Chapter 4
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I forced my voice to stay calm.
“What involving Sophie?”
Ryan said nothing.
“Answer me.”
“I can’t over the phone.”
Detective Cole mouthed: Keep him talking.
“You hit our daughter because she discovered you kissing someone who was blackmailing you?”
“I panicked.”
“You hit a seven-year-old.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
Ryan began crying.
For years, his tears would have weakened me.
Not anymore.
“What does Jessica know about Sophie?”
“She found documents.”
“What documents?”
“Emily, please.”
“Tell me.”
Ryan lowered his voice.
“She found out Sophie has a trust.”
I froze.
My grandmother had created a small educational trust for Sophie before she died.
It was not secret.
But Ryan had never controlled it.
Neither had I.
An independent trustee did.
“So?”
“She thought it was bigger than it is.”
“How big did she think?”
“Three million.”
I almost laughed.
“It’s nowhere near that.”
“I know.”
“Why did she think it was?”
“Because Mark found an old statement.”
Detective Cole’s expression sharpened.
“What statement?”
Ryan continued.
“One from your grandmother’s estate.”
I felt my heart pound.
“My grandmother left Sophie fifty thousand dollars.”
“That’s what you were told.”
I sat down.
“What are you saying?”
Ryan hesitated.
“The original trust was much larger.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“Ryan.”
“Maybe two million.”
Lauren gasped.
I stared at the speaker.
“That’s impossible.”
“Jessica thought you were hiding it.”
“I didn’t know.”
“I know that now.”
“Now?”
There was silence.
Detective Cole wrote something on a pad.
WHEN DID HE LEARN?
I asked.
“When did you find out?”
“Four months ago.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I was trying to verify it.”
“With Jessica?”
“Yes.”
“You were kissing her to verify financial documents?”
“No.”
At least he did not insult me with another lie.
“The affair started after.”
I closed my eyes.
“So while secretly investigating my daughter’s money, you decided to sleep with the woman helping you do it.”
“I made a mistake.”
“You made hundreds.”
Then Ryan said something unexpected.
“Jessica isn’t after the trust for herself.”
Detective Cole looked up.
“Who is?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I swear.”
“Who gave her the old estate statement?”
“Mark.”
“Your brother?”
“Yes.”
“Where did he get it?”
“I don’t know.”
The call suddenly disconnected.
Detective Cole immediately requested officers locate Ryan.
His phone had been left at his lawyer’s office.
He was gone.
My stomach turned.
“Is he running?”
Cole shook her head.
“Maybe.”
Then the digital officer interrupted.
“I found something.”
He had traced one of the hidden camera logins.
Someone had accessed our home video system remotely thirty-one times.
The account name was not Ryan.
Not Jessica.
Not Mark.
It was registered under my grandmother’s former estate attorney.
Robert Hale.
My grandmother had trusted Robert for twenty years.
He had handled her will.
Her house.
And Sophie’s trust.
I called the number I still had.
Disconnected.
Detective Cole searched professional records.
Robert Hale had retired two years earlier.
But his law license had not simply become inactive.
It had been suspended after a financial misconduct investigation.
The complaint had been sealed.
Cole obtained the name of the person who filed it.
My grandmother.
Three weeks before she died.
I stared at the report.
May you like
My grandmother had accused Robert Hale of stealing from her.
And no one had ever told me.
