Chapter 5 - THE LAWYER WHO KNEW DANIEL FIRST
Richard did not deny it.
He had been a junior associate on the Mason Hayes case.
Laura felt betrayed even though she had known Richard only three years.
“You knew?”
“I knew the case.”
“You knew Catherine.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Daniel testified.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
Richard looked tired.
“Because you hired me for an estate matter after Daniel died. The old case was privileged.”
“Daniel wasn’t your client.”
“Miller & Shaw was.”
Laura stared.
“Were they negligent?”
Richard said nothing.
That answer was enough.
He continued carefully:
“The scaffolding company failed to install a secondary lock. Mason also bypassed a warning barrier. Both things were true.”
“And Daniel?”
“He inspected the site earlier that day.”
“Did he see the missing lock?”
Richard looked away.
“Yes.”
Laura’s throat tightened.
“Then he lied.”
“Not exactly.”
She laughed bitterly.
“There’s that phrase.”
Richard explained.
Daniel testified that when he inspected the platform, it was secured.
That was true.
The secondary lock was removed later during equipment adjustment.
Daniel did not know who removed it.
But Mason had complained about the platform earlier.
Daniel knew there were concerns.
He minimized them under pressure from his father.
Laura closed her eyes.
“So Catherine thinks he protected the company.”
“He did.”
“And Mason paid for it.”
Richard’s voice softened.
“Mason’s death had multiple causes. But Daniel carried guilt for the rest of his life.”
Laura thought of the pool.
The easement.
The strange note.
DON’T LET HAYES EVER GET THIS STRIP BACK.
Maybe Daniel had not built the pool only for family summers.
Maybe he built it to block Catherine from returning.
Richard gave her another file.
Daniel had purchased the disputed strip from Catherine’s former husband, Thomas Hayes.
Catherine and Thomas were separated then.
Thomas sold his fractional interest cheaply.
But Catherine never signed.
The transfer was incomplete.
Daniel knew that.
“He built the pool anyway?” Laura asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Richard hesitated.
“Because Thomas told him Catherine planned to buy the entire block and demolish the Miller homes as revenge.”
Laura stared.
“Was that true?”
“Maybe.”
Again.
Maybe.
Every family secret lived inside that word.
Then Evan overheard part of the conversation.
He stood in the doorway.
“So Dad did something wrong?”
Laura looked at him.
“Yes.”
Evan’s eyes filled.
“He was a bad person?”
“No.”
“How can both be true?”
Laura swallowed.
“Because good people can make cowardly choices.”
Evan looked toward the ruined pool.
“Did he build it because of me?”
“Yes.”
“And because of her?”
Laura looked at Catherine’s house through the window.
“Yes.”
Evan sat down.
For the first time since Daniel died, he looked angry at his father.
That broke Laura in a new way.
Then Richard’s phone rang.
He listened.
His face changed.
“What?”
He ended the call.
“The county found something under the pool.”
Laura stared.
“What?”
May you like
Richard looked toward the backyard.
“Human remains.”
