Chapter 7 - The Secret in Walter’s Safe
By three o'clock that afternoon, Abby and I had retreated back to my house. The front gates of the property were locked, the heavy iron latch secured with a heavy-duty chain that Walter had installed years ago during a wave of county burglaries.
My hands, which had been remarkably steady all day, began to tremble as I sat down in Walter’s old study. The room still carried the faint aroma of cedar and Old Spice. Behind the large framed portrait of our wedding day hung the small wall safe.
"Did Dad leave something else?" Abby asked, standing by the doorway, her arms wrapped around her torso.
"Your father was a practical man, Abby," I replied, turning the dial on the safe. *Right thirty-four, left seventeen, right fifty-two.* The heavy steel door clicked and swung open.
Inside lay three thick blue folders, a small black ledger, and an audio cassette tape labeled with Walter’s neat, architectural handwriting: *FOR ELEANOR — IN CASE DEREK LOSES HIS WAY.*
I pulled out the tape and the black ledger, laying them on Walter’s oak desk. I opened the ledger. It wasn't a record of business expenses; it was a private diary of loans.
*June 2018: Paid Derek’s bail after the Nashville DUI. $15,000 to cover legal fees and expunge the record. Derek promised this was the wake-up call.*
*October 2019: Settled Derek’s gambling debt with the offshore account. $68,000. He cried on my shoulder in this very office. I told him it was the last time.*
*April 2021: Paid off Derek’s former secretary, Sarah, after she threatened a sexual harassment lawsuit against his firm. $120,000. Derek swore Gina would divorce him if she found out.*
My heart slammed against my ribs. Abby gasped, leaning over my shoulder to read the lines.
"My God," Abby whispered, tears spilling onto her cheeks. "Dad was covering for him. All those years... while Derek acted like he was God’s gift to business, Dad was secretly cleaning up his criminal messes."
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"Not criminal," I murmured, staring at the handwritten proof of my son's moral decay. "Calculated. Derek knew his father would protect the family name at any cost. But Walter didn't destroy the records. He kept every canceled check, every signed non-disclosure agreement, and every bank transfer slip."
I looked at the cassette tape sitting beside the ledger. "Walter knew this day would come. He gave me the matches; he was just waiting to see if Derek would pour the gasoline."
