Chapter 10 - Eleanor's Voice
The recording began with static.
Then Eleanor Bennett spoke.
Claire had prepared herself to hear weakness.
Instead she heard her grandmother exactly as she remembered her.
Sharp.
Impatient.
Alive.
“Robert, sit down.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Everyone in the interview room remained still.
Then Robert’s younger voice.
“You shouldn’t be doing this.”
“I should have done it years ago.”
“You’re confused.”
“I am old. I am not confused.”
Papers moved.
Eleanor continued.
“You stole from the Halston property sale.”
“I reinvested it.”
“You moved three million dollars into Bennett Preservation.”
“For tax efficiency.”
“You control Bennett Preservation.”
“So does Linda.”
“Linda signs whatever you put in front of her.”
Claire looked toward her mother.
Linda closed her eyes.
On the recording Robert’s voice hardened.
“You’re destroying the family.”
“No. I am preventing you from owning it.”
“You always favored Claire.”
“She is not cruel.”
Silence.
Then Robert said, “And I am?”
Eleanor laughed.
A dry, dismissive laugh Claire remembered vividly.
“You need me to answer that?”
A chair scraped.
Robert’s voice came closer.
“You’re not giving everything to a child.”
“She is twenty-three.”
“She’s irresponsible.”
“She works.”
“She rents a tiny apartment.”
“Because she refuses your money.”
“She dates losers.”
“Because you hate every man you cannot control.”
Claire glanced at Ethan.
He squeezed her hand.
Eleanor said, “Claire gets forty percent. Margaret gets thirty. Linda gets twenty. You get ten.”
Robert exploded.
“Ten?”
“You’re lucky it isn’t zero.”
“That company exists because of me!”
“That company exists because your father and I built it while you were in school.”
“You can’t do this.”
“I already did.”
Paper rustled.
“Patrick filed the documents.”
Claire looked at Margaret.
Margaret nodded faintly.
Robert’s breathing became heavy.
“What about the care facility?”
“What about it?”
“I control your medical decisions.”
“Not anymore.”
Silence.
“I signed a new directive.”
Robert said something too low to hear.
Eleanor responded.
“I also wrote Claire.”
Claire began crying.
“She’s coming tomorrow.”
A long silence.
Then Robert spoke softly.
“No, she isn’t.”
The recording changed.
Movement.
A crash.
Eleanor said, “Get your hands off—”
Static exploded.
Linda screamed.
The recording continued for another thirty-seven seconds.
Heavy breathing.
A metallic sound.
Then Robert.
“Oh God.”
Charles Wexler’s voice entered.
“What happened?”
“She fell.”
Margaret covered her mouth.
Charles on the recording:
“Call the nurse.”
Robert:
“Wait.”
“Robert.”
“Wait!”
Silence.
Then Eleanor made a faint sound.
Still alive.
Charles said, “She’s breathing.”
Robert answered.
“If we call them now, she’ll tell them.”
The room became frozen.
Claire stared at the recorder.
Charles Wexler looked as if he had aged ten years in a minute.
On the recording he whispered, “What are you saying?”
Robert answered.
“Give me five minutes.”
Charles said, “No.”
Another crash.
Then footsteps.
The recorder ended.
Nobody spoke.
Claire turned slowly toward Charles.
“You were there.”
Charles nodded.
“Did my father kill her?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were there!”
“I left the room.”
“Why?”
“Because I was a coward.”
“What happened after you left?”
“I called the nurse from the hallway.”
“How long?”
Charles looked down.
“About three minutes.”
“Three minutes.”
“I panicked.”
“And when you returned?”
“Robert was beside the bed.”
“Doing what?”
“Nothing.”
“Was Grandma alive?”
Charles’s voice broke.
“Barely.”
Claire stood.
“Did he stop her breathing?”
“I didn’t see him touch her.”
“Did he call for help?”
“No.”
“Did he deliberately delay help?”
Charles whispered, “Yes.”
Claire walked out.
Ethan followed.
Outside, dawn had begun coloring the horizon.
Their wedding day had ended.
Their marriage had begun.
And somewhere in the city, Robert Bennett was running.
Claire stopped on the police station steps.
“I want to find him.”
Ethan said, “The police will.”
“No.”
She turned.
“I mean before he destroys whatever is left.”
Ethan understood.
“The vault.”
May you like
Claire nodded.
“Find the second key.”
