Chapter 7 CHAPTER SEVEN

Theo didn't sleep. His door was locked and he sat on his small-bed, flipping the photos on his phone with trembling fingers.

Forty-three images. Each one a piece of the puzzle.

Documents of insurance with inflated property prices. Fire investigation reports. The confession of Graham which was written by hand. The file of Michael Callahan containing chilling notes owned by Victor.

Theo sent it all to multiple email account, to David, to another cloud storage account at 3 AM. In case anything happened to his phone, the evidence would be safe.

At four in the morning he heard some movement in the passage. Footsteps halting by his door. The handle rotated, and it was locked.

After a long moment, the footsteps retreated.

Theo tightened his grip on his phone.

At five he ceased trying to sleep. He took a shower, got dressed, and passed through the steps of preparing a breakfast as his hands could not stop shaking.

It was different in the kitchen. Every shadow held menace. Each creak of the old house was as a menace.

Catherine was there at six-thirty, at an earlier hour than was usual. Theo was looked in at by her astute eyes.

"You look terrible," she said. "Are you ill?"

"Couldn't sleep." Theo said

"Well, don't breathe on the food." She poured herself a cup of coffee, and gazed at him over the edge. “Victor want to see you this morning. Eight o'clock, his study."

"I know." Theo replied.

Her eyebrows rose. "He told you already? How unusual." She sipped her coffee. "What did you do, Theo? Break something valuable?"

"Nothing." Theo said.

"Hmm." Catherine looked in a calculating manner. “Victor does not call people to the study on nothing. Especially not you."

Elena walked in wearing pajamas. She wanted to see the trouble between her mother and Theo.

"What's going on?" Elena asked.

"Nothing, dear. Theo is merely having an appointment with your father.” Catherine smiled thinly. “I guess it will be the last time we talk about his... situation. It is a long time to remain a charity case for three years.”

Theo served their breakfast without a reply. His head was going through scenarios, possibilities, outcomes.

Victor wanted to have his answer before eight. Get the cash and fly, or be destroyed.

But Theo had already taken care of the evidence, something Victor had known nothing about. Did not even know it was stored, shared, and secured.

Richard arrived at seven desperately in a hangover and in a bad temper. He even hardly looked at Theo, and took coffee and disappeared.

The family dispersed. Theo cleaned up, checked the time. Seven forty-five.

He climbed to the second floor, in which the study of Victor was situated, in the best light. It was an imposing door of solid mahogany.

It was eight in the morning when Theo knocked.

"Come in." Victor said.

It was an all-dark-wood and leather study, where the shelves were lined with books which Victor had never opened. He was seated behind a huge desk, impeccably dressed in three-piece suit though early in the day.

"Punctual," Victor noted. "Sit."

Theo sat before the chair facing the desk. It was also lower than that of Victor, an intentional power play.

"Have you considered my offer?" Victor asked.

"I have." Theo said.

"And?" Victor asked.

Theo met his eyes. “I would like to know what happened to my uncle. The truth."

Victor made no change in his expression. "I told you"

"No more lies. You want my silence? Then you owe me honesty. What was happened to Michael Callahan?

A long pause. Victor steepled his fingers.

“Your uncle was looking into the Riverside fire” said Victor at last. “He had established links between the property owner and my father. He arrived in 1994, posing questions.”

"And?" Theo asked.

"And I convinced him to stop. I argued that digging up the past would do harm to innocent individuals. My mother, my family. It was the fault of my father that caused the fire not my own.” Victor said.

"He didn't stop." Theo said.

"No. He kept digging. Found more evidence. Threatened to publish." The voice of Victor was rather a matter of fact as he was talking of a business. "So I handled it."

"You killed him." Theo trying to shift his chair closer to Victor.

“I had him arranged to disappear. Painlessly. He didn't suffer.” Victor said like that out of goodwill. “Then I ensured that no one would look too keenly. One or two bribed policemen, a lost piece of paper. Another journalist who burned out and walked away from his life was Michael Callahan.”

Theo's hands clenched. When he said it, and said it so casually, his blood boiled.

“And thirty years you have lived with that.” Theo said.

"I've slept perfectly well." Victor leaned forward. "Your uncle made a choice. He could have taken money, and began again. Instead, he chose principles. That choice killed him. Don't make the same mistake."

"Where is he buried?" Theo asked.

Victor smiled slightly. “It is not the information that I am sharing. Some secrets stay buried. Literally."

Theo had to restrain himself. It would not help to lose control at this point.

“You are bribing me to get away. How much?" Theo asked.

"Two hundred thousand. Cash. Untraceable. Anywhere in the world, it should be enough to start all over again. You might fly away tonight.” Victor said with no remorse just wanted the issue settled.

It was a fortune. Much more money than Theo had ever had.

It was even blood money, money for the payment of silence about murder and fraud.

“I must have assurances.” Theo said. “How do I know that you will not follow me later? Like you did my uncle?"

"You'll sign an NDA. Comprehensive, ironclad. And by the honesty, once you are gone you are not a danger. Your uncle, he was insistent, went on inquiring. You get the money and vanish we will not even think of you again.” Victor replied

"What about Elena?" Theo asked.

"What about her?" Victor's tone was cold. "She'll get an annulment. Say the marriage had been a mistake. Her story will be backed by the family.”

"She won't fight it?" Theo said.

"Elena does what she's told. Eventually." Victor pulled out a folder. "Here's the agreement. Read it, sign it, and take your money and your pride, which now remains.”

Theo took the folder. The NDA was cumbersome and full of legal jargon. The essence, however, was obvious: never to speak ever again of anything related to Whitmore family. Violation would entail legal measures and loss of the money.

“I must have time to read this.” Theo said.

"You have one hour. Send it back to me signed and I will bring your money to you.” Victor's smile was sharp. “And do not come back, and say you have chosen differently. You’ll regret it."

Theo stood, folder in hand.

"One more thing," Victor said. "Your phone. I'll need it."

Theo's heart stopped. "Why?"

"Insurance. I would like to ensure that you have not taken any pictures of things not supposed to be taken. When you leave, you receive the phone back in case it is clean. If not..." Victor shrugged. "Deal's off."

Theo's mind raced. He couldn't give up the phone. The pictures were his bargaining, his defense.

But denying it would substantiate the suspicions of Victor.

“I do not have it with me” Theo lied.

"Then get it. Bring it along with the signed NDA. One hour, Theo." Victor dismissed him and went to his computer. "Don't be late."