He nodded.
"Your brother asked me to leave."
"Why?"
"Because Richard had discovered that you and I were planning to get married."
My hands went cold.
Thomas had believed that if Daniel remained in my life, Richard would use me to get to him.
So he begged Daniel to disappear.
And Daniel agreed.
But Thomas had never expected the disappearance to last fifty years.
The Second Secret
I thought that was the end.
It wasn't.
Daniel reached into his coat again.
This time he pulled out an old photograph.
It showed three men standing outside my father's hardware store.
My father.
Richard.
And someone else.
I looked at the third man.
My breath stopped.
I knew him.
He had been the man who lived two houses down from us when I was growing up.
Mr. Miller.
He had died years ago.
"Why is he in this photograph?"
Daniel looked at me.
"Because he was the one who helped your father."
"Helped him do what?"
"Get out."
"Get out of what?"
"The entire operation."
Daniel explained that my father had not been the mastermind.
Richard was.
My father had initially participated because he needed money to keep the business alive.
But eventually, he discovered how far Richard was willing to go.
My father wanted out.
Richard refused.
Mr. Miller helped my father collect evidence.
Thomas later found some of it.
And Daniel had found the rest.
But there was something nobody knew.
Something even Thomas hadn't known.
My father had secretly transferred a large sum of money into a trust.
A trust created for me.
I stared at Daniel.
"Why?"
"Because he knew Richard might come after the family."
"How much?"
Daniel hesitated.
"A lot."
"How much?"
He finally told me.
I couldn't believe the number.
My father had left enough money to change my life completely.
But I had never received it.
"Where is it?"
Daniel looked at the brass key.
"In that safety-deposit box."
The Bank
We drove to Cleveland two days later.
Neither of us spoke much.
At the bank, an employee examined the key.
Then she checked an old record.
Her expression changed.
"Ma'am, this box has been untouched for fifty years."
I stared at Daniel.
"You're sure?"
He nodded.
The employee led us downstairs.
The box was small.
Old.
Covered in dust.
I inserted the key.
It turned.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
A photograph.
Several documents.
And a small cassette tape.