Chapter 7 - what beatrice knew)
Beatrice arrived the next morning without calling.
Vivian almost did not let her in.
Then she saw the folder under Beatrice's arm.
"Five minutes," Vivian said.
Beatrice entered.
She looked different.
Not kinder.
More careful.
The hostility was still there, but fear had started occupying the same space.
"Where's Julian?" Vivian asked.
"I don't know."
"I assumed he went to your house."
"He did. Then he left."
Vivian gestured toward the study.
They sat opposite each other.
Beatrice placed the folder on her lap.
For once, she did not speak immediately.
Vivian waited.
Finally Beatrice said, "Richard wants no part of this."
"Richard was packing my clothes yesterday."
Beatrice's mouth tightened.
"He regrets that."
"Convenient."
"He was following my lead."
"That's usually his problem."
Beatrice stared.
Vivian did not apologize.
"What do you want?" Vivian asked.
Beatrice opened the folder.
Inside were bank statements.
Vivian recognized Carter Development transfers.
"Julian gave us money."
"I know."
"Not all of it was for us."
Vivian leaned forward.
"Explain."
Beatrice swallowed.
"He asked us to hold some."
"How much?"
"Twenty thousand."
Vivian's jaw tightened.
"What happened to the other eighteen?"
"We used it."
"For what?"
"House expenses."
Vivian almost laughed.
"House expenses?"
"Our roof needed work."
"You accepted money from your son's failing company to fix your roof?"
Beatrice's face hardened defensively.
"He said the company was doing fine."
"You knew he was preparing to divorce me."
Silence.
"Answer."
"Yes."
"And you knew he had Elena."
Beatrice looked away.
"Yes."
Vivian felt something bitter rise inside her.
Not because she expected loyalty from Beatrice.
But because she remembered every holiday dinner where Beatrice smiled across the table.
Every phone call where she asked Vivian for advice.
Every time she accepted help.
"How long?"
"Four months."
Vivian stared.
Four months.
Beatrice continued.
"Julian said the marriage was dead."
"So you helped him hide money?"
"I didn't know it was hiding."
"You held twenty thousand dollars for him."
"He said he needed it protected."
"From whom?"
Beatrice was silent.
Vivian answered for her.
"From me."
Beatrice looked down.
Vivian stood.
"Get out."
"Wait."
"No."
Beatrice lifted the folder.
"There's more."
Vivian stopped.
Beatrice removed a handwritten sheet.
Numbers.
Dates.
Amounts.
"He gave Richard instructions."
"What instructions?"
"If something happened with the company, Richard was supposed to move the money."
"Where?"
"An account Julian controls."
"Cedar Ridge?"
Beatrice's eyes widened.
That was enough.
Vivian sat again.
"How much does Julian have there?"
"I don't know."
"You do."
"No."
"Beatrice."
"I know he was trying to reach fifty thousand."
Vivian's heart beat harder.
"And why?"
"He said he needed a cushion."
"For after the divorce?"
"Yes."
Vivian stared.
"So the plan was to strip money from the company, let me absorb whatever financial damage remained, take the house if possible, and start over with Elena."
Beatrice's lips tightened.
"He said the debt was gone."
"Because I paid it?"
"Yes."
"Did you ever ask why the woman you hate so much would pay one hundred fifty thousand dollars to save your son's business?"
Beatrice flinched.
Vivian leaned forward.
"You called me arrogant. Cold. Controlling. You told Julian I never gave your family what it needed."
Beatrice said nothing.
"And all that time, you believed I had handed him one hundred fifty thousand dollars."
"He said it was different."
"Of course he did."
Vivian stood again.
"This conversation is over."
Beatrice remained seated.
"What happens to him?"
Vivian looked at her.
"Ask Julian."
"You own the debt."
"Yes."
"You could take the company."
"Potentially."
"Please don't."
Vivian almost laughed.
There it was.
Not I'm sorry.
Not I was wrong.
Please don't take the thing that matters to my son.
Beatrice continued.
"He built that business."
Vivian stared at her.
"I helped keep it alive."
"He worked for years."
"So did I."
"Vivian..."
"You packed my mother's photograph into a box yesterday."
Beatrice stopped.
"You watched another woman wear my robe."
Silence.
"You told me to crawl back into a hole."
Beatrice's face changed slightly.
Vivian's voice became quieter.
"And less than twenty-four hours later, you're sitting in my study asking me to protect Julian."
Beatrice looked away.
"I lost my temper."
"No."
Vivian shook her head.
"You showed me what you thought you could get away with."
That landed harder than any insult.
Beatrice closed the folder.
At the door, she stopped.
"Richard wants to return the money."
Vivian looked at her.
"All of it?"
"The twenty thousand we still have."
"What about the eighteen?"
"We don't have it."
"Then Richard should speak to Rachel."
Beatrice's face tightened.
"Your lawyer?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I am done having informal conversations about missing company money."
Beatrice stared at her.
Then left.
Vivian closed the door.
Five minutes later, Rachel called.
"We found something."
Vivian returned to her office.
"What?"
"Cedar Ridge."
"You got records?"
"Not directly. But Carter Development's statements show forty-seven thousand total transferred there."
Vivian sat.
"Forty-seven?"
"Yes."
"There were only thirty-one yesterday."
"Older entries were categorized differently."
Vivian stared at the wall.
Rachel continued.
"And one transfer happened this morning."
"How much?"
"Nine thousand."
Julian was still moving money.
Even after the default notice.
"Can we stop him?"
"We can seek emergency relief."
"Do it."
Rachel paused.
"Vivian."
"What?"
"There's another outgoing payment."
"To whom?"
Rachel read the name.
Vivian's expression changed.
It was not Elena.
Not Beatrice.
Not Richard.
It was a private investigator.
May you like
And the invoice description contained two words.
Vivian Carter.
