Part 4
She came after him.
Daniel closed one of the glass doors but left the other open enough to hear the kitchen. The house was too quiet. Even the refrigerator seemed to have stopped humming.
Claire sat on the arm of a chair instead of the couch.
“Did you conceal Howard’s trust amendment?” she asked.
Daniel set the dead phone on the coffee table.
“That is not the beginning.”
“It is for me.”
“Claire.”
“Just answer.”
He looked at her scratch. “Yes.”
She blinked.
He had expected anger, perhaps triumph. What came instead was disappointment so tired that it seemed older than she was.
“You kept telling me she was lying.”
“I said she had no enforceable claim to the house.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
“Did Mom know?”
“No.”
Claire looked toward the lake.
The sun had moved behind a bank of clouds, taking the shine from the water. The room remained bright, but the shadows along the ceiling had deepened.
Daniel sat opposite her.
“Howard signed a proposed amendment eleven days before he died. It granted Veronica lifetime use of the west wing, an annual payment from the foundation, and a percentage of the proceeds if the estate was ever sold.”
“How much?”
“Fifteen percent.”
“She said twenty.”
“It was fifteen in the document I saw.”
“Why didn’t you give it to the attorneys?”
“Howard’s doctor had questioned whether he could make complicated financial decisions.”
“Was he incompetent?”
“The doctor didn’t say that.”
“Then why?”
“Because two days earlier Howard had accused Ruth of stealing his cuff links. He had given them to his nephew ten years before.”
“He forgot things.”
“He also changed moods every hour. He promised the same painting to three people. He tried to transfer the boathouse to a man who cleaned the gutters once.”
“So you decided which wishes counted.”
“I secured the document until we could determine whether it was valid.”
“For how long?”
Daniel did not answer.
Claire nodded slowly. “Six months.”
“I should have disclosed it.”
“You shredded it?”
“No.”
“Where is it?”
“In a fireproof box in my office.”
Claire rubbed her hands over her sweater.
“What did I take, then?”
“A copy.”
“You knew?”
“I found the folder moved last week.”
“But you didn’t ask me.”
“I thought Ruth had been in there.”
Claire gave him a brief, incredulous look.
“Of course you did.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you always suspect the person who is paid to be loyal before you suspect the person you love.”
Daniel almost told her that love made suspicion more expensive, not less. He stopped because the sentence sounded like something Howard would have said after two glasses of wine.
“Why did you contact Veronica?”
“She contacted me.”
“How?”
“Email.”
“How did she get your address?”
“It isn’t difficult.”
“What did she say?”
“That Howard had signed something you were hiding. She sent a photograph of the signature page.”
Daniel leaned forward. “Let me see it.”
“My phone is in your office.”
“You saw the paper in my files after she contacted you.”
“Yes.”
“And invited her here.”
“She was already staying here.”
“She was supposed to leave yesterday.”
“She came back this afternoon.”
“Who let her in?”
Claire looked at the floor.
Daniel closed his eyes briefly.
“You gave her the gate code.”
“I thought we could talk.”
“About a concealed legal document.”
“About you.”
“What did you think she was going to say that she hadn’t already said?”
“I thought she’d tell me why you were afraid of her.”
“I am not afraid of her.”
“You should be.”
Daniel looked toward the kitchen.
Veronica was still seated. Ruth had taken a dish towel from a drawer and was folding it into smaller and smaller squares.
“Did Veronica cut the cable?”
“Yes.”
“You said you didn’t see her with anything.”
“I didn’t. She told me she did it.”
“When?”
“After Ruth found us in your office.”
“What were you doing?”
“Looking for the original.”
“Did you find it?”
Claire shook her head.
“Then why did she think it was in the vase?”
“I told her it was.”
“Why?”
“Because she had the candlestick.”
Daniel stood and walked to the window. He pressed the heel of his hand against the cold glass.
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
Claire’s words came slowly at first.
Veronica had arrived shortly after three wearing the evening dress she had worn to a charity dinner the previous night. She said her hotel reservation had ended and that Daniel had refused to release two suitcases still stored in the west wing. Claire let her through the gate. Ruth was upstairs changing linens.
Veronica did not ask for the suitcases.
She went directly to Daniel’s office.
Claire followed because that was the point of letting her inside. She unlocked the door with the brass key Daniel kept beneath the false bottom of the hall table drawer. Veronica knew about the key. Howard had shown her.
Inside the office, Claire opened the locked file cabinet using the spare key on Daniel’s ring of labeled service keys. She found the folder where she had seen the amendment copy a week earlier.
It was empty.
Veronica accused Claire of warning Daniel. Claire accused Veronica of manipulating Howard. The argument stayed quiet until Ruth entered and saw the open cabinet.
Ruth told Veronica to leave.
Veronica refused.
Ruth reached for the office telephone. Veronica pulled the cord from the wall, then went to the utility hall and cut the internet cable with the scissors from Daniel’s desk.
“Why didn’t you leave while she was doing that?” Daniel asked.
“I wanted the truth.”
“You had the truth. The file was empty.”
“I wanted to hear her admit it.”
“Hear Ruth admit what?”
“That she helped you hide the amendment.”
Daniel turned from the window.
Claire watched him carefully.
“Did she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just looked like you know.”
May you like
“I know Ruth knew Howard signed documents near the end.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
