Chapter 17 - The Footsteps on the Porch
The storm arrived on Sunday night, beating against the Connecticut coastline with driving sheets of rain and gale-force wind. The Vance house was silent. The children were safe sixty miles away in a secure safehouse coordinated by Lin’s unit. Margaret sat in the darkened back pantry, holding Rachel’s old kitchen rolling pin with knuckles white as bone, refusing to leave Daniel alone.
Outside, the crunch of wet gravel signaled the arrival of an unlisted rental sedan.
Daniel sat in the living room chair, illuminated only by the faint blue glow of a muted television screen. He had left the front door unlocked. Just as it had been five years ago.
The brass doorknob turned. The hinges creaked against the draft.
A tall figure stepped through the threshold, shaking water from the brim of an expensive cashmere coat. Harold Vance stepped into the foyer. He looked prosperous, well-fed, and sickeningly calm. He carried a leather briefcase in his left hand.
"Still the same pathetic wreck, aren't you, Danny?" Harold’s voice slipped into the quiet room like oil on water.
Daniel didn't move. He kept his eyes locked on the television screen.
Harold stepped into the living room, stepping over an intentionally placed empty glass on the rug. He walked over to the mantelpiece, picked up the framed photograph of Rachel, and looked at it with mild distaste.
"She always was louder than she had any right to be," Harold remarked casually. "She actually thought she could cut me out of grandfather's portfolio. She had the audacity to call me a parasite at Thanksgiving dinner. Do you remember that, Danny? You were too busy playing with Lily on the rug to notice your wife threatening to send your own brother to prison."
"She knew what you were," Daniel said. His voice was perfectly level. Not slurred. Not broken.
Harold froze. He turned his head slowly, his eyes narrowing in the half-light.
May you like
"What did you say?"
"I said she knew what you were," Daniel repeated, turning his head to look directly into his brother’s eyes. "And now I do too."
