Chapter 5 - The Widow They Underestimated)
By noon, Hannah stopped crying.
Fear remained.
But something stronger had begun replacing it.
Anger.
For eleven months Margaret had made Hannah believe she was powerless.
Margaret controlled the household accounts.
Margaret controlled family access.
Margaret even controlled which memories of Michael were considered respectable enough to display.
Hannah had tolerated humiliation because she believed survival required silence.
Michael’s letter changed that.
Back at Ashford Hall, she walked directly into Margaret’s private office.
Richard followed.
Margaret stood near the window.
“You have no right to enter.”
Hannah closed the door.
“My husband did.”
“Your husband is dead.”
Hannah approached her.
“And apparently you spent eleven months hoping I’d be too broken to ask why.”
Margaret’s expression hardened.
“Be careful.”
“No.”
Hannah surprised herself.
“I’ve been careful since the funeral.”
She stepped closer.
“I was careful when you removed Michael’s photographs.”
Another step.
“Careful when you froze my account.”
Another.
“Careful when you told people Owen and I were charity cases.”
Margaret said nothing.
Hannah stopped inches away.
“And last night you threw my child into freezing rain.”
“You’re being dramatic.”
“No. I’m finished being polite.”
Richard watched silently.
Hannah placed Michael’s photograph on Margaret’s desk.
“Tell me what Project Haven is.”
Margaret looked at Richard.
“Are you allowing this?”
Richard smiled without humor.
“I’m enjoying it.”
Margaret glared at Hannah.
“Haven was a development concept.”
“For what?”
“Luxury residences.”
“Where?”
“Various locations.”
“Why did Michael tell me to keep Owen away from it?”
Margaret’s eyes shifted.
Hannah caught it.
“You know.”
“Know what?”
“What happened to Michael.”
Margaret slapped Hannah.
The sound cracked through the office.
Richard moved.
Hannah stopped him.
She touched her cheek.
Then looked at Margaret.
“Thank you.”
Margaret blinked.
“For what?”
“For finally showing Richard exactly who you are.”
Richard opened the office door.
Detective Cole was standing outside.
He had witnessed everything.
Margaret went pale.
Cole stepped inside.
“Margaret Ashford, I’d recommend you stop creating evidence against yourself.”
Margaret turned toward Richard.
“You set me up.”
“No,” Hannah said. “You did.”
Cole placed a folder on the desk.
“We traced Beacon Harbor Management.”
Margaret said nothing.
“It’s controlled through an offshore structure.”
Still nothing.
“But the domestic authorized representative is someone you know.”
Cole removed a photograph.
Hannah recognized the man.
She had seen him at Michael’s funeral.
He had stood alone near the cemetery gates.
“Who is he?”
Richard looked at the photograph.
His face tightened.
“Charles Vale.”
Margaret sat down.
Hannah noticed.
“Who is Charles Vale?”
Richard answered.
“My father’s former chief financial officer.”
Jonathan entered behind Cole.
“Vale disappeared seventeen years ago.”
“Why?”
Richard looked at Margaret.
“Because he stole from us.”
Margaret whispered:
“That was never proven.”
Richard stared at her.
“You defended him then too.”
Hannah understood.
“You were involved with him.”
Margaret snapped:
“Watch yourself.”
Richard suddenly laughed.
“Oh my God.”
“What?”
“You were.”
Margaret’s silence answered.
Cole continued.
“Charles Vale entered the United States six months before Michael died.”
Hannah’s stomach tightened.
“Where is he now?”
“We don’t know.”
Jonathan placed another document down.
“But we know something else.”
He pointed at a signature.
Charles Vale had been named director of Project Haven.
And underneath his name appeared another.
Margaret Ashford.
Richard stared at his sister.
Margaret stood.
“That proves nothing.”
Jonathan opened the final page.
“It proves you lied.”
Margaret looked toward the door.
Cole blocked it.
Hannah stared at the document.
There was a third signature.
Michael Ashford.
Except Michael had written beside it:
FORGED.
And beneath that:
ASK RICHARD ABOUT THOMAS.
Richard’s face changed.
Hannah saw something she had never seen before.
Guilt.
“What does Thomas have to do with this?”
Richard did not answer.
“Richard?”
He walked toward the fireplace.
“My brother didn’t simply freeze to death.”
Margaret whispered:
“Don’t.”
Hannah looked between them.
Richard continued.
“Thomas was running away because he had discovered something.”
“What?”
May you like
Richard looked at Margaret.
“The first version of Project Haven.”
