Chapter 2 - The House at Hawthorne Lake.
Chris drove back to Hawthorne House just after sunrise.
Lily remained at the hospital with Marisol, who had promised not to leave her side.
The estate looked almost peaceful from the road.
Mist floated over the lake.
The rose garden was still wet from the night before.
Nothing about the view suggested that someone had tried to turn the courtyard into a crime scene.
Sergeant Brooks met Chris at the front gate.
"Your brother is not answering his phone," she said.
Chris looked toward the house.
"Grant never ignores his phone."
"He does when police call him."
Chris wanted to argue, but he could not.
Grant Hale was more than his brother.
He was the family's attorney.
He had handled their father's estate.
He had handled Chris's marriage documents.
He had helped settle the trust after Chris's wife, Natalie, died in a car accident four years earlier.
He had also introduced Chris to Vanessa.
That last fact suddenly felt poisonous.
"Why was he here?" Chris asked.
Brooks did not answer.
"That is what I want to know."
They entered the library, where Elena was waiting beside a stack of folders.
She looked exhausted.
"I found the trust binder," she said.
Chris looked at her.
"You knew where it was?"
"Mrs. Hale showed me years ago."
Chris froze.
Elena almost never called Natalie by name.
"Natalie showed you?"
Elena's eyes flickered toward Brooks.
"She liked important papers organized."
That was technically true.
It was also not an answer.
Chris opened the binder.
The first pages were familiar.
Hawthorne House and forty-six acres of lakefront land had belonged to Natalie's family for three generations.
When Natalie married Chris, she kept the property separate.
After Lily was born, Natalie transferred the property into an irrevocable trust for Lily.
Chris had lifetime residence rights as Lily's father and guardian.
He did not own the house.
He could not sell it.
He could not borrow against it.
He could not transfer it to Vanessa or anyone else.
That was why Vanessa's obsession with the house had always confused him.
She had asked about renovations.
She had asked whether they would live there permanently after marriage.
She had asked if Chris planned to put her name on anything.
He had assumed she wanted security.
Now he remembered the way she had smiled each time he said the trust could not be changed.
It had not been disappointment.
It had been calculation.
Brooks turned several pages.
"What happens if Lily dies before she turns twenty-five?"
Chris hated the question.
"I do not know."
Elena answered before he could continue.
"The trust should revert to Natalie's estate."
Both Chris and Brooks looked at her.
Elena's face paled.
"That is standard language," she said.
Brooks flipped to the termination section.
The page was missing.
The three of them stared at the empty space between sections eight and ten.
Chris felt cold despite the morning sun.
"Where is section nine?"
Elena shook her head.
"It was there the last time I saw this binder."
"When was that?"
Elena hesitated.
"Two weeks before Mrs. Hale died."
Chris closed the binder.
"Why were you looking at Natalie's trust two weeks before she died?"
Elena said nothing.
Brooks stepped closer.
"Ms. Ruiz, now would be a good time to stop protecting secrets."
Elena looked toward the windows.
The lake shimmered beyond the glass.
"Natalie was afraid someone was trying to alter the trust," she said.
Chris felt the room shift beneath him.
"Who?"
"She did not know."
"Did she suspect Grant?"
Elena's silence was enough.
Chris walked away from the table.
He remembered Grant standing beside him at Natalie's funeral.
He remembered Grant arranging the flowers.
He remembered Grant holding four-year-old Lily during the burial because Chris could barely stand.
"No," Chris said.
Elena lowered her voice.
"Natalie found a draft deed in Grant's office."
"What deed?"
"A transfer document for Hawthorne House."
"That is impossible."
"That is what she thought."
Brooks leaned forward.
"Transfer to whom?"
Elena looked directly at Chris.
"To a company called Silver Lake Holdings."
Chris knew the name.
Grant had once asked him to invest in Silver Lake Holdings.
He had described it as a private real estate venture with several quiet partners.
Chris had declined because he hated mixing family and business.
Brooks wrote the name down.
"Did Natalie confront him?"
"I do not know."
"You worked for her then?"
"Not exactly."
Another partial answer.
Chris stepped toward her.
"Elena, who were you to my wife?"
Before she could respond, the front door opened.
Grant walked into the library wearing a navy suit and no coat.
His silver signet ring was gone.
"Good," he said.
"Everyone is already here."
Chris stared at his brother's bare hand.
Grant noticed.
He gave a tired smile.
"I lost the ring months ago."
Brooks folded her arms.
"Interesting, because your office assistant says you wore it yesterday."
Grant's smile faded.
He placed a leather folder on the table.
"Then perhaps we should talk about something more important than jewelry."
He opened the folder.
Inside was a certified copy of a deed dated six months earlier.
Chris read the first line and felt sick.
The document claimed he had transferred his interest in Hawthorne House to himself and Vanessa Reed as joint owners.
His signature appeared at the bottom.
So did Grant's signature as witness.
Chris looked up slowly.
"I never signed this."
Grant's expression did not change.
"According to the notary, you did."
Brooks took the document.
"And according to the trust, he could not."
Grant nodded.
"Unless section nine gave him the power."
He turned toward the empty binder.
"Which is unfortunate, because section nine appears to be missing."
Elena whispered something in Spanish under her breath.
Grant smiled at her.
"You always were dramatic, Elena."
Chris looked from one to the other.
"You know her?"
May you like
Grant's eyes stayed on Elena.
"Much better than she wants you to know."
