Chương 4
“Check with him.”
“I did.”
That surprised her.
“And?”
“He confirmed it.”
“Then why bring it up?”
“Because you stayed in the office for four minutes.”
Maya felt heat climb into her face.
There it was.
The part she could not explain away.
Victoria said, “Maya?”
“I saw the photograph.”
Daniel looked at the photograph on the table.
“The one in the envelope?”
“No. Another copy. In a frame behind his desk.”
Daniel’s expression shifted.
Maya continued before courage deserted her.
“I recognized my mother. I took a picture with my phone.”
Victoria inhaled.
Daniel said, “Delete it.”
“No.”
“It’s my private property.”
“It’s a photograph of my mother.”
“The physical photograph belongs to me.”
“I didn’t take it.”
“You photographed documents beside it.”
Maya hesitated.
Daniel saw the hesitation.
“What documents?”
“One page.”
“What page?”
“A letter.”
Daniel’s face changed.
Maya knew immediately she had found something important.
“What letter?” Victoria asked.
Maya pulled out her phone.
Daniel moved his wheelchair forward.
“Maya.”
Victoria stepped between them.
It was almost absurd.
Daniel could have driven around her.
He did not.
Maya opened the photograph.
The image was blurry because her hands had been shaking at two in the morning.
But the letterhead was legible.
Hawthorne & Bell, Attorneys at Law.
August 29, 2002.
Charles Whitmore.
Maya read the first lines aloud.
“Dear Mr. Whitmore, this confirms our scheduled meeting on September fourth regarding the amendment to the Whitmore voting trust and your request that Ms. Elena Collins be present as a witness to your instructions.”
Victoria turned slowly toward Daniel.
“Your father died September third.”
“Yes.”
“The meeting was the next day.”
“Yes.”
“And Elena was supposed to be there.”
“Yes.”
Maya lowered the phone.
“Did my mother know?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t.”
Daniel frowned.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t give me that answer because it’s convenient. Did she know about the meeting?”
“Yes.”
Maya felt something cold settle inside her.
“What happened on September third?”
“My father died.”
“How?”
“Cardiac arrest.”
“Was it expected?”
“He was very sick.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“No. Not that night.”
Victoria sat again.
“Was Elena there?”
“Yes.”
Maya stopped breathing for a second.
“Where?”
“At the house.”
“When he died?”
“Yes.”
Maya gripped her phone.
“What happened?”
Daniel stared at the table.
“She was with him.”
Maya waited.
“Daniel.”
“She found him unresponsive.”
“And?”
“She called emergency services.”
“And?”
“She performed CPR.”
“And?”
“He died.”
Maya’s voice sharpened.
“And then you fired her two days later?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she accused me of killing him.”
Nothing in the room moved except the faint champagne creeping between the floorboards’ polished seams.
Victoria stared at her husband.
Maya heard the sentence but could not make it fit inside her head.
“My mother accused you of murder?”
“She was grieving.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“She had no evidence.”
“What did she say?”
Daniel’s eyes lifted.
“She said I’d caused his death.”
“How?”
“She believed I had pressured him. That the arguments, the legal fight, everything around the trust had pushed him too far.”
Maya studied his face.
“That’s not murder.”
“No.”
“So why did you say she accused you of killing him?”
Daniel did not answer.
Maya took a step closer.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Victoria whispered, “There’s more.”
Daniel’s shoulders sagged.
It was the first uncontrolled movement Maya had seen from him.
“My father had a medication regimen.”
Maya’s mouth went dry.
“What medication?”
“Heart medication. Parkinson’s medication. Others.”
“Did you touch it?”
“No.”
The answer came fast.
Too fast.
Maya noticed.
Victoria noticed too.
“Did someone else?” Victoria asked.
Daniel looked at her.
“No.”
“You just answered a different question.”
“I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did. She asked if you touched it. You said no. I asked if someone else did, and now you look like you’re trying to remember which lie belongs where.”
Daniel slapped his palm against the table.
Not hard.
Still, everyone flinched.
“I did not kill my father.”
Maya’s voice was quiet.
“Then why did you pay my mother?”
Daniel’s anger disappeared.
That frightened her more.
“Because she had something else.”
“What?”
“A recording.”
Victoria whispered, “Of what?”
Daniel stared at Maya.
“Me.”
Maya’s hand closed around her phone.
“What did you say?”
“I told my father if he changed the trust, I would have him declared incompetent and remove everyone around him who helped.”
“That was legal?” Maya asked.
“The threat wasn’t illegal by itself.”
“But?”
“But I told him I would make sure Elena never worked in private nursing again.”
Maya looked down.
She could suddenly see her mother at fifty-eight, thin from chemotherapy, still correcting Maya’s grammar while pretending not to be afraid of dying.
Elena had worked in home health almost her entire life.
Not private nursing.
Maya had never wondered why.
Daniel continued.
“She recorded the argument.”
“And you bought the recording.”
“I tried.”
“Tried?”
“She took the money.”
“But kept a copy.”
“Yes.”
Maya almost smiled.
That sounded like Elena.
Victoria apparently thought so too.
A strange little expression crossed her face.
“Smart woman.”
Daniel looked at her.
“She was.”
The compliment irritated Maya.
“You don’t get to admire her.”
Daniel nodded once.
“No. Probably not.”
The door opened again.
Owen entered carrying a broom and dustpan.
He stopped when he saw all three of them still positioned around the table.
“I can come back.”
Maya looked at the broken glass.
“No. Please.”
Owen crouched.
For thirty seconds nobody spoke while he swept crystal into the pan.
The ordinary sound was unbearable.
Brush.
Glass.
Brush.
Ice.
Owen picked up the bent tray.
“This one’s done.”
Maya said, “Sorry.”
Daniel said, “I broke it.”
Owen looked at him.
Daniel had probably never apologized to a tray in his life.
Owen said, “We have others.”
He carried everything out.
Maya watched the door close.
Victoria sat down again.
“All right.”
She looked at Daniel.
“Where is the recording?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Elena have it when she died?”
May you like
“I don’t know.”
“Did Ruth?”
