
“My mother wrote down what she remembered that night.””
He opened it.
“Catherine was standing outside her car. Richard had taken her bag. They were arguing about the documents.””
Richard's breathing became uneven.
“That's not true.””
Daniel continued reading.
“Then Catherine tried to leave. Richard stepped in front of her. She got into the driver's seat, started the engine, and drove away.””
Olivia stared at her father.
“Did you take Mommy's bag?””
Richard shook his head.
“No.””
“Did you stop her?””
“I tried to talk to her.””
“Did you touch her?””
Richard didn't answer.
Olivia's tears fell onto the silver fabric of her gown.
“Daddy, did you hurt Mommy?””
He finally looked at her.
“I never wanted her to die.””
The sentence was not a denial.
It was an admission that something had happened.
Daniel looked at the laptop.
“There is another file.””
Richard stood.
“Don't.””
Daniel clicked the folder.
A video appeared.
It showed the driveway of the Bennett mansion, recorded by a security camera.
The timestamp read 12:16 a.m.
Catherine's car appeared.
Richard ran into the frame.
He approached the driver's window.
They spoke.
The camera had no sound.
Then Richard grabbed the door handle.
Catherine pushed his hand away.
He stepped back.
She reversed slightly, then drove forward.
The car disappeared through the gates.
Richard stood alone in the rain.
Olivia watched the footage twice.
Then she noticed something.
A second vehicle had been parked behind the trees.
A dark SUV.
Its headlights came on just after Catherine's car disappeared.
It followed her.
Daniel leaned closer to the screen.
“Wait.””
He paused the video.
The SUV's license plate was partially visible.
Richard stared at it.
“That's impossible.””
Daniel turned toward him.
“Do you recognize it?””
Richard didn't speak.
Mrs. Harris stepped closer.
“Richard?””
He looked at the screen again.
Then his face crumpled.
“That car belonged to my brother.””
Olivia blinked.
“Uncle Thomas?””
Richard nodded.
Daniel stared at the frozen image.
“My mother said someone else was involved.””
Richard sat down again.
For eleven years, Olivia had believed her mother died because of a tragic accident in the rain.
Now she was learning that someone had followed her mother after she left the mansion.
And her father recognized the vehicle.
“Daddy,” Olivia whispered.
“Where is Uncle Thomas now?””
Richard looked toward the doorway.
“He's been dead for six years.””
Daniel shook his head.
“No, he hasn't.””
Richard stared at him.
“What?””
Daniel reached into his pocket and pulled out a recent photograph.
It showed an older man leaving a private medical clinic.
The man wore a gray coat and dark glasses.
Daniel placed the photograph on the piano.
“My mother found him last year.””
Olivia stared at the image.
She recognized the face.
Her uncle Thomas.
The man who had sent birthday cards every year before suddenly disappearing.
Daniel looked at Richard.
“He's alive.””
Richard's lips parted.
May you like
And then Daniel delivered the question that made the room go cold.
“If Thomas died six years ago, Mr. Bennett, whose funeral did you attend?””
