Chapter 7 - The Second Trip At 2:13 A.M.)
Saturday night began with rain.
At 10:40 P.M., Ava knocked on Amelia's bedroom door.
"Keys."
Amelia looked up from her laptop.
"Excuse me?"
"The SUV."
"Where are you going?"
Ava leaned against the frame.
"Do we have to do the dramatic sister thing again?"
Amelia tossed the key fob onto the bed.
"Bring it back."
Ava smiled.
"See? Growth."
She took the keys.
Amelia waited until she heard the garage door.
Then she crossed the hallway to Walter's study.
He was already dressed.
Not in pajamas.
Dark trousers.
Raincoat.
Cane.
"She's leaving."
Walter opened the tracker.
The SUV moved west.
For twenty minutes, nothing unusual happened.
Then it turned south.
Not toward Halcyon.
Not toward Westbridge.
Amelia leaned over the phone.
"Where is that?"
Walter enlarged the map.
The road ran toward rural Hanover County.
The blue dot continued.
11:32.
11:48.
12:06.
Finally, the SUV stopped beside a wooded property.
Walter's face changed.
Amelia noticed.
"Again?"
"What?"
"You know the place."
Walter sat down.
For the first time since this began, he looked old.
"That property belonged to your father."
Amelia stared.
"What?"
"A farmhouse."
"I've never heard of it."
"Thomas bought it through the company when you were in college. He planned to renovate it."
"Why didn't he?"
"He died."
Walter opened the property details.
The farmhouse had been transferred to Brightwell Asset Management six months after Thomas's death.
Daniel Price's shell company.
Amelia felt anger rise.
"They stole Dad's property."
"Possibly."
"Stop saying possibly."
Walter looked at her.
"Facts first."
The SUV remained stationary.
12:30.
1:00.
1:40.
At 2:02 A.M., the tracker suddenly moved fifty yards.
Then stopped.
At 2:13 A.M., another location marker appeared.
Not at the farmhouse.
Behind it.
Near an old barn.
Amelia grabbed her coat.
"We're going."
Walter did not argue.
They used a pickup truck owned by Hart Development.
Amelia drove through the rain while Walter watched the tracker.
The SUV remained at the property.
They parked a quarter mile away and walked.
Walter struggled on the muddy road.
Amelia offered her arm.
He refused until nearly falling.
Then accepted it without comment.
Through the trees, they saw lights.
The farmhouse was dark.
The barn was not.
A white SUV stood beside it.
Amelia's SUV.
A second car was parked nearby.
Daniel Price's sedan.
A third vehicle sat beneath the trees.
Diane's Mercedes.
Amelia felt her heart pounding.
"They're all here."
Walter raised one finger.
Listen.
Voices came from inside the barn.
Diane.
Ava.
Daniel.
And someone else.
Amelia and Walter moved along the exterior wall.
One window had been covered with plywood.
Another had a gap in the curtain.
Amelia looked through.
Boxes covered the floor.
Old file boxes.
Metal lockboxes.
Furniture wrapped in plastic.
Ava stood near the door.
Daniel was beside a folding table.
Diane held a folder.
A fourth person, a woman Amelia did not recognize, was stamping documents.
Walter whispered, "Rebecca Vale."
The notary.
Amelia took out her phone.
She began recording.
Inside, Diane placed another document on the table.
Rebecca looked nervous.
"You said Walter already agreed."
"He did."
"Then why isn't he signing these himself?"
Daniel answered.
"Because the purpose of the documents is to confirm prior authorization."
Rebecca frowned.
"That's not what you said."
Diane's voice hardened.
"You have already been paid."
Ava walked toward one of the boxes.
"Can we just finish? I hate this place."
Rebecca said, "I'm not notarizing another signature I don't witness."
Daniel looked at her.
"You already notarized three."
"That was different."
"No, Rebecca. It wasn't."
Amelia kept recording.
Walter's face had become stone.
Diane opened a metal box.
She removed several documents.
One photograph fell to the floor.
Ava picked it up.
"Is this Thomas?"
Diane snatched it from her.
"Put it back."
Amelia's breath caught.
Her father.
Ava said, "Why are we keeping his stuff anyway?"
"Because Daniel says we have to."
Daniel frowned.
"I said we keep anything that may be evidence until the trust transfer is complete."
Ava laughed nervously.
"Evidence of what?"
Nobody answered.
Then Diane said, "After Sunday, none of this matters."
Walter leaned closer to the window.
Daniel lowered his voice.
"The incapacity petition goes in Monday."
Amelia's blood ran cold.
Diane nodded.
"Reeves will sign the supplementary letter?"
"He already did."
"And Walter won't get notice until after temporary control is granted?"
"If the court accepts the emergency basis."
Ava smiled.
"So Monday we're rich."
Diane turned sharply.
"We are already rich."
"Not me."
"You will be."
Rebecca looked from one person to another.
"I want out."
Diane's expression changed.
"You're already in."
Rebecca grabbed her purse.
Daniel stepped in front of her.
"No one is threatening you."
"You don't need to. I know what this is."
She walked around him.
Amelia pulled Walter away from the window.
They moved behind the barn.
The door opened.
Rebecca hurried outside.
She got into her car and drove away.
Ava appeared moments later.
"Should we stop her?"
Daniel came out.
"No."
"What if she talks?"
"She won't."
"How do you know?"
Daniel looked toward the road.
"Because talking would mean admitting what she signed."
They returned inside.
Walter whispered, "We have enough."
Amelia looked through the window one last time.
Diane was holding the photograph of Thomas.
Then she turned it over.
On the back was writing.
Amelia could not read it.
Diane placed the photograph inside her purse.
Amelia touched Walter's arm.
"I want that picture."
"Not tonight."
"Grandpa."
"Not tonight."
They retreated through the woods.
Halfway to the truck, Walter stopped.
He looked back toward the barn.
"Tomorrow is Sunday."
Amelia nodded.
Walter's face hardened.
"We're going to dinner."
"Why?"
"Because they think Monday belongs to them."
He opened the tracker on his phone.
The SUV still sat beside the barn.
At precisely 2:13 A.M.
May you like
Walter looked at Amelia.
"Tomorrow night, we let Ava explain this."
