Chương 7
Eleanor blinked.
The question seemed unfamiliar.
Claire sat on the floor across from her.
“What do you want right now?”
“I want my hip to stop hurting.”
“Okay.”
“I want Ryan to stop shouting.”
Ryan said, “I’m not shouting.”
Claire looked at him.
He shut his mouth.
Eleanor continued.
“I want my ring back.”
“We can do that.”
“And I want…”
She looked toward the closed study door.
Ryan’s shoulders stiffened.
Eleanor stopped speaking.
Claire followed her gaze.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Ryan stepped forward.
“Mom’s tired.”
Claire turned.
He had moved closer than she liked.
“Stay there.”
He stopped.
Eleanor whispered, “Your father’s papers.”
“What papers?”
Ryan spoke over her.
“Old trust stuff.”
Claire looked at him.
He gave a little shrug.
“You wanted to know.”
Eleanor said, “They’re in the safe.”
Claire stood.
Ryan’s eyes narrowed.
“What safe?”
Eleanor looked at him.
For the first time that afternoon, Claire saw satisfaction on her mother’s face.
Small.
Mean.
Human.
“The one you couldn’t find.”
Ryan’s face drained.
Claire looked from one to the other.
“What safe?”
Eleanor’s fingers touched her pearls.
“Your father had one installed behind the built-in cabinets in the study.”
Claire frowned.
“I’ve never seen it.”
“You weren’t supposed to.”
Ryan said, “This is ridiculous.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“You tore that room apart.”
“I was looking for tax records.”
“You unscrewed the vent covers.”
“There was mold.”
“There was no mold.”
Ryan took two steps.
Claire shifted between them.
“Back.”
He stopped.
Eleanor continued.
“Your father kept the original trust papers there.”
Ryan shook his head.
“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
“Then why are you pale?” Claire asked.
His eyes flashed.
“I’m angry.”
“Maybe.”
“Stop talking to me like I’m one of your soldiers.”
“I don’t talk to soldiers like this.”
“Right. They respect you.”
Claire felt the old bait.
She did not take it.
Instead she asked Eleanor, “What does the trust say?”
Her mother looked frightened again.
“That the house stays mine while I’m alive.”
Ryan said, “No one disputes that.”
“And then it gets sold.”
Claire looked at him.
Ryan’s jaw hardened.
Eleanor continued.
“Neither of you gets the house.”
Claire waited.
“The proceeds are divided after expenses,” Eleanor said. “Your father did it because he thought you two would fight.”
Ryan laughed.
“He made damn sure of that.”
Eleanor looked down.
“He thought keeping either of you from owning it would make things easier.”
Claire looked around the kitchen.
The cabinet doors her mother had chosen.
The island Ryan had helped install.
The window their father had insisted was six inches too narrow.
A house designed to prevent a future argument had become the center of one.
It would have amused Daniel Whitmore in the most infuriating way.
Ryan said, “Dad changed it.”
Eleanor’s head lifted.
“No.”
“He told me he changed it.”
“No.”
“He said the house would be mine because I stayed.”
“He said you could stay while you got back on your feet.”
“That is not what he said.”
“You hear what you want.”
Ryan’s face tightened.
“So do you.”
Eleanor recoiled.
Claire asked, “Where are the current documents?”
“The safe.”
“Do you know the combination?”
Eleanor nodded.
Ryan closed his eyes.
“Of course.”
Claire looked at him.
“What?”
“You think this proves something?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Dad could have signed another amendment.”
“Maybe.”
“He did.”
“Then there should be a record.”
“There is.”
“Where?”
Ryan pointed upstairs.
“I told you.”
Claire held his gaze.
“You went upstairs to find it.”
“I found invoices.”
“You came down with invoices.”
“So?”
“So where is the amendment?”
Silence.
Eleanor said, “There isn’t one.”
Ryan turned on her.
“You don’t know.”
“I do.”
“You don’t know everything Dad did.”
“I was married to him for fifty-one years.”
“And he lied to you plenty.”
Eleanor stared at him.
Ryan seemed to regret the line.
Claire noticed.
“So did I,” Eleanor said.
The room changed again.
Ryan looked at his mother.
Claire said nothing.
Eleanor adjusted one pearl at her throat.
“When your father was sick, he worried about you.”
Ryan’s voice went flat.
“He worried about everybody.”
“No. About you.”
“Good.”
“He thought you were borrowing too much.”
Claire looked at Ryan.
He stared at Eleanor.
She continued.
“He knew about the loan against your business.”
Ryan’s eyes flicked to Claire.
Eleanor saw.
“So she didn’t know.”
Ryan’s face hardened.
“Mom.”
“You told me she did.”
Ryan said nothing.
Eleanor turned to Claire.
“He said you knew.”
“I didn’t.”
“I’m sorry.”
Claire asked, “How much?”
Ryan laughed.
“Here we go.”
“How much?”
“No.”
Eleanor whispered, “Two hundred and thirty.”
Claire looked at her.
“Thousand?”
Eleanor nodded.
Ryan swore under his breath.
Claire remained still.
“For what?”
Ryan leaned against the counter.
“My company had a bad year.”
“One bad year?”
“Two.”
“What secured the debt?”
“Nothing that concerns you.”
Eleanor said, “He promised them the house.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
Claire’s voice lowered.
“How?”
“I didn’t.”
“You told Mom you did.”
“I told her I intended to refinance once the trust issue was fixed.”
“The house isn’t yours to refinance.”
“I thought it would be.”
“You borrowed against an expectation?”
“I borrowed against my business.”
“And told somebody you had access to the house?”
Ryan rubbed his forehead.
“You are deliberately making this sound criminal.”
“I’m asking questions.”
“No. You’re building a case.”
Claire looked at the clear food bag in her pocket.
The cheap red glasses were visible through the plastic.
Then at the papers inside her jacket.
Then at Eleanor’s missing ring.
Maybe she was.
The thought made her uncomfortable.
Because Ryan was her brother.
Because he had just admitted taking the ring.
Because her mother was injured.
Because evidence was easier to hold than grief.
She looked down at her uniform.
Her father would have liked the scene too much.
Not the violence.
The certainty.
May you like
Claire had spent a lifetime becoming the person Daniel trusted when something went wrong.
Ryan had spent the same lifetime becoming the person Daniel expected to cause it.
