Chapter 5 - The Property Beneath the Property
Chloe fell asleep shortly after midnight in one of the penthouse guest rooms.
Jessica remained beside her until the child's breathing became slow and even.
A paramedic had examined the bruise.
No fracture.
No neurological signs.
Cold compress.
Observation.
Jessica should have felt relieved.
Instead she sat on the edge of the bed staring at Chloe's small face and replaying David's words.
Don't ruin Christmas over one damn slap.
She had spent years excusing him.
Not anymore.
When Jessica returned to the living room, Margaret was on her third phone call.
David stood by the windows.
Richard sat with Rebecca Sloan and Daniel Cho.
"What did I miss?" Jessica asked.
Sloan looked up.
"Your father-in-law claims the land beneath Hawthorne Tower was transferred illegally."
Jessica sat.
"From whom?"
Richard answered.
"A housing trust."
Margaret ended her call.
"Allegedly."
Richard ignored her.
"In 1998, several parcels were placed into the Chicago Veterans Community Housing Trust."
Jessica's posture changed immediately.
"Veterans housing?"
Richard nodded.
"The trust was created after a federal redevelopment grant. Families were supposed to receive long-term below-market housing."
"What happened?"
Richard looked toward Margaret.
"Developers happened."
Margaret laughed bitterly.
"Don't pretend you were some innocent bystander."
"I wasn't."
"Then stop performing."
Sloan intervened.
"Mr. Hayes, continue."
Richard explained.
A development company began acquiring nearby properties.
The veterans trust refused to sell its central parcel.
Then financial reports appeared showing the trust was insolvent.
Liens followed.
A foreclosure followed.
Eventually the property was purchased through an intermediary.
That intermediary later became part of the Hayes family's portfolio.
Jessica looked at Margaret.
"You stole veterans' housing?"
Margaret's expression was icy.
"I purchased distressed property."
Richard shook his head.
"No."
Margaret glared at him.
He continued.
"We manufactured the distress."
David whispered, "Jesus Christ."
Jessica looked at him.
"You didn't know?"
"No."
Richard laughed again.
"You knew enough."
David turned.
"What does that mean?"
"You knew Sentinel existed."
"Yes."
"You knew Hawthorne received city incentives."
"That doesn't mean I knew the land was stolen."
Richard leaned back.
"You knew your mother's project had a title problem."
David said nothing.
Jessica saw the answer immediately.
"How much did you know?"
David rubbed his mouth.
"Jessica."
"How much?"
He looked at her.
"There was an old claimant."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"That's a lie."
David's eyes shifted.
Jessica stood.
"Who?"
Margaret cut in.
"Nobody important."
Jessica turned.
Margaret smiled.
"A woman who enjoyed causing trouble."
Richard closed his eyes.
Sloan asked, "Name?"
Margaret remained silent.
Richard answered.
"Eleanor Carter."
Jessica stopped.
The room seemed to tilt.
David looked confused.
Jessica wasn't.
Carter was a common surname.
She told herself that immediately.
Thousands of Carters.
Tens of thousands.
Still, her pulse began to hammer.
"What was her full name?"
Richard looked at her strangely.
"Eleanor May Carter."
Jessica's hand tightened around the back of the chair.
Her grandmother had been named Eleanor May Carter.
She had died when Jessica was nineteen.
The woman who raised Jessica after her father disappeared overseas.
The woman who had lived in a tiny apartment on the South Side and refused to talk about the years before Jessica was born.
Jessica whispered, "What did she look like?"
Richard shook his head.
"I met her only once."
"Describe her."
"Black hair. Gray near the end. Maybe five-five. She walked with a cane."
Jessica could barely hear him.
"Why a cane?"
"Car accident."
Jessica's grandmother had walked with a cane after a car accident.
David stared at his wife.
"Jess?"
Jessica pulled out her phone.
She found an old photograph.
Eleanor standing beside Jessica at her high school graduation.
She placed it in front of Richard.
His face changed.
Margaret looked away.
That was enough.
Jessica turned toward her.
"You knew."
Margaret said nothing.
"You knew who I was when David brought me home."
Still nothing.
Jessica's voice became quieter.
"Seven years."
Margaret finally looked at her.
"I knew your name."
"No."
Jessica stepped closer.
"You knew my grandmother."
Margaret's mask cracked.
Only slightly.
But Jessica saw it.
And with that single expression, seven years of insults, exclusion and contempt transformed into something much darker.
May you like
The Hayes family had never disliked Jessica because she was poor.
They had feared her because of where she came from.
