DAMIEN'S POV
I called Richard on Sunday evening.
He answered on the second ring.
"I need to talk to you about Daniel," I said.
The silence that followed was the longest Richard had ever allowed in a conversation with me. Ten full seconds.
"How," he said finally. Not a question. Just the word.
"Thomas Bennett hired an investigator after the divorce. The files came to Elara."
Another silence. Shorter.
"When did you find out?" he asked.
"This week."
"And you're calling me now."
"Yes."
He exhaled slowly. The sound of a man who has been carrying something for forty years and has just felt the weight shift. "What do you want to know?"
"Everything. From the beginning."
He told me.
Her name was Margaret. She'd worked in the accounts department of Cross Industries in 1983 when Richar
