Chapter 4 - The Accidents That Were Not Accidents)
Over the next ten days, Josie became very unlucky.
That was how Gareth described it.
A glass shattered beside her during breakfast.
A garden gate swung closed and struck her shoulder.
A bicycle tire mysteriously lost pressure while she rode downhill.
A loose pool tile nearly sent her into the water.
Each incident was small enough to explain.
Together they formed a pattern.
Eli saw it.
Domenico did not.
Not yet.
He was working fourteen hour days because Pierce Development was negotiating the acquisition of a regional construction group.
Gareth knew his schedule.
So did Conrad Lane.
Whenever Domenico left, something happened.
Whenever he returned, Gareth had an explanation waiting.
Josie tripped.
Josie ignored instructions.
Josie was becoming reckless.
Josie needed discipline.
Domenico began hearing the same concern from different people.
A private tutor mentioned that Josie seemed distracted.
A therapist Gareth had recommended suggested the child might be "testing boundaries."
One housekeeper claimed Josie had thrown a plate.
Josie denied it.
Domenico believed her.
Still, the constant reports began doing what Gareth intended.
They created confusion.
One evening Domenico found Josie sitting on the stairs after everyone had gone to bed.
"What happened?"
She looked up.
"Am I bad?"
The question broke something inside him.
He sat beside her.
"No."
"Gareth says I make people tired."
Domenico's expression changed.
"He said what?"
"He said you have important work."
"Josie, look at me."
She did.
"You are more important than any work I will ever have."
Her eyes filled.
"Even the big buildings?"
"Especially the big buildings."
She leaned against him.
Domenico held her.
"Did Gareth hurt you?"
Silence.
"Josie."
She whispered, "He gets mad."
"Does he touch you when he's mad?"
Another silence.
Before she could answer, footsteps sounded upstairs.
Gareth appeared.
"Everything okay?"
Domenico looked at him.
"Go back to bed."
Gareth stopped.
"I was getting water."
"Then get water."
Something in Domenico's tone made Gareth leave without argument.
Later, Domenico carried Josie to her room.
He stood beside her bed long after she fell asleep.
Then he went downstairs.
Gareth was waiting in the kitchen.
"You want to ask me something?"
Domenico closed the door behind him.
"What have you been saying to my daughter?"
Gareth sighed.
"Here we go."
"What does that mean?"
"It means Serena used to do the same thing."
Domenico's eyes hardened.
"Do not use her name to avoid answering me."
"Josie has been acting out."
"She's six."
"She's manipulative."
Domenico stepped closer.
"Choose your next sentence carefully."
Gareth stared at him.
Then he softened his voice.
"You're grieving. She's grieving. Neither of you sees things clearly."
"And you do?"
"Somebody has to."
Domenico laughed without humor.
"You think that's you?"
"I helped hold this family together after Serena died."
"I thanked you for that."
"You did more than thank me. You trusted me."
"Trust is not ownership."
Gareth's expression shifted.
Domenico noticed.
The room became quiet.
"What's really bothering you?" Domenico asked.
Gareth looked away.
"The trust."
"There it is."
"This company employs four thousand people."
"And my daughter's shares aren't for sale."
"I'm not asking you to sell them."
"You want control moved into a board structure where you and Conrad can outvote me."
"For stability."
"For access."
Gareth smiled faintly.
"You've always believed you're smarter than everyone."
"No. I just know when someone keeps asking the same question because he doesn't like the answer."
Domenico opened the door.
"Stay away from Josie when I'm not here."
Gareth stared at him.
"You're serious?"
"Completely."
Gareth walked past him.
Before leaving, he said, "Ask yourself why Serena wanted the trust changed before she died."
Domenico froze.
"What?"
Gareth continued down the hall.
Domenico followed.
"Stop."
Gareth turned.
"What did you just say?"
"You didn't know?"
"Know what?"
Gareth hesitated, as if deciding whether he had already gone too far.
Then he smiled.
"Ask Conrad."
Domenico did.
At eight the next morning, Conrad Lane sat in Domenico's office.
He was sixty two, silver haired, careful, and almost impossible to surprise.
When Domenico asked whether Serena had discussed the trust before her death, Conrad took too long to answer.
"She asked some questions."
"What questions?"
"General estate questions."
"Gareth says she wanted it changed."
"I wouldn't characterize it that way."
"How would you characterize it?"
Conrad adjusted his cuff.
"Serena had concerns."
"About what?"
"The company."
Domenico stared.
"My wife hated the company."
"Which may be why she wanted Josie's interests protected differently."
"From whom?"
Conrad looked toward the closed door.
"That discussion never became formal."
"From whom?"
Conrad lowered his voice.
"From you."
Domenico stopped breathing for a moment.
"Explain."
"She was worried about the pressure you were under."
"That's not an explanation."
"I don't have anything more useful."
"You have thirty years at Pierce Development. You always have something useful."
Conrad stood.
"This is why reopening old conversations is dangerous."
Domenico's eyes narrowed.
"Old conversations don't become dangerous unless someone is afraid of what they contain."
Conrad left.
Minutes later, Domenico called Serena's former attorney.
The attorney searched his files.
Then he found something.
Three weeks before Serena died, she had requested a private meeting.
She never attended.
The reason listed in the calendar entry contained only five words.
Emergency revision of Josie's trust.
Domenico stared at the screen.
Serena had been trying to change something.
Gareth knew.
Conrad knew.
Domenico had known nothing.
That same afternoon, Eli recorded Gareth cornering Josie behind the greenhouse.
The video lasted only twenty eight seconds.
It would later become the first piece of evidence the police believed.
May you like
But it was the final sentence Gareth whispered to Josie that changed everything.
"If you tell your father what you saw that night, he'll lose you too."
