Chapter 7 - The Dead Man’s Account)
Thomas Reed had been buried on a rainy Thursday.
Nora remembered standing beside his widow.
She remembered the closed coffin.
She remembered Samuel crying.
Now Detective Cole was telling her that an account belonging to Thomas had received forty thousand dollars yesterday.
“Maybe someone kept the account open.”
“Possible.”
“Then it doesn’t mean he’s alive.”
“No.”
Cole enlarged the transaction.
“But the money was withdrawn in person.”
Nora stared.
“Where?”
“A bank twenty-seven miles from the lake house.”
“When?”
“Yesterday morning.”
“Camera?”
“We requested it.”
Nora’s mind raced.
Thomas had worked for Samuel for twenty-three years.
He knew everything.
Properties.
Accounts.
Passwords.
Family secrets.
If Thomas was alive, then whose funeral had Nora attended?
Cole’s phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Then looked at Nora.
“We have the bank footage.”
Twenty minutes later, Nora watched a grainy image on Cole’s tablet.
A man approached the teller.
Dark coat.
Gray hair.
He turned slightly.
Nora stopped breathing.
Thomas Reed.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakable.
“That’s him.”
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.”
Cole replayed it.
Thomas left the bank carrying an envelope.
The timestamp showed 10:16 a.m.
Hours before Nora’s fall.
Cole switched to the lake-house footage.
The reflected figure outside the garage.
Dark coat.
Same height.
Nora whispered, “Thomas was there.”
“Looks that way.”
“Why didn’t he help me?”
“We don’t know that he didn’t.”
Nora looked at Cole.
“The unknown voice.”
Enough.
Could have been Thomas.
A terrible possibility formed.
“What if Thomas saw everything?”
Cole’s expression said he had already considered it.
“Then somebody went to significant effort to remove twelve minutes of footage containing a witness who is legally dead.”
Nora shivered.
The next morning she prepared for Julian’s visit.
Megan helped arrange the sling.
The doctor insisted Nora remain in the wheelchair.
At 10:03, Victoria entered first.
Ivory pantsuit.
Pearls.
Perfect hair.
No apology.
Julian followed.
Dark-purple shirt.
Black trousers.
He carried the divorce papers.
Nora watched their faces.
They looked confident.
That confidence lasted thirty seconds.
Victoria noticed the doctor.
Then the nurse.
Then the uniformed officer near the door.
“What is this?”
Nora smiled faintly.
“I’m injured.”
Julian approached.
“Can we talk privately?”
“No.”
His jaw tightened.
“Nora.”
“You wanted signatures. Let’s talk.”
Victoria stepped forward.
“The house first.”
Of course.
Nora looked at her.
“What about it?”
“You surrender it today.”
“Surrender?”
Victoria smiled.
“You know what I mean.”
Nora tilted her head.
“No. Explain it.”
Julian shot his mother a warning glance.
Victoria ignored him.
“That property belongs with our family.”
“It came from my grandfather.”
“You married a Vance.”
“So?”
Victoria’s smile disappeared.
“So everything you have exists because of this family.”
Nora almost laughed.
Samuel’s Vance family and Victoria’s Vance family were unrelated.
Victoria simply enjoyed pretending the surname gave her dynastic authority.
Julian threw the papers into Nora’s lap.
“Sign.”
Nora looked down.
“Why?”
“Because I’m done with this marriage.”
“And the house?”
“You’re transferring it.”
“To whom?”
“Mom.”
Nora raised her eyes.
“Why would I do that?”
Julian leaned closer.
His voice dropped.
“Because otherwise yesterday becomes very complicated for you.”
Nora felt Cole listening from the next room.
“What does that mean?”
“You were hysterical.”
“I was?”
“You attacked Mom.”
Victoria nodded.
“You scratched me.”
Nora looked at Victoria’s flawless face.
“Where?”
Victoria hesitated.
Julian snapped, “Stop playing games.”
Then he pulled the brass key from his pocket.
Nora recognized it.
Her stolen lake-house key.
He slammed it onto her injured knee.
Pain exploded through her leg.
Nora gasped.
The doctor stepped forward.
Cole burst through the adjoining door.
But before he reached Julian, Victoria leaned down.
Two fingers flicked Nora’s bruised cheek.
“Should’ve learned who runs this family.”
Cole grabbed Julian.
May you like
The room erupted.
And Section Fourteen finally entered their lives.
