Chapter 6 - The Person Richard Expected to Defend Him
Richard confronted Elaine that afternoon.
He expected immediate denial.
Instead his sister closed her eyes.
“I told him.”
Richard stared at her.
They were sitting in the empty dining room where birthday ribbons still hung crookedly above the fireplace.
“You told Mark I might sell?”
“I told him you were thinking about your options.”
“That conversation was private.”
“I know.”
“Why would you do that?”
Elaine looked toward the windows.
“Because he asked me whether you hated him.”
That stopped Richard.
She explained that Mark had come to see her in November after the boiler failure. He was exhausted, angry, and frightened about money.
He told Elaine he had put nearly thirty-five thousand dollars into the lodge.
He also told her Claudia had begun asking whether they should move away.
Mark believed he had spent fifteen years arranging his career around a future Richard had promised him.
Then he overheard Richard mention a possible sale to an attorney.
“He thought you were going to cash out and leave him with nothing,” Elaine said.
“I never decided to sell.”
“You also never told him that.”
Richard bristled.
“So this is my fault?”
“No.”
Elaine’s answer came quickly.
“What happened to Noah is Mark and Claudia’s responsibility. Telling people you’re incompetent is their responsibility.”
She leaned forward.
“But you asked why he’s angry. I’m telling you.”
Richard hated that she was right about part of it.
For years he had complained that Mark was impatient.
But Richard had also enjoyed being needed.
He had handed Mark more work while keeping every meaningful decision vague.
Someday.
Eventually.
When the time is right.
Those were promises without dates.
Elaine continued.
“There’s something else.”
Richard waited.
“Mark wasn’t the first person who thought your memory was becoming a problem.”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“Who was?”
“I did.”
She reminded him of the months after surgery.
Richard had forgotten a dinner reservation with her.
He had repeated a question twice in one conversation.
He once drove to the lodge on a Sunday believing it was Monday.
“I was scared,” Elaine said. “I told Mark he should keep an eye on you.”
Richard felt betrayed.
Then he remembered how frightened he had been himself.
He simply had not admitted it.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because every time anyone mentioned it, you got angry.”
Richard looked at the half-cleared birthday table.
For the first time, the story became harder than finding a villain.
There had been a real concern.
Mark had not invented it from nothing.
But that still did not explain why a resolved medical issue had become a story he was telling vendors months later.
Elaine reached across the table.
May you like
“You need to find out when concern turned into leverage.”
That was the first thing anyone had said that felt exactly right.
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