Daniel stared at the page.
“That’s impossible,” he said.
Captain Hale remained still. “The estate office has archived mail logs. Several letters from Commander Reynolds were intercepted and marked refused by General Victor Reynolds or his personal aide.”
Margaret appeared behind him.
She had come silently.
Her face went white when she saw the signature.
“Victor?” she breathed.
Captain Hale’s voice softened by one degree.
“There are more.”
He handed her another sheet.
Then another.
Margaret read them with shaking hands.
The room seemed to tilt around her.
“No,” she whispered. “No, he would have told me.”
But no one in the kitchen believed that.
Not even her.
Daniel’s voice sharpened with defensive disbelief.
“My father was strict. He was not cruel.”
Margaret looked up.
Something ancient and exhausted moved through her expression.
“Oh, Daniel,” she said. “Your father was cruel whenever cruelty protected the family image.”
