Chapter 3 - The Mother at the Door)
“I’m his mother!”
“You still can’t enter.”
Victoria’s voice carried through the door.
“I want five minutes with my daughter-in-law.”
“No.”
“Young man, do you understand how much money my family gives this hospital?”
Nora closed her eyes.
Some things never changed.
Then Julian’s voice joined hers.
“Nora asked for me.”
The officer replied, “No, sir.”
“She’s my wife.”
“She requested restricted visitors.”
There was a pause.
Then Julian spoke quietly.
“Nora?”
She did not answer.
“Nora, sweetheart, we need to talk.”
Sweetheart.
He had called her a greedy parasite yesterday.
Now she was sweetheart.
Nora pressed the nurse button.
Megan entered through the adjoining staff door.
“You okay?”
“Can you ask security to remove them?”
“Already called.”
Julian heard.
“Are you serious?”
Nora finally spoke.
“Yes.”
“Nora, stop this.”
“Leave.”
“You fell.”
Nora looked at the door.
“I didn’t say anything about falling.”
Silence.
Then Julian answered.
“Mom told me.”
Nora’s eyes narrowed.
Victoria had claimed Julian witnessed the fall.
Detective Cole had told her that.
Now Julian was saying Victoria told him.
One lie had just collided with another.
Nora reached for her phone and started recording.
“Where were you when I fell, Julian?”
No answer.
“Were you upstairs?”
“Nora, you’re medicated.”
“Were you upstairs?”
Victoria interrupted.
“This is ridiculous.”
Nora continued.
“Julian?”
Finally he said, “I was downstairs.”
Nora’s heart pounded.
Cole had said Julian’s statement placed him upstairs.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
Nora stopped recording.
“Nothing.”
Security arrived.
Julian’s politeness disappeared instantly.
“You’re making a mistake, Nora!”
Victoria shouted over him.
“That house will never belong to you!”
Nora listened as they were escorted away.
Then she sent the recording to Detective Cole.
His reply came thirty seconds later.
Do not delete this.
Benjamin Cross arrived forty minutes afterward.
He was seventy-two, thin, silver-haired, and dressed in the same conservative gray suits Nora remembered from childhood.
He carried a leather briefcase.
The officer checked his identification before admitting him.
Benjamin looked at Nora’s injuries and became pale.
“Good God.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you aren’t.”
“I will be.”
He sat.
“Did Julian do this?”
“I don’t know.”
Benjamin looked unconvinced.
Nora pointed at his briefcase.
“Section Fourteen.”
Benjamin did not open it.
“First I need to ask you something.”
“What?”
“Did Julian or Victoria take possession of the lake house?”
“They changed the locks.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know. At least three weeks.”
“Did they sleep there?”
“Yes.”
“Move personal belongings inside?”
“Yes.”
“Claim ownership?”
“Repeatedly.”
Benjamin closed his eyes.
“Then it’s activated.”
Nora felt irritation rise through the pain.
“Everyone keeps saying that word.”
Benjamin opened the briefcase.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
He placed it on the table.
Samuel Vance Family Trust.
Supplemental Conditions.
Nora reached for it.
Benjamin stopped her.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“Your grandfather believed someone had been stealing from him.”
Nora stared.
“Who?”
“He never proved it.”
“How much?”
“Potentially millions.”
“And that relates to the house?”
“The house was bait.”
Nora blinked.
May you like
Benjamin’s voice lowered.
“Samuel designed Section Fourteen as a trap.”
