Chapter 7 - The One-Way Ticket
At the airport, the driver unloaded the luggage and handed Elena an envelope.
Inside was a ticket to Denver, where Elena had lived before meeting Adrian.
The flight departed in three hours.
There was also a prepaid hotel reservation for two nights and five hundred dollars in cash.
It was not assistance. It was enough money to make Beatrice feel that she had behaved reasonably.
Elena called Owen.
He answered in a whisper.
“I’m at a private clinic outside Zurich. I found Margaret.”
“Beatrice threw us out.”
“What?”
“She claims Margaret approved it. There was a signed letter.”
“Margaret approved nothing. Beatrice’s assistant blocked me at the clinic, but Margaret saw me from the garden. I spoke to her for ten minutes.”
Elena sat down heavily.
“Is Margaret all right?”
“She’s recovering, but she had no idea what was happening. She’s flying home today.”
Elena looked at the departure board.
“What should I do?”
“Do not get on that plane.”
“I have nowhere else to go.”
“Stay in the arrivals hall. Margaret’s flight lands this afternoon.”
Elena looked at Leo, who was becoming tired and frightened.
“Owen, what if Beatrice sends security?”
“She may. That is why I’m asking a colleague to watch you until Margaret arrives.”
“A colleague?”
“You’ll recognize him by a green jacket.”
Elena glanced across the hall.
A man stood near a coffee shop, pretending to check his phone.
For the first time that day, she felt less alone.
Owen told her he had obtained a copy of Adrian’s original will and evidence of the foundation transfers. He had also recorded Margaret confirming that she had never authorized Elena’s eviction.
“But we still need proof that Beatrice knowingly used false documents,” he said.
May you like
Elena looked at the typed note in her lap.
“I think she gave us that herself.”
