Chapter 14 - THE BODYGUARD WHO WAS HIDING THE TRUTHChadworth stared at Marcus's message.
For a moment, he wanted to leave immediately.
He wanted to confront the man who had protected his family for almost a decade and demand an explanation.
Then he remembered Lorelai.
He remembered how close his desperation had come to interfering with her rescue.
He handed the phone to Detective Ruiz.
“He wants to meet.”
Ruiz read the message.
“Don't respond yet.”
Chadworth nodded.
She coordinated with her team and contacted Marcus through an established channel.
After several minutes, Marcus agreed to speak with investigators at a neutral location.
Chadworth wasn't permitted to attend the initial interview.
He waited in Cora's office while Ruiz questioned the security chief.
The waiting was almost unbearable.
He replayed years of conversations with Marcus.
The birthdays.
The business trips.
The nights Marcus checked the mansion's alarms while Chadworth slept.
He had trusted him with every entrance to his home.
Every movement of his daughters.
Every emergency plan.
Now Chadworth wondered whether trust itself had been his mistake.
Cora seemed to read his thoughts.
“Don't conclude that trusting people is wrong.”
Chadworth looked up.
“Every person I've trusted has betrayed me.”
“Not every person.”
He thought of Rosamund.
Of Detective Ruiz.
Of the teachers helping Lorelai return to school.
Of Daria Bell, who had spoken difficult truths without asking for anything in return.
Cora continued.
“The lesson isn't that you should trust nobody. It's that trust has to include accountability.”
Several hours later, Ruiz returned.
Her expression was grim.
“Marcus has admitted to deliberately disabling the greenhouse cameras.”
Chadworth closed his eyes.
“Why?”
“Elliott Crane threatened him.”
“With what?”
“Information about the night Evelyn died.”
The room went silent.
Ruiz placed a statement on the table.
“Marcus has agreed to cooperate and surrender relevant records. He's also being investigated for his own conduct.”
Chadworth stared at her.
“What did he do?”
“Twenty-seven months ago, Crane instructed Marcus to follow Evelyn after she left a meeting at Redwater.”
“Why?”
“Crane claimed Evelyn was transporting confidential corporate material and might be in danger.”
Chadworth felt sick.
“He used Marcus to watch my wife?”
“Yes.”
“Without telling me?”
“According to Marcus, Crane insisted the operation was legally authorized.”
Chadworth shook his head.
“Marcus should have asked me.”
“He agrees.”
Ruiz continued.
“On the night of the crash, Marcus drove an unmarked vehicle behind Evelyn. Another vehicle, driven by Warren Pike, was waiting near Old Briar Bridge.”
Chadworth gripped the chair.
“What happened?”
“Marcus says Evelyn appeared to realize she was being followed. She accelerated. Pike's vehicle moved alongside her near the bridge.”
“And?”
“Marcus says he saw the vehicles come dangerously close together. Evelyn's car struck the barrier.”
Chadworth closed his eyes.
For more than two years, he had imagined Evelyn alone on an icy road.
Now the truth was taking shape.
She hadn't been alone.
She had been frightened.
And men paid by people he trusted had been following her.
“Did Marcus stop?” he asked.
Ruiz hesitated.
“Not immediately.”
Chadworth looked up.
“What?”
“He says Crane called and ordered him to leave the area. He obeyed before returning to contact emergency services.”
Chadworth's expression changed.
“He left her there?”
Ruiz said nothing.
“He knew she'd crashed, and he left?”
“He says he panicked.”
Chadworth stood abruptly.
“Evelyn could have been alive.”
“We don't know whether an earlier response would have changed the outcome.”
“But he didn't even try!”
His voice broke.
Cora remained silent.
Chadworth turned away.
He wanted to hate Marcus.
He wanted to hate Elliott.
He wanted to hate every person who had known the truth while his daughters mourned their mother.
But beneath the anger lay a more difficult question.
How many times had he ignored Evelyn because Elliott told him not to worry?
Ruiz allowed him a moment.
Then she continued.
“Marcus says Crane later warned him that he could face criminal consequences if the investigation uncovered his role.”
“So he stayed quiet.”
“Yes.”
“And when Elliott needed the greenhouse camera disabled, he threatened him again.”
“That's his statement. We're working to corroborate it.”
Chadworth lowered himself into the chair.
“Did Marcus help them take Lorelai?”
“He denies any involvement in her abduction. We haven't established that he participated. His credentials may have been used by others, and we're examining that.”
“Can I speak to him?”
“Not today.”
Chadworth nodded.
He didn't trust himself to do it calmly.
That evening, he returned to the mansion and gathered his daughters in the family room.
He didn't tell them every disturbing detail.
Dr. Pierce had advised him to provide truthful, age-appropriate information without burdening them with adult responsibilities.
So he explained that investigators were reviewing new information about their mother's accident.
Lorelai looked at him carefully.
“Does that mean Mommy didn't just slide on the ice?”
“We're learning that other people may have made dangerous choices that night.”
Gemma hugged Bramble.
“Was Mommy scared?”
Chadworth's throat tightened.
“She may have been.”
“Did she do something wrong?”
“No, sweetheart.”
He moved closer.
“Your mother was trying to protect people. Nothing that happened was your fault, and nothing you could have done would have changed it.”
Lorelai looked toward Evelyn's photograph.
“I remember her telling me not to be afraid of telling the truth.”
Chadworth nodded.
“She believed that very strongly.”
Later, after the girls went to bed, Rosamund found him sitting alone.
“You look exhausted.”
“I am.”
“Do you want some tea?”
“Please.”
She returned with a cup and placed it beside him.
Chadworth looked up.
“Rosamund, do you ever regret trusting someone?”
“Of course.”
“What do you do afterward?”
She considered the question.
“I try to remember that one person's dishonesty doesn't make every other person's kindness false.”
He stared at the tea.
“Marcus let Evelyn die alone.”
Rosamund was silent.
Then she said softly.
“You can't undo what he chose. But you can make different choices now.”
Chadworth nodded.
The next morning, Ruiz called with another development.
Marcus had surrendered a small encrypted storage device.
He claimed it contained a partial backup of the dashboard camera from the vehicle he drove on the night of Evelyn's crash.
Investigators were still examining the files.
Chadworth immediately asked whether he could see them.
“Not until they're processed,” Ruiz replied.
Then she paused.
“There's one thing Marcus wanted you to know.”
Chadworth waited.
“He says he's been carrying this guilt for twenty-seven months.”
Chadworth's voice turned cold.
“That doesn't bring Evelyn back.”
“No,” Ruiz agreed. “It doesn't.”
Before ending the call, she read a passage from Marcus's statement.
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It was the final explanation he'd given for withholding the evidence.
“I wasn't just following Mrs. Prescott that night. I was driving the car that chased her onto the bridge, and I knew the man beside her vehicle was trying to force her to stop.”
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