Chapter 3 - My Husband’s BrotherThomas had stood beside me at Robert’s funeral.
That was the first thought that came into my mind.
Not business.
Not money.
Not betrayal.
Robert’s coffin.
Thomas putting his arm around me while Daniel stood numb beside the grave.
“I’ll take care of both of you,” he had whispered.
For four years, I had believed him.
Thomas was fifty-six, two years younger than Robert had been.
He had worked at Hale Development since his twenties.
Robert had been the visionary.
Thomas had been the numbers man.
That was how everyone described them.
Brothers who balanced each other.
After Robert died, Thomas stayed on as chief financial officer while Daniel learned to run the company.
He was family.
He was Uncle Tommy.
He was the man who carved Thanksgiving turkey in my kitchen.
And now Michael wanted me to consider that he might be planning my son’s death.
“No,” I said.
Michael didn’t argue.
“No?”
“No. Thomas loved Robert.”
“People can love someone and still want what belongs to them.”
“You don’t know him.”
“That’s true.”
“Then don’t stand in my kitchen accusing him of murder.”
“I didn’t.”
“You showed me that recording.”
“I showed you evidence.”
“Not proof.”
“No. Not yet.”
I stood so abruptly my chair scraped backward.
Michael watched me walk to the sink.
Outside, rain streaked the window.
My mind tried desperately to build an explanation in which none of this was real.
Lauren could have forged everything.
Michael could be lying.
The recording could be manipulated.
The bank documents might be fake.
But the missing trust papers upstairs were real.
Someone had broken into my home while I was downstairs.
That happened.
I couldn’t explain it away.
“What exactly does Robert’s trust give Daniel after marriage?” Michael asked.
I turned.
“You already seem to know.”
“I know part of it.”
I hesitated.
Robert had built Hale Development from two pickup trucks and a borrowed excavator into one of the Midwest’s most successful privately held construction and commercial-development companies.
When he died, Daniel inherited his economic interest but not complete voting control.
The controlling shares remained in the Hale Family Trust.
Daniel would receive them upon his thirty-fifth birthday.
Or upon marriage.
Robert had added the marriage provision because he believed stability mattered.
I had argued against it.
Robert laughed and said Daniel wouldn’t marry unless he was ready.
The remaining noncontrolling shares were divided among me, Thomas, and a handful of senior executives.
“What happens to Daniel’s shares if he dies?” Michael asked.
My skin prickled.
“They go to his estate.”
“Which means?”
“If he dies unmarried, most eventually return to the family trust.”
“And if he dies married?”
I already knew.
I didn’t want to say it.
“His spouse becomes the primary beneficiary.”
Michael nodded.
“Exactly.”
I felt sick.
Lauren didn’t need to divorce Daniel.
She needed to marry him.
Then survive him.
But something didn’t fit.
“If she wants his money, why tell you Daniel is in danger?”
“That’s the question.”
Maybe she had developed a conscience.
Maybe she really loved him.
Or maybe this was another manipulation.
“We need the police,” I said.
“I agree.”
“Then why haven’t you already gone?”
“I have.”
“What?”
Michael sat back.
“I met a federal financial-crimes investigator six weeks ago. They’re building a case.”
“You’ve been working with the FBI?”
“Not officially. I give them what I find.”
“And they know about Daniel?”
“They know his company is being targeted.”
“Do they know someone threatened his life?”
“I sent them the recording yesterday.”
I stared.
“And they’re doing what?”
“Verifying it.”
“Verifying?”
My voice rose.
“My son may be murdered in three days.”
“Margaret, investigators can’t arrest people based on a distorted voice and a frightened woman’s claim.”
“Then I’ll call the police now.”
“You can. But if the people behind this know authorities are closing in, they may disappear.”
“Good.”
“Or accelerate whatever they planned.”
That silenced me.
Michael leaned forward.
“Right now they think everything is proceeding normally. That’s our advantage.”
“Our advantage?”
“I need Lauren to talk.”
“You want the wedding to continue?”
“I want everyone responsible exposed before anyone gets hurt.”
“My son is not bait.”
“I agree.”
“You seem remarkably comfortable gambling with him.”
Something flashed across Michael’s face.
Pain.
“I spent eight years cleaning up Elise’s destruction. Believe me, I don’t want another innocent person paying for her choices.”
I studied him.
“Do you still love her?”
He smiled sadly.
“No.”
“You ran to her when she called.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
Maybe he was right.
I understood loving someone who was gone.
Perhaps he understood caring about someone he no longer trusted.
My phone rang.
Daniel.
I nearly jumped.
Michael gestured toward it.
“Answer normally.”
I did.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
“Mom, you sound strange.”
“Long day.”
“Everything okay?”
I looked at Michael.
“No problems.”
“Good. Lauren thought she might have left something at your place.”
My eyes dropped to the photograph.
“What?”
“She won’t tell me. Apparently some kind of wedding surprise.”
My heartbeat quickened.
“Did she say what it looks like?”
“Nope. She just noticed it missing.”
“Tell her I’ll look.”
“She’s in the shower.”
There was an ease in Daniel’s voice that almost broke me.
He trusted her.
Completely.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“You’re still coming to breakfast tomorrow, right?”
“Of course.”
“Uncle Tommy is coming too. He wants to go over some last-minute paperwork before the rehearsal.”
Michael’s gaze sharpened.
“What paperwork?” I asked.
“No idea. Company stuff.”
“Can it wait?”
Daniel laughed.
“You know Uncle Tommy.”
Yes.
I thought I did.
Daniel continued, “Lauren says after Saturday I’m officially too expensive to kill.”
My heart stopped.
“What did you say?”
“What?”
“Say that again.”
Daniel laughed.
“It’s a joke, Mom. Because of the trust.”
I looked at Michael.
He was no longer sitting casually.
“Who made that joke?”
“Uncle Tommy.”
I gripped the phone.
“When?”
“Dinner last week.”
I swallowed.
“Daniel, I want you to do something.”
“What?”
“Don’t sign anything tomorrow.”
He went silent.
“Why?”
“Just humor me.”
“Mom—”
“Please.”
He heard something in my voice.
“All right.”
“Promise.”
“I promise.”
After we hung up, I stood motionless.
Michael said, “You believe me now?”
“I believe something is wrong.”
That was as far as I could go.
We spent the next hour photographing everything in his folder.
At 12:17 a.m., Michael left after making me promise to keep the photograph and flash drive hidden.
I placed both in the old flour tin Robert’s mother had given me.
No burglar would look there.
Then I locked my bedroom door.
I didn’t sleep.
At 6:40 the next morning, I received a text from Lauren.
Can I come by before breakfast? Alone?
I stared at it for twenty seconds.
Then replied.
Yes.
She arrived at 7:10 wearing sunglasses despite the cloudy morning.
When she entered my kitchen, she locked the door behind herself.
Her hands were shaking.
“Where’s Daniel?”
“At home.”
“Does he know you’re here?”
“No.”
She removed her sunglasses.
There was a bruise along her left cheekbone.
I stared at it.
“Who did that?”
She looked away.
“Lauren—”
“My name is Elise.”
Hearing her say it herself was different.
Everything inside me tightened.
“So Michael told you.”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
“I was afraid he would.”
“You’re legally married to him.”
“Yes.”
“You’re marrying my son tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
“You’ve been stealing from Daniel’s company.”
Her eyes filled.
“Yes.”
I wanted to slap her.
Instead, I gripped the counter.
“Why?”
“Because when I met Daniel, I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with him.”
I laughed once.
Harshly.
“You expect sympathy?”
“No.”
“Then tell me what you expect.”
“To keep him alive.”
She reached into her purse.
“I have something you need to see.”
She pulled out another photograph.
This one was taken twenty-five years earlier.
My husband Robert stood outside Hale Development’s original office.
Beside him was Thomas.
And beside Thomas stood a third man.
A man I hadn’t seen since Robert’s funeral.
Our longtime family attorney.
Charles Whitmore.
Elise tapped Charles’s face.
“Thomas isn’t running this.”
I looked at her.
“Then who is?”
She whispered:
“Charles.”
My knees nearly gave way.
Elise continued.
“And Robert knew.”
I stared at her.
“Knew what?”
She swallowed.
“That Charles had been stealing from Hale Development for years.”
“What does that have to do with Daniel?”
“Everything.”
May you like
Then she said the six words that changed the entire case.
“Robert didn’t die of a heart attack.”
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