Chapter 2
I listened until dawn.
The recorder contained seven files made during the previous six weeks. The early recordings captured whispers about company accounts and forged board resolutions. The later ones captured something worse.
Vanessa and Lucas had stolen more than eight million dollars through North Quay Advisory, a consulting firm that existed only on paper. Lucas controlled its accounts through shell companies.
Mother discovered the payments while reviewing quarterly expenses.
That was when they began drugging her. Mother’s notes showed that she had requested a formal audit and scheduled a private board session. Both appointments had been canceled from her account after she became ill.
Dr. Simon Mercer, our family physician, prescribed a sedative supposedly for insomnia. The dosage listed in Mother’s chart was mild. The dosage discussed on the recorder was not.
In the sixth recording, Vanessa laughed.
“Once Eleanor is gone, Daniel will sign anything. He has spent his life proving he isn’t as ruthless as she is.”
Lucas replied, “And after the merger?”
“The yacht’s fuel system is old,” Vanessa said. “Accidents happen.”
The yacht, Sea Wren, had been Mother’s wedding gift to us. Vanessa had suggested celebrating the merger with a private weekend offshore.
My wife had not merely planned to steal my inheritance. She had planned to bury me beside it.
At seven, I found Maria in the greenhouse trimming Mother’s orchids. She had worked for our family for twenty-two years and had never feared anyone. That morning, her hands shook.
“Tell me everything.”
“Mrs. Hartwell became sleepy after Dr. Mercer changed her medicine,” Maria said. “She stumbled and forgot words. Mrs. Vanessa told the staff it was dementia.”
“My mother did not have dementia.”
“I know. She asked me to switch the pills. For three days, she improved. Then Mrs. Vanessa began bringing her tea herself.”
Maria swallowed. She showed me the red marks around her wrists where Lucas had bound them with a plastic cord. She had hidden the severed piece inside her apron rather than throw it away.
“Last night, I heard arguing in the library. Your mother shouted that she had called her lawyer. Mr. Lucas held her down while Mrs. Vanessa poured something into her mouth.”
“Why didn’t you call police?”
“I tried. Lucas took my phone and locked me in the laundry room. When they released me, a doctor was here and your mother was dead.”
“Mercer?”
She nodded.
I told Maria to behave normally and went to the study. Vanessa entered carrying coffee.
“Where is Mother’s death certificate?” I asked.
“Lucas handled it.”
“Why wasn’t she taken to a hospital?”
“The stroke was catastrophic. Simon said nothing could be done.”
“Did he examine her?”
“Of course.”
I stared at her, then covered my face.
Vanessa knelt beside me. “Daniel, don’t torture yourself. Your mother was eighty-one.”
“She was seventy-two.”
Silence lasted less than a second.
“Of course,” Vanessa said. “I’m exhausted.”
After she left, I called Eleanor Shaw from a prepaid phone. Mother’s note had confused me because her own first name was Eleanor. Shaw was her oldest friend and personal attorney, a woman Vanessa believed had retired.
She answered on the fourth ring.
“Daniel?”
“How did you know?”
“Your mother said if she died suddenly, you would call from a number I didn’t recognize.”
I told her about the recorder.
“Do not confront them,” she said. “Meet me at St. Matthew’s cemetery at noon. Bring the death certificate.”
“Why the cemetery?”
“Because someone tried to run me off the road yesterday.”
At breakfast, Lucas placed the papers beside my plate.
I picked up the pen.
“After the funeral,” I said. “Mother would have wanted dignity.”
“The board meets tomorrow at four,” he replied.
“Then I’ll sign tomorrow at three.”
May you like
He sat back, satisfied.
He did not understand that he had just given me thirty-two hours.
