Chapter 4: What Richard Vance Told His Daughter
I went back into Elena's room and closed the door.
She was watching me before I reached the chair.
She already knew from my face that something had shifted.
"What did your father tell you," I said, "the night before he passed?"
Her breath caught.
"She told you about that."
"She told me to ask you."
Elena looked at the ceiling.
A long moment passed.
The IV monitor beeped once, steadily.
"Dad called me at nine o'clock that night," she said.
"He said he needed to tell me something before it was too late.
He said he'd been protecting Mom for years and that he was tired of it." She stopped.
"He said the resort company wasn't clean, Elias.
He said there was money moving through it that didn't belong to the family.
That Hargrove had been managing it for years, and that Mom knew."
I stayed very still.
"What kind of money?"
"He didn't say exactly.
He said he had documents.
That he'd put them somewhere safe and that only I would know where to find them." She met my eyes.
"He said the house was the key.
That as long as I held the estate, the documents stayed protected.
If the estate transferred to Mom or Chloe, Hargrove would have access to everything in the property records and the documents would disappear."
"Where are they?"
"In the greenhouse.
Behind the back wall panel, third from the left." She almost smiled, faint and sad.
"He used to hide my birthday presents there when I was small.
He said I'd remember."
I stood up.
"Elias." She caught my wrist.
"If Hargrove called tonight, that means he knows about the documents.
That means he's already told Mom.
That means—"
"That means someone is at the greenhouse right now." I was already at the door.
"Or they've already been."
I stepped into the corridor and looked at Marcus, who had moved closer.
"The greenhouse at the Vance estate," I said.
"Back wall.
Third panel from the left.
Go now.
Take two men.
Don't let anyone near it."
Marcus was already on his phone before I finished the sentence.
Julian had heard every word.
He was standing very straight, his face the color of old paper.
"I didn't know about any documents," he said.
"I believe you."
"Does that matter?"
I looked at him.
"It will.
Depending on what you do next."
Julian glanced toward his mother.
Victoria had not moved.
She was seated with her hands folded in her lap, her eyes fixed on the middle distance, her expression arranged into something that was almost calm.
"Mom," Julian said.
"Did you know about the documents?"
She didn't answer.
"Did you know what Dad found?
Did you know what Hargrove was doing with the company?"
Still nothing.
"Mom." His voice broke.
"Did you know before Dad d*ed?
Did you know while he was still alive?"
Victoria turned her head slowly and looked at her son.
"Your father was weak," she said.
"He found something he didn't understand and he panicked.
Hargrove was managing a cash flow arrangement that kept this family solvent for fifteen years.
Without it, there would have been no estate.
No mansion.
No resort.
No inheritance for anyone." She straightened slightly.
"I did what I had to do to protect this family."
Julian stared at her.
"He d*ed six weeks after that phone call," he said.
Victoria looked away.
The monitor in Elena's room beeped steadily through the wall.
Julian sat down on the corridor floor, his back against the wall, and put his face in his hands.
My phone lit up.
Marcus.
*Someone was here.
May you like
Panel is open.
Documents are gone.*
