Beatrice remained seated at my dining table.
No pearls now.
No perfect composure.
Her hands were pressed together so tightly her knuckles had whitened.
Julian stood behind her.
He had stopped trying to control the room.
For the first time all day, he looked like a son waiting to discover what his mother had hidden from him.
I sat across from her.
“What did Richard ask you to do?”
She stared at the table.
“Deliver an envelope.”
“To Pike?”
“Yes.”
“What was inside?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Did you ask?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
She looked up.
“Because Richard said it concerned a difficult contractor.”
Grace leaned against the wall.
“You went to a motel at night to give an envelope to a man you barely knew because your husband called him difficult?”
Beatrice’s face tightened.
“You weren’t married to Richard.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand how he operated.”
I laughed quietly.
“Apparently none of us did.”
Beatrice looked toward me.
“He handled problems privately.”
“That is a very elegant phrase.”
“I’m telling you what I knew then.”
“When did you learn Michael was involved?”
She swallowed.
“Later that night.”
“How?”
“Julian called.”
I looked at him.
He shook his head.
“I called Dad.”
“You called the house,” Beatrice said.
“You answered.”
“Yes.”
Julian stared at her.
“I didn’t know you were at the motel.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“What did he say?”
I asked.
Beatrice closed her eyes.
“That Michael had driven away angry.”
“From the cabin?”
“Yes.”
“That Julian was following him.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He wanted Richard to call Michael.”
I looked at Julian.
“Why?”
“He wasn’t answering me.”
“Michael?”
“Yes.”
“Did Richard call?”
Beatrice answered.
“He tried.”
“How many times?”
“I don’t know.”
Grace pulled out her phone.
“We can verify.”
Beatrice stared at her.
“Why are you treating me like a criminal?”
Grace said nothing.
The silence was answer enough.
Beatrice turned back to me.
“I left the motel after delivering the envelope.”
“To Pike.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“A little before ten.”
Daniel checked the receipt.
“Checkout was 10:03.”
“I remember leaving around then.”
“Did Pike leave too?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you see his vehicle?”
“A dark pickup.”
I looked at the map Michael had left in Red Maple.
“What direction did he go?”
“I didn’t watch him.”
“Did Richard tell him where Michael was?”
Beatrice’s eyes widened.
“No.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Did the envelope contain directions?”
“I told you, I don’t know what was inside.”
Julian rubbed his face.
“This is insane.”
I turned.
“What?”
“You’re acting as if my mother participated in some plan to hurt Michael.”
“She met the man Michael marked on the road map as waiting for him.”
“Based on a note Michael wrote.”
“And Richard paid that man twenty-five thousand dollars after Michael died.”
Julian stopped.
He still wanted doubt.
He simply had less room left to stand inside it.
Beatrice looked at him.
“Twenty-five thousand?”
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
That reaction felt genuine.
I watched her carefully.
“Did Richard tell you why he wanted Pike contacted?”
“He said Michael was trying to damage the company.”
“How?”
“Threatening lawsuits. Police. Investors.”
“That was true.”
“Yes.”
“So Richard wanted Michael silenced.”
“No.”
“Stopped.”
Beatrice flinched.
“Persuaded.”
I stared at her.
“How many different words does your family have for intimidation?”
She looked away.
Daniel had opened historical phone records.
“I found something.”
Everyone turned.
“Julian’s call records?”
“No.”
He looked at Beatrice.
“Yours.”
She stared.
“How do you have my phone records?”
“I don’t. I have company-reimbursed cellular logs.”
Her expression changed.
“The old family plan.”
Daniel nodded.
“It was paid by Harrington.”
Beatrice stood.
“You had no right to keep those.”
“They were accounting records.”
“What did you find?”
He rotated the laptop.
“Two calls from your number to Ramon Pike that night.”
She stared.
“One at 9:26.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“One at 11:41.”
Her mouth opened.
No words.
Grace stepped closer.
“You said you left around ten and didn’t know where Pike went.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then why did you call him nearly two hours later?”
“I don’t remember.”
I almost laughed.
There it was again.
The family phrase.
I don’t remember.
I don’t know.
It was complicated.
You wouldn’t understand.
“We can sit here all night,” I said.
“Vivian—”
“Why did you call him?”
Her eyes filled.
“I was scared.”
“Of what?”
“Julian called again.”
Julian frowned.
“When?”
“Around eleven-thirty.”
“I called Dad.”
“You called the house.”
“So?”
“I answered.”
“What did I say?”
Beatrice looked at her son.
“You said Michael was driving too fast.”
Julian’s face changed.
“You said he wouldn’t stop.”
“Yes.”
“You said you were afraid he was going to crash.”
He stared at her.
I felt cold.
“And then you called Pike.”
Beatrice nodded.
“Why?”
“I thought he might be nearby.”
“Why would you think that?”
She hesitated.
“Richard had told him to keep an eye on Michael.”
The room went silent.
Julian whispered, “What?”
Beatrice started crying.
Not elegantly.
Not carefully.
She covered her face.
Julian stepped toward her.
“Mom.”
She shook her head.
“You didn’t know.”
“No.”
“Richard told me Pike would make sure Michael didn’t go straight to police.”
I stared.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“What was he supposed to do?”
“Delay him.”
“By what?”
“I don’t know.”
Grace’s voice hardened.
“Did Richard tell Pike to stop Michael’s car?”
“No.”
“Did Richard tell Pike to threaten him?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Richard tell Pike to frighten him?”
Beatrice said nothing.
I stepped closer.
“That is a yes.”
She lowered her hands.
“He said Michael needed to understand what would happen if he destroyed the company.”
“What would happen?”
“He’d lose his money.”
“His money was already gone.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Did Michael know Pike was following him?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you?”
“Not until later.”
“After the 11:41 call?”
“Yes.”
“What did Pike tell you?”
She looked at Julian.
“Tell me.”
“He said he had eyes on Michael.”
My stomach tightened.
“What exactly?”
“He said, ‘I see him.’”
I felt the hairs rise along my arms.
“At 11:41.”
“Yes.”
Michael’s crash was reported shortly after midnight.
“Did he say where?”
“No.”
“Did you hear traffic?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Anything?”
She closed her eyes.
“Wind.”
I waited.
“And an engine.”
“Whose?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel searched further.
“There’s another call.”
Beatrice looked at him.
“What?”
“Not from you.”
“To Pike?”
“No.”
Daniel frowned.
“From Pike.”
“To whom?”
He looked at Julian.
“Julian.”
Julian stared.
“No.”
“11:52 p.m.”
“I never spoke to him.”
“The log shows forty-one seconds.”
“Then he called and I didn’t answer.”
“It shows connected duration.”
Julian’s face tightened.
“I don’t remember.”
Grace looked at me.
“Same phrase.”
I ignored her.
“What did Pike say?”
I asked Julian.
“Nothing.”
“You just said you didn’t remember.”
“Because I don’t remember taking the call.”
Daniel clicked deeper.
“There’s a voicemail archive.”
Julian’s head snapped toward him.
“What?”
“Some company phones backed up voice messages.”
“From four years ago?”
“Apparently.”
Daniel searched by date.
One file.
11:53 p.m.
He clicked play.
Static.
Wind.
Then Ramon Pike’s voice.
“Julian, he’s almost at the lower switchback. You need to decide what you want me to do.”
The message ended.
I stared at my husband.
Julian looked genuinely stunned.
“I never heard that.”
I did not know whether to believe him.
Daniel replayed it.
Almost at the lower switchback.
You need to decide what you want me to do.
I looked at Julian.
“Did you call him back?”
Daniel checked.
“No outgoing call immediately after.”
Julian exhaled.
“See?”
Then Daniel held up a finger.
“Wait.”
Another number.
Not Pike.
Julian called Richard at 11:54.
Duration: one minute, twelve seconds.
I looked at him.
“What did you tell your father?”
“I don’t remember.”
Beatrice stood.
“Julian.”
He looked at her.
“You told Richard Michael was nearing the lower switchback.”
Julian froze.
“You told him someone was following Michael.”
“I may have.”
“You asked what to do.”
He stared at his mother.
“I was panicking.”
“What did Richard say?”
Julian looked at the table.
“Call it off.”
No one moved.
“What?”
I whispered.
“He said call it off.”
I stared.
“Pike?”
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
“I tried.”
Daniel searched records.
A call from Julian to Pike at 11:56.
No answer.
Another at 11:57.
No answer.
A third at 11:58.
Nine seconds.
Grace looked at him.
“That connected.”
Julian’s breathing changed.
“I remember that one.”
“What did he say?”
Julian closed his eyes.
“He said it was too late.”
My stomach turned.
“Too late for what?”
“I didn’t know.”
“What did you think?”
“That Michael had seen him.”
“Seen Pike?”
“Yes.”
Julian looked at me.
“I thought Pike had confronted him.”
“But you kept following Michael.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because after Pike said it was too late, I became afraid something had happened.”
Daniel checked the timeline.
“What time did you reach the lower road?”
“A few minutes later.”
“And Michael’s car?”
“Gone through the barrier.”
I felt dizzy.
Grace pulled out a chair for me.
I sat.
“So Pike was ahead of Michael.”
Julian nodded.
“You were behind.”
“Yes.”
“Michael was between you.”
“Yes.”
My brother had been driving down a mountain road with one man ahead and another behind.
Both connected to the company that had taken his money.
Both trying to stop him from reaching someone.
Police.
Me.
Anyone outside the Harrington family.
I looked at Beatrice.
“What did you do after Pike told you he saw Michael?”
“I called Richard.”
Daniel searched.
“11:43.”
“Yes.”
“What did Richard say?”
“He told me to go home.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Did you contact Pike again?”
“No.”
Daniel checked.
“No outgoing calls.”
Beatrice’s shoulders dropped.
She looked suddenly very old.
“I spent four years telling myself Richard only meant to frighten him.”
I stared at her.
“And now?”
Tears ran down her face.
“Now I don’t know what my husband was capable of.”
Julian turned away.
Grace’s phone rang.
Detective Chen.
She answered, listened, and motioned for silence.
“Yes.”
A pause.
“Understood.”
Another.
“Is he willing to put that in writing?”
Her expression changed.
“All right.”
She ended the call.
I stood.
“What?”
Grace looked at Julian.
“Ramon Pike talked.”
No one breathed.
“What did he say?”
“According to Detective Chen, Pike says Richard Harrington hired him to stop Michael from reaching the city that night.”
Beatrice covered her mouth.
Julian whispered, “How?”
Grace looked at me.
“He says the instruction was to force Michael off the road if necessary.”
The room went completely silent.
Then she added the part that made Julian sit down.
“Pike says Richard told him Julian had already agreed.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 12: Ramon Pike Claimed Julian Approved the Plan, but One Time-Stamped Recording Forced Me to Question Who Was Lying About Michael’s Death
The Morning My Husband Brought His Mistress Home and Expected Me to Leave Quietly
Part 11 of 44
