Chapter 16 - Sloane's Other Deal.
Everyone turned toward Sloane.
Her face went pale.
"I can explain."
Emma laughed softly.
"That phrase should be carved over Briarstone's front door."
Mason stepped toward his sister.
"Why were you in Clara's office?"
"Because she called me from the courthouse bathroom."
Clara frowned.
"I did not call you."
Sloane took out her phone.
"You did."
The call log showed Clara's number at 11:43 a.m.
Clara stared at it.
"My phone was in my briefcase with Emma at that time."
Emma remembered.
Clara had handed her the bag before going through courthouse security.
Sloane opened a voicemail.
Clara's voice played through the speaker.
"Sloane, go to my office and secure the green trust file before anyone else gets there."
Clara's face tightened.
"That is my voice."
Mason looked at her.
"Did you record that message?"
"No."
Emma thought of Owen Price's forged credentials, fake inspectors, forged signatures, and cloned accounts.
"Someone cloned her voice."
Sloane nodded.
"I thought it was real."
"Why the hood?"
Emma asked.
Sloane looked embarrassed.
"Because after everything with Grant, I assumed someone might be watching the office."
"That explanation might work if you had called Clara back."
Sloane did not answer.
Emma's instincts sharpened.
"You did not call her back because you did not want her to know you were coming."
Mason looked at his sister.
"Sloane."
She closed her eyes.
"There was something else in the file."
Clara's expression changed.
"What?"
"A letter I sent Grant four months ago."
Mason stared at her.
Emma felt tired rather than surprised.
"How much did he offer you?"
Sloane's eyes snapped toward her.
"How did you know?"
"Everyone seems to have a price in this story."
Sloane looked down.
"One million dollars."
Mason stepped back as if she had hit him.
"For what?"
"My future interest."
"You did not even know about the forty-nine percent until two days ago."
"I knew there might be something."
Sloane spoke quickly.
"Mom told me Dad left a note saying his children had a claim if Evelyn ever transferred the house."
"You told me you knew nothing."
"I did not know the percentage."
Emma shook her head.
"Another technically true sentence."
Sloane looked ashamed.
"I contacted Grant because Mom was already talking to him, and I wanted to know what he knew."
"Did you agree to sell?"
"I wrote that I would consider an option if the trust confirmed my interest."
Mason's voice hardened.
"Why?"
Sloane finally looked at him.
"Because Mom owes Grant's company two hundred eighty thousand dollars."
Diane, who had arrived quietly behind them, stopped in the doorway.
"Sloane."
Sloane turned.
"You were never going to tell him."
Mason looked between them.
"What debt?"
Diane sank into a chair.
"I borrowed against the house in Ohio after my catering business failed."
Sloane continued.
"The loan was sold twice and ended up with a Hale finance company."
Mason stared at his mother.
"So Grant owns your debt."
"Yes."
"And that is how he got you to move the fifty thousand."
Diane nodded.
Sloane wiped at her eyes.
"I thought if I could get enough from Grant for my interest, I could pay him off, get Mom clear, and then walk away from Briarstone forever."
Emma felt sympathy and anger collide.
"You were willing to sell something you did not understand to the man your father feared."
"Yes."
"Without telling Mason."
"Yes."
Mason laughed bitterly.
"Apparently it runs in the family."
No one responded.
Clara searched her desk.
"Where is the green file now?"
Sloane opened her coat.
"I left it in my Jeep."
They went outside.
The Jeep's passenger window was broken.
Glass covered the seat.
The green file was gone.
Sloane stared at the damage.
"Someone followed me."
Emma looked toward the street.
A black sedan turned the corner two blocks away.
Mason moved toward his SUV.
Emma caught his arm.
"No."
"They have the file."
"And chasing a car through town will solve what?"
Mason stopped.
Emma released him.
"We stop reacting."
She looked at Clara.
"What was in that file that Grant does not already know?"
Clara thought for a moment.
Then her face went pale.
"The tax escrow."
"What tax escrow?"
"Evelyn set aside money to cover property taxes and emergency preservation expenses until the occupancy transfer was complete."
Emma stared.
"How much?"
"Originally six hundred thousand dollars."
"Where is it?"
Clara looked sick.
"The statement in that file showed the account had been reduced to ninety-two thousand."
"By whom?"
Clara whispered the name.
"Steven Kline."
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Clara answered on speaker.
Steven Kline's voice came through the line.
"Ms. Voss, I suggest you tell Emma Reed to check the front gate at Briarstone."
The call ended.
They drove back to the mansion.
A bright orange notice had been nailed to the gate.
May you like
NOTICE OF LIEN FORECLOSURE SALE.
The date printed at the bottom was forty-eight hours away.
