Chapter 7 - What Brooklyn KnewWe met Brooklyn the next afternoon in Evelyn’s office.
Two lawyers were present.
So was Detective Moreno.
Brooklyn looked as if she had not slept.
Her designer clothes were wrinkled.
Her makeup could not hide the shadows beneath her eyes.
Evelyn spoke first.
“You understand that anything you say may have legal consequences.”
Brooklyn nodded.
“I know.”
“Why are you here?”
Brooklyn stared at her hands.
“Because my mother told me I was going to say I deleted the footage.”
My head snapped toward her.
“She used her account.”
“I know.”
“She says she’ll tell police I knew her password.”
Detective Moreno remained expressionless.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“But I didn’t delete anything.”
“Can you prove that?”
Brooklyn swallowed.
“Maybe.”
She explained that Melissa controlled nearly every employee in the house.
But one person had pushed back.
Charles Weller.
The Harringtons’ longtime security manager.
Three months earlier, Charles had quietly added a secondary logging device after Melissa repeatedly ordered him to remove access records.
“He said someday she was going to blame him for something.”
Detective Moreno leaned forward.
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Charles quit yesterday.”
My pulse jumped.
“Yesterday?”
Brooklyn nodded.
“After police came.”
Melissa had spent years making people afraid of her.
Now those people were running.
Brooklyn continued.
“There’s something else.”
She looked at me.
“I took your bracelet.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t lose it.”
My jaw tightened.
“Where is it?”
“Mom has it.”
The room went silent.
I stared at her.
“You gave my grandmother’s bracelet to Melissa?”
“She told me to.”
“Why?”
Brooklyn’s eyes filled with tears.
“To prove you were dramatic.”
I almost laughed.
The explanation was so cruelly absurd that my mind rejected it.
“She wanted me to take something.”
“She said if you accused me and Callan defended us instead of you, then we’d know where his loyalty was.”
I looked away.
My marriage had been a test.
Not for me.
For Callan.
And I had been the object used to administer it.
“What happened when I complained?” I asked.
Brooklyn whispered.
“Callan called Mom.”
Of course he did.
“He told her what you said.”
“What did Melissa say?”
“She told him you needed to learn that marriage meant joining a family, not dividing one.”
My stomach turned.
Brooklyn covered her face.
“I know I was horrible to you.”
“You enjoyed it.”
She lowered her hands.
“Yes.”
At least she admitted it.
“Why?”
“Because being on Mom’s side is easier than being against her.”
I leaned back.
“That doesn’t excuse anything.”
“I know.”
For once, she did not argue.
Detective Moreno asked where Melissa kept the bracelet.
Brooklyn gave her the location.
A locked jewelry cabinet inside Melissa’s dressing room.
A search warrant was already being prepared.
Before Brooklyn left, she stopped at the door.
“Anastasia.”
I looked at her.
“Callan isn’t innocent.”
“I know.”
“He knew more than you think.”
My chest tightened.
“What does that mean?”
Brooklyn hesitated.
May you like
Then she answered.
“Ask him why your name is on a property agreement you’ve never seen.”
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