Page 110 of Pure Silence

“My name is Lionel Graham,” the man in the suit said. “Michael was my nephew. I believe you two were acquainted.”

“Yeah. I helped his head get acquainted with a few flights of stairs.”

“So I’m aware.” Lionel’s mouth twitched. “Michael was always a bit of afuckup, and that’s putting it mildly.”

“That’s what this is about? Michael?”

“Well, that’s what I’m telling my sister anyway,” Lionel teased as if they were old friends and this was all some kind of joke. “She’s very upset, you see, but I wasn’t really motivated to get involved. Not until I realized that you and your little boyfriend had stolen from me. You stole a lot of money from me, in fact.

“Nowthatis certainly motivating. Took us a little while to figure out it was you. We thought it was our competitors for a time, but…” He grinned. “You just had to make that little donation to the rescue, didn’t you?”

“What?” Goldie scoffed.

“Evan, the clerk,” Lionel replied. “He was very eager to tell anyone who would listen about his surprise donation from a famous former wrestler.”

Fuck.

So much for the donation being anonymous.

“It took a littlepersuading,” Lionel said, “but Jack and Lin here were able to get your home address off the adoption paperwork.”

“They killed him,” Day whispered. “They killed him. They killed him. They fucking killed him. They killed him—”

“What the fuck is he babbling about?” the tall man demanded.

“Hush, Jack,” Lionel chided. He cleared his throat, ignoring Day’s frantic whispering as he continued, “What I need to know now is what did you do with the rest of my money? Hmm? You didn’t donate it all to the rescue, so where is it?”

Goldie swallowed thickly, and he tried to decide how to play this. Stalling seemed like the best option, and he countered, “How did you guys find this place? None of Day’s information was on that paperwork.”

“Oh, quite right.” Lionel smirked. “But his name was in the police report filed about poor Mr. Lass. What a terrible tragedy that was, huh?” He glanced around the house. “Funny in a way that’s not so funny. My nephew died after coming to visit you to discuss your little disagreement, and then Mr. Lass died after he confronted you about it. I’d almost say you were cursed, Mr. Nash.”

“Blessed,” Day muttered. “Blessed.”

“I decided to have my men visit Mr. Hanley first,” Lionel went on, “and they made a most unexpected discovery upstairs. I told them we should extend an invitation to you to discuss our little situation, and I was so delighted to hear that Mr. Hanley was with you. I’m sure he’ll be able to help clear this right up.”

“Clear what up exactly?” Goldie asked.

“Our surprise.” Lionel snapped his fingers at his men. “Jack. Lin. Now, please.”

Jack and Lin, the shorter of the two men, dragged the sheet over. They grabbed the end of the sheet and pulled, and a desiccated corpse tumbled out onto the floor at Goldie’s feet.

Goldie recoiled instantly, staring down in horror at empty eye sockets and gleaming white teeth. The body was a skeleton wrapped in leathery skin, practically mummified, and there were a few wispy strands of white hair still clinging to its scalp. He thought it was a man because of the pants and polo shirt it was wearing, but it was impossible to be sure in its current condition.

Day screamed.

“Somebody you know, hmm?” Lionel eyed Day warily.

“Father. It’s Father.” Day slammed his head back into the chair. “Why? Why did they move Father? He wanted to be alone. He wanted to be alone. He just wanted to be alone!”

Goldie grimaced. “Oh,Christ.”

This was the corpse of Day’s father.

He must have been upstairs this entire time—no wonder Day didn’t want him to go up there when they were here before. Judging by the state of the body, Day’s father had to have been rotting here for years to be reduced to such a dried-out husk. Despite Jack and Lin’s earlier complaint, Goldie didn’t smell much of anything.

Which was a relief, but only a small one as the body was still right there practically laying on his bare feet.

Day was crying as he stared down at his father’s body, whimpering, “I didn’t mean to. I really didn’t mean to. I’m so sorry. I’m being punished, and you’re both suffering for it. I messed it up. I messed everything up.”