Chapter 4 — Grant Finally Explains
Thomas approached Grant quietly.
“We need to talk.”
Grant looked confused.
Then he saw Noah.
His expression changed immediately.
“What is he doing here?”
Noah laughed bitterly.
“Still remember me.”
Grant looked toward Rebecca.
“This isn’t the place.”
Rebecca held up the handwritten card.
“Apparently Dad thought it was.”
Grant went pale.
“Henry wrote that?”
Noah shook his head.
“I did.”
“Then why drag Henry into it?”
Noah’s expression hardened.
“Because he spent his last years trying to get you to tell the truth.”
Grant looked away.
Thomas said:
“What happened to the equipment bag?”
For several seconds, Grant said nothing.
Then he asked to speak somewhere private.
They moved into a small conference room.
Rebecca.
Thomas.
Noah.
Grant.
Grant sat down.
“I didn’t steal it.”
Noah folded his arms.
“Neither did I.”
Grant nodded.
Then finally explained.
The blue bag had been moved because Grant’s teenage son, Lucas, was using the storage shed without permission.
Lucas had been practicing late with several friends.
They repeatedly left equipment scattered around the field.
Grant discovered it.
He became furious.
Instead of reporting his son, Grant moved the equipment into his SUV intending to return it the next morning.
“Why?” Rebecca asked.
“To scare Lucas.”
Grant planned to tell him the equipment had gone missing because of his carelessness.
But before Grant could return it…
the missing equipment was reported.
Then someone mentioned Noah had been near the shed.
“And you let them blame him,” Thomas said.
Grant closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Noah stared at him.
“You knew from the beginning.”
Grant nodded.
“Yes.”