Chapter 9 - Tyler Told Us Why the Phone Was There
Megan contacted HR through her own attorney.
She had access to Derek’s personal cloud account because they still shared family-device backups.
She turned over information she believed related to the workplace investigation.
I stayed out of that process.
Then she called me about Tyler.
“He remembers something.”
“Don’t question him for me.”
“I didn’t.”
“What happened?”
“He told his therapist.”
Tyler had been asked generally why the barbecue bothered him.
His answer:
“Dad said Uncle Virgil was supposed to hit him.”
I sat down.
Megan’s voice shook.
“Derek told the boys to stay behind him when you arrived.”
“Why?”
“Because he said you’d lose it when you saw the toys.”
I closed my eyes.
“And the phone?”
“He told Tyler to make sure it kept recording.”
“Did he say why?”
“Tyler remembers one sentence.”
“What?”
“Dad said, ‘I need people to see what Virgil is really like.’”
There it was.
Almost.
Still missing the workplace connection.
But enough to make me nauseous.
My brother had used my child as bait.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
He selected the thing most likely to break Lucas.
Then waited for me to respond violently.
The realization made me want to drive to Derek’s house.
That instinct scared me.
Because if I had hit him Saturday, the plan would have worked perfectly.
So I did something Derek apparently never expected me to do.
Nothing.
I stayed home.
Made Lucas dinner.
Called Naomi, my therapist.
Then called Peterson’s legal department and told them Megan might have relevant information.
I did not ask what they already knew.
That night Lucas crawled into my bed.
“I had a bad dream.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Grandpa burned Bamboo Junior.”
I moved closer.
“He can’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Grandpa doesn’t come into this house without permission.”
“What if he does?”
“The doors lock.”
“What if he gets mad?”
“I can still say no.”
Lucas was quiet.
Then:
“Even to Grandpa?”
“Especially to Grandpa if Grandpa is doing something wrong.”
He fell asleep fifteen minutes later.
I stayed awake.
For years, Frank had taught Derek and me that family hierarchy meant the strongest man decided where the line was.
Derek apparently believed that too.
He believed he could set fire to a child’s belongings because the resulting anger belonged to him.
He believed he could create pressure at work and define anybody who resisted as weak.
He believed my reaction to his cruelty could become evidence against my character.
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And I realized the most important thing I had done at the barbecue was not leaving.
It was refusing to become the version of me Derek had already prepared to record.
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