Chapter 3 - The Brother at the Door
Silas answered on the fourth ring.
“Gideon.”
“There you are.” His brother sounded mildly irritated. Familiar. “I’ve been trying to reach you.”
“I’ve been occupied.”
“In Rhode Island?”
“Yes.”
A pause.
“What’s in Rhode Island?”
Silas watched Detective Ward across the room.
“A business problem.”
“Dain’s place?”
“You seem well informed.”
“People call me when my brother walks into a gala looking like an execution.”
Silas looked down at the photograph Ward had placed before him.
Gideon at the service gate.
Six months earlier.
Not three years.
Six months.
“Did you need something?” Silas asked.
“I wanted to make sure you were all right.”
For three years, those words had sounded like love.
Now they sounded like surveillance.
“I’m fine.”
“Come home. We’ll talk.”
“I’ll let you know.”
He ended the call.
Ward took notes.
“That won’t hold him long.”
“It doesn’t have to,” Jonah said.
By dawn, the investigators working with Ward had begun comparing Dain’s financial records with companies connected to the foundation.
They were building a case, not simply accepting a husband’s accusation.
Silas understood the distinction.
He hated how long it could take.
Mallory woke to find him seated beside the window.
For a moment, her face softened.
Then she saw the hospital bracelet.
Her hand moved toward it.
“You’re in Newport,” Silas said gently. “You’re safe in the hospital. Nora knows where you are.”
She swallowed.
“What day?”
“Saturday.”
“What month?”
“January.”
She looked away.
“How much January?”
He told her the date.
She counted silently.
He could almost see the missing years moving behind her eyes.
“Did you have another wife?”
The question was so quiet he nearly missed it.
“No.”
“Someone else?”
“No.”
“You could have.”
“I didn’t want to.”
She looked at the wedding ring on his hand.
“They told me nobody was looking anymore.”
“I was.”
“Every day?”
He leaned forward.
“Every day.”
Her expression folded inward.
“Then why didn’t you find me?”
There was no cruelty in it.
Only a wound looking for somewhere to go.
Silas accepted it.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m going to live with that question for a long time.”
She stared at him.
He did not ask her to take it back.
That afternoon, Nora arrived in person.
She entered slowly, stopping when Mallory stiffened.
“Can I hug you?”
Mallory nodded.
The sisters held each other until Nora began apologizing for crying on the hospital gown.
“You always were inconsiderate,” Mallory whispered.
Nora laughed.
Outside the room, Jonah’s phone vibrated.
He read the message twice.
“Silas.”
They stepped into the hall.
Gideon had boarded a private flight east.
His destination was not Newport.
It was Boston.
Ward had already circulated an alert to the relevant investigators, but there was not yet a warrant for his arrest.
“He’ll have lawyers waiting,” Jonah said.
“Let him.”
Silas surprised himself by meaning it.
Then the elevator opened.
A woman in a camel coat stepped into the corridor, followed by a hospital security officer.
Beatrice Keene.
Their mother.
She had aged visibly during the search.
At least, Silas had believed that was why.
“Where is she?” Beatrice demanded.
Silas moved between her and the room.
“How did you know?”
“Gideon called. He said there’s some misunderstanding involving Mallory.”
There it was.
Not joy.
Not disbelief.
A misunderstanding.
Behind Silas, the hospital room door opened.
Mallory stood barefoot in the doorway, Nora beside her.
Beatrice’s face drained.
For one terrible second, nobody moved.
Then Mallory said, “You were at the funeral.”
Beatrice’s hand tightened around her handbag.
Silas looked at his mother.
“What funeral?”
Her eyes filled.
“Silas, you need to understand—”
May you like
He stepped back from her.
For the first time in his life, he did not know how many people belonged to the word family.
