Chapter 6 - The Tire Iron and the Pocket Watch
Panic erupted in my car.
Maddie shrieked from the backseat. Katie grabbed the door handle, but I hit the central lock button.
“Don’t get out!” I yelled.
Dennis was walking slowly toward us, the metal tire iron dragging against the pavement, throwing off brief orange sparks. He didn’t look like the man I had married. His eyes were dead, his posture predatory.
Tessa was frozen beside my car, staring in horror at the dropped ledger.
“Get in!” I screamed at her, unlocking the passenger doors.
Tessa scrambled into the back seat next to Maddie and my dad, slamming the door just as Dennis reached the front of my sedan.
He didn’t yell. He didn’t curse. He simply raised the tire iron and brought it down with terrifying force onto the hood of my car.
The metal crunched. Maddie screamed again.
“Give me the book, Eleanor,” Dennis said, his voice muffled through the glass. He pointed the iron at the black ledger lying on the ground near my front tire.
I threw the car into reverse, intending to ram his SUV out of the way, but he anticipated the move. He stepped to the side and swung the iron against my driver’s side window.
The safety glass spider-webbed, instantly turning opaque white, but it held.
“The next one goes through the glass!” he shouted, his calm facade finally cracking into pure rage. “Roll down the window and hand me the ledger, or I swear to God, Eleanor, you won’t make it out of this lot!”
“Mom, do it!” Katie begged, crying hysterically.
My father leaned forward from the backseat. His face was set in a grim, stony expression I hadn’t seen since I was a teenager.
“Don’t give him a damn thing,” Dad said softly.
Dad reached into his deep coat pocket and pulled out a heavy, antique gold pocket watch. It was my grandfather’s. I hadn’t seen it in years.
“Dad, what are you doing?” I panicked as Dennis raised the iron again.
Dad popped the latch on the watch. Inside, where the glass face should have been, was a small, hollowed-out space. He pulled out a tiny, silver thumb drive.
“I knew what he was doing,” Dad said, his voice laced with heavy guilt. “Three months ago, I caught him in your mother’s study with her checkbook. I confronted him. He threatened to ruin Katie’s life. So, I hired a private investigator.”
I stared at him, stunned. “You knew?”
“I didn’t know about the baby,” Dad said, glaring at Tessa. “But I knew about the money. That drive has every offshore account number, every email, every forged signature. I was waiting until after the holidays to take it to the FBI.”
Smash.
Dennis hit the window again. A small hole appeared, and shards of glass sprayed across my lap.
“Time’s up!” Dennis roared, reaching his hand through the hole, unlocking the door from the inside, and ripping it open.
The cold air rushed in. Dennis grabbed my arm, his grip bruising.
“Give me the ledger.”
Before I could react, Tessa lunged from the backseat. She pushed past my father and shoved the heavy car door violently into Dennis’s chest.
He stumbled backward, dropping my arm but keeping his grip on the door.
Tessa leaned out, her eyes blazing.
“You told me my baby would be safe!” she screamed at him. “You told me she was the crazy one!”
Dennis sneered, regaining his balance. “You’re nothing but a glorified secretary, Tessa. Get out of the car and get the boy.”
“No,” she said.
Tessa reached into her own pocket and pulled out something shimmering.
It was my grandmother’s diamond bracelet.
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“I pawned the fake one you bought me,” Tessa said, her voice shaking with adrenaline. “I kept the real one. And I know exactly what it’s worth to the police.”
She threw the diamonds directly at Dennis’s face.
