Chapter 7 - The Voice of a Dead ManThe cassette began with static.
As a child, Darwin remembered waiting at airport windows for a father who was perpetually returning from somewhere.
Geneva.
London.
Singapore.
Tokyo.
Richard brought gifts instead of stories.
Mechanical watches.
Wooden toys.
A chess set Darwin never learned to enjoy because every match became a lecture about strategy.
“Never react to the board you see,” his father used to say. “React to the board your opponent is building.”
Now, forty years later, Darwin understood the lesson had never been about chess.
Richard was building a board.
And Sydney and the twins were standing on it.
Detective Ruiz traced the company sedan to a private garage beneath a downtown office building.
Security footage showed a driver wearing a cap.
Not Richard.
But the passenger was unmistakable.
Darwin’s father.
“He arrived three days ago,” Ruiz said.
They were gathered in the safe house kitchen.
“Passport records confirm he flew from Zurich under his own name.”
Sydney folded her arms.
“Why wouldn’t Eleanor mention it?”
Darwin laughed without humor.
“My parents stopped volunteering information sometime during the Reagan administration.”
Marcus leaned over the table.
“Where is Richard now?”
“We don’t know.”
Ruiz turned to Darwin.
“Can you contact him?”
“Yes.”
“Do it.”
Darwin called.
His father answered on the fourth ring.
“Son.”
That calm voice made Darwin’s skin crawl.
“Where are you?”
“San Francisco.”
“I know.”
A pause.
“Then why ask?”
Darwin looked at Ruiz.
“Did you follow Sydney’s children?”
“No.”
“You were in the car.”
“I wanted to see them.”
The room went silent.
Darwin’s hand tightened around the phone.
“You knew.”
“I knew Sydney had children.”
“You knew they were mine.”
Richard sighed.
“I suspected.”
The same word Eleanor had used.
Suspected.
A Worthington family euphemism for knew but chose not to act.
“You’re going to meet me.”
“Are police listening?”
Darwin looked at Ruiz.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Darwin frowned.
Richard continued.
“Meet me at Pier 23. One hour. Bring Sydney.”
“No.”
“She needs to hear what I have.”
“She’s not going anywhere near you.”
Sydney held out her hand.
Darwin hesitated.
She took the phone.
“This is Sydney.”
Silence.
Then Richard’s voice softened.
“You sound like Thomas.”
Sydney went white.
“You don’t get to say his name.”
“You’re right.”
“What do you want?”
“To finish something I should have finished twenty-eight years ago.”
Sydney glanced at Ruiz.
“Talk now.”
“Not on the phone.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
Another pause.
“But if you want to know who sent the threat, come.”
The call ended.
Ruiz objected immediately.
Sydney overruled her.
“I’m going.”
Darwin said, “No.”
She turned.
“You wanted to follow my lead.”
“Not off a cliff.”
“If Richard knows who threatened the twins, I need to hear him.”
“Ruiz can bring him in.”
“On what charge?”
Ruiz answered reluctantly.
“Currently? None.”
Sydney grabbed her coat.
The meeting took place on a docked private boat under police surveillance.
Richard Worthington looked smaller than Darwin remembered.
Seventy-two years old.
Silver hair.
Expensive coat.
Tired eyes.
He stared at Sydney for several seconds.
“You look like your mother.”
Sydney did not sit.
“Who threatened my children?”
Richard looked toward Darwin.
“Your mother believes it was me.”
“Was it?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Richard placed an envelope on the table.
“Dr. Halpern.”
Darwin stared.
Sydney opened the envelope.
Inside were printed financial statements showing transfers from an offshore account controlled by Halpern to a private security contractor.
The contractor employed the man driving the company sedan.
“How did he get the car?” Darwin asked.
“I gave it to him.”
Darwin looked up.
Richard continued.
“Not knowingly. Halpern contacted me when I arrived. He said Eleanor wanted us to meet discreetly. He sent a driver.”
“You knew he was tracking Sydney.”
“Not initially.”
Sydney’s voice was ice.
“And later?”
Richard looked at her.
“I discovered it yesterday.”
“And you did nothing?”
“I’m doing something now.”
Sydney’s laugh was bitter.
“Your family loves arriving after the damage.”
Richard absorbed the blow.
“You’re right.”
Darwin had never heard his father say that.
Sydney sat slowly.
“Why did Halpern falsify my fertility results?”
Richard looked at Darwin.
“Because Eleanor asked him.”
“We know.”
“No. You know the first half.”
Richard leaned back.
“Halpern wasn’t simply protecting us because of Varexin. He was protecting himself.”
Sydney frowned.
“My father’s records implicated him.”
“Yes.”
“What did he do?”
“He altered adverse-event reports.”
“Did my father know?”
“Yes.”
“And November 14?”
Richard’s face changed.
Darwin leaned forward.
“What happened that night?”
For several seconds Richard seemed unable to speak.
Then he said:
“Thomas called me at 7:40 p.m.”
Sydney stopped breathing.
“He said he was driving to Sacramento the next morning to meet a federal investigator. He gave me one final chance to disclose everything myself.”
“What did you say?”
“I begged him to wait.”
“Why?”
“Because Eleanor had just given birth to Darwin’s sister.”
Darwin frowned.
“My sister died as a newborn.”
Richard nodded.
“Emily lived nine hours.”
Darwin had grown up with almost no information about her.
His parents never discussed the loss.
Richard’s voice roughened.
“Eleanor was still in the hospital. I was terrified the company would collapse while my family was falling apart.”
“So you chose the company,” Sydney said.
“Yes.”
The admission hung between them.
“What happened after the call?”
“I contacted Halpern.”
Darwin’s skin went cold.
“Why?”
“To warn him.”
Sydney stood.
“You told him my father was going to the government.”
“Yes.”
“And then my father died.”
“Yes.”
“Did Halpern kill him?”
Richard looked at her.
“I don’t know.”
“You’ve had twenty-eight years!”
“I know.”
Sydney slammed both hands against the table.
“Then what have you been doing?”
“Hiding.”
That answer stopped her.
Richard looked at his son.
“Your mother believes strength means never admitting fear. I spent my entire marriage letting her believe that. The truth is I have been frightened since the night Thomas died.”
“Of Halpern?” Darwin asked.
“Of the truth.”
Richard removed another envelope.
This one contained a cassette tape.
Sydney stared.
“What is that?”
“Thomas mailed it to me the day before he died.”
“You had this the entire time?”
Richard nodded.
Sydney’s face crumpled with rage.
“What’s on it?”
“His statement.”
“You had my father’s statement.”
“Yes.”
“And you buried it.”
“Yes.”
Darwin stood.
“You’re worse than I thought.”
Richard’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
Sydney picked up the tape.
Her hand trembled.
“Why give it to me now?”
“Because Halpern threatened your children.”
“And suddenly you found morality?”
“No.”
Richard looked exhausted.
“I found terror.”
Sydney said nothing.
“I saw the little boy at the park.”
Darwin tensed.
Richard continued.
“He has Darwin’s face at that age.”
Sydney’s jaw tightened.
“And I understood that all the things we buried were no longer buried in the past. They were standing on a playground wearing backpacks.”
He looked at Darwin.
“I failed Thomas.”
Then at Sydney.
“I failed you.”
Finally toward the door.
“And if I stay silent, I fail them.”
Ruiz entered the cabin.
“Mr. Worthington, I need the names of everyone involved.”
Richard nodded.
“I’ll give you everything.”
Sydney turned toward the door.
Then an explosion shook the dock.
Glass shattered.
Darwin threw himself over Sydney as a blast wave slammed through the cabin.
Alarms screamed.
Smoke filled the air.
Outside, someone shouted that a car had exploded.
Ruiz drew her weapon.
“Stay down!”
Darwin looked through the broken window.
The burning vehicle belonged to Richard.
His father stared at the flames.
“That wasn’t meant to kill me,” he whispered.
Darwin looked at him.
“How do you know?”
Richard’s face had gone gray.
“Because if Halpern wanted me dead, I’d be dead.”
Sydney clutched the cassette.
“Then what was it?”
Richard looked at the fire.
“A warning.”
His phone buzzed.
A message appeared.
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN SWITZERLAND.
May you like
A second message arrived.
NEXT TIME, THE CHILDREN WON’T BE AT A POLICE STATION.
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