Chapter 6 - THE BROTHER WHO ALREADY KNEW
Chloe called David before I could stop her.
She put the phone on speaker.
“What happened with Mara Keller?”
Silence.
Then David said, “Why are you asking about her?”
“Just answer me.”
“She had an employment dispute with Dad.”
“What kind?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You helped Mom pay her.”
Another pause.
Longer.
“Chloe, who are you with?”
She looked at me.
“That matters more than the question?”
“If Rebecca is there, this conversation is over.”
Something in Chloe hardened.
“No. It isn’t.”
David exhaled.
“Mara accused Dad of inappropriate behavior. The school’s insurer settled because litigation would’ve been expensive.”
I felt cold despite the crowded café.
“What behavior?” Chloe asked.
“She claimed he came into her hotel room during a faculty retreat.”
“Why?”
David snapped.
“I wasn’t there.”
“You said you didn’t remember.”
“I remember the accusation. I don’t know what happened.”
“Did she say Dad drugged her?”
David didn’t answer.
Chloe ended the call.
She was shaking.
“He knew.”
“Yes.”
“He let me call her crazy for eight years.”
We sat without touching each other.
There was no sudden sisterly reconciliation between us.
She was still angry that I had handed her the glass.
I was still ashamed.
But the person she was angry at had become more complicated than me.
That afternoon, David came to my hotel.
I met him in the lobby, not upstairs.
He looked exhausted.
“You’re poisoning Chloe against our parents.”
“No. Your father handled the poison.”
His mouth tightened.
“That isn’t funny.”
“I wasn’t joking.”
He lowered his voice.
“The Keller thing was eight years ago. Dad denied it. The school settled. That happens constantly.”
“With our money?”
“Our money went into my parents’ foundation as a loan.”
“Without asking me.”
“I was going to replace it.”
“When?”
He had no answer.
I asked why.
David finally admitted Arthur had borrowed against retirement assets to cover legal and insurance costs after Mara’s claim. Interest and penalties had piled up. The foundation account was being used to make payments related to the old settlement.
“You were paying to clean up after him.”
“I was helping my parents.”
“You were using our savings.”
“Because I knew how you’d react.”
I stared at him.
“That sentence should bother you more than it does.”
He leaned closer.
“You don’t understand what Dad did for us.”
I almost laughed.
“What did he do for me?”
David looked away.
For the first time, I saw the structure clearly.
Arthur’s reputation wasn’t merely something the Vances admired.
It was infrastructure.
David’s college tuition.
Chloe’s private-school connections.
Evelyn’s social circle.
The house.
The foundation.
The family name.
If Arthur became what Mara Keller said he was, every sacrifice they had made to protect him became harder to explain.
David stood.
“Give police your video. Fine. Tell them about the drink. But leave Mara out of it.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t know what happened.”
“Neither did you.”
He started walking away.
I called after him.
“David.”
He stopped.
“Did you know your father planned to come into my bedroom?”
He didn’t turn around.
“No.”
It should have sounded like an answer.
Instead, it sounded rehearsed.
That evening, Chloe forwarded Mara Keller’s old email to the detective.
May you like
Then she sent me one more message.
I’m ready to talk to her.
