Page 3 of Silent Road

He stared at her, looking shocked."What?"

"He woke up, Dad.And he had some interesting things to say."

Gabriel's face went carefully blank."Eddie Mills is unstable.You can't trust anything he says."The words sounded rehearsed, like he'd prepared for this eventuality.

"Maybe.But you can trust what he knows."Sheila moved closer to the desk."Like the fact that you used to work for Internal Affairs."

Her father's hands clenched on the armrests of his chair.Just for a moment, but she saw it.

"That was a long time ago," he said carefully.A deflection.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?"she asked.

"It wasn't relevant."Another nonanswer.

"Eddie seemed to think it was pretty relevant to Mom's murder."

Gabriel stood abruptly, turning to face the window."I don't want to talk about this."

"I know.That's exactly the problem."Sheila moved to stand beside him."Dad, what aren't you telling me?"

Gabriel remained at the window, staring at the maple tree Sheila had once spent her summers climbing.His silence felt heavy, deliberate, like he was weighing each word before speaking.

"I thought," he said finally, "that if I kept my distance, you might let this go."

"Let what go?"

"The past."He pressed his palm against the glass."Some things are better left buried, Sheila."

"Mom's murder is better left buried?"

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"Sheila studied his reflection in the window."Mills said Mom was looking into something.Something about the department."

Gabriel's shoulders tensed."Eddie Mills is a desperate man trying to save himself."

"By telling me about your time in Internal Affairs?About the Thompson case?That's way too specific for him to just be making up details out of desperation."She watched his reflection carefully."What was Mom investigating, Dad?"

He turned to face her.The morning light caught the silver in his hair, the lines around his eyes.For the first time, Sheila noticed how old he looked.How tired.

Gabriel moved to his desk, sinking into his chair."Sheila, please.Don't make me do this."

"Do what?Tell me the truth?"She leaned forward, planting her hands on his desk."Mom's dead, Dad.She was murdered in our home.If you know something about why that happened—"

"I know that the past has teeth," he cut in sharply."I know that some doors, once opened, can never be closed again."He looked up at her, his eyes haunted."Is that what you want?To open those doors?To put everyone you care about at risk?"

"At risk from whom?"

Gabriel ran his hand across the smooth wood of his desk."You remember Carl Thompson?"

"The detective?He used to come to the gym sometimes."

"He disappeared in '98.Right in the middle of a major corruption investigation."

"I remember.They never found him."Sheila watched her father carefully."What does that have to do with Mom?"

"Everything."Gabriel's voice was barely a whisper."And nothing."He looked up at her, his expression pained."Thompson was investigating payments.Large sums of money moving through the department.He thought he'd uncovered something big.Then he vanished."

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