Chapter 6 - the second set of footprints
Walter locked the estate and activated every security camera.
Naomi called the police, but by the time officers searched the grounds, the rain had washed away most traces.
Only two sets of footprints remained beneath Margaret’s window.
One belonged to Trevor.
The other ended in the middle of the garden.
“There must be a stone path under the grass,” an officer suggested.
Walter knew there was not.
Trevor sat in the library under Naomi’s supervision.
He refused to explain how he knew Mia would find the key.
Evelyn remained upstairs with her daughter.
Mia remembered little about the woman outside the guesthouse.
“She had pretty hair,” the child said.
“What color?”
“Like yours.”
“Did she tell you her name?”
Mia shook her head.
“She said the room was waiting.”
Evelyn showed Mia the photograph of Margaret.
“Was this the woman?”
Mia studied it carefully.
“No.”
Then she pointed at Caroline.
“That one.”
Evelyn’s hands went cold.
Her mother would have been in her fifties now, not the young woman in the photograph.
“You saw this lady?”
“She was older.”
Walter entered the room and heard the answer.
He closed the door behind him.
“Your mother died in a house fire,” he said.
“I know.”
“I attended the funeral.”
“Did you see her body?”
Walter hesitated.
“No.”
“Who identified her?”
“Your father.”
Evelyn’s father had died eight years later from a heart condition.
Every person who could answer questions seemed to be gone.
Except Margaret.
If she was still alive.
Downstairs, Trevor finally agreed to speak.
They gathered in the library.
Naomi placed a recorder on the table.
Trevor laughed when he saw it.
“Everyone in this family is suddenly obsessed with recording conversations.”
“Tell us about the boat,” Walter said.
Trevor leaned back.
“Mother discovered financial records connected to Adrian’s father.”
“Adrian Cole’s father?” Naomi asked.
“Robert Cole managed several Hale accounts. Mother believed he was moving money.”
Walter frowned.
“Robert died before the investigation began.”
“That is what everyone believes.”
“Another dead person who may not be dead,” Evelyn said.
Trevor looked at her.
“You’re learning.”
“Why did Margaret take you onto the boat?”
“She wanted to confront someone privately.”
“Who?”
“I never saw him clearly.”
Walter slammed his hand onto the table.
“Stop playing games.”
Trevor’s eyes flashed.
“She met someone on the lake. There was an argument. I heard a gunshot.”
Evelyn flinched.
“What happened to Margaret?”
“She pushed me overboard.”
Walter stared at him.
“Why would your mother do that?”
“To save me.”
Trevor’s voice lost its arrogance.
For a moment, he looked like the frightened young man he had once been.
“The boat caught fire. I swam until another vessel found me. Mother was gone.”
“Why did you say she drowned?” Walter asked.
“Because the man on the other boat told me what would happen if I described him.”
“Who was he?”
Trevor shook his head.
“He wore a dark coat. That’s all I remember.”
Naomi studied him.
“You remembered enough to spend twelve years stealing from the same accounts Margaret investigated.”
Trevor’s vulnerability vanished.
“I recovered what belonged to my family.”
“It belonged to Evelyn’s foundation.”
“Evelyn married into this family.”
“That does not transfer ownership.”
Trevor looked at Evelyn.
“It could.”
She felt the meaning beneath the words.
The forged authorization.
The medical reports.
The plan to declare her incapable.
“You wanted control of the foundation.”
“I wanted security.”
“You wanted everything.”
“I wanted what Father denied me.”
Walter’s face tightened.
“I gave you every opportunity.”
“You gave me a name that was already poisoned.”
Naomi pushed the photograph across the table.
“What does Caroline know about both boys?”
Trevor looked at it.
For the first time, genuine fear appeared in his eyes.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying,” Evelyn said.
Trevor stood.
Walter moved toward him.
Naomi raised one hand.
“Let him go.”
Walter turned sharply.
“He broke into my home.”
“And he came here because he wanted the contents of that box. If we keep him here, we learn nothing. If he leaves, he may lead us to whoever he fears.”
Trevor smiled at her.
“You think you’re clever.”
“I think you are predictable.”
He looked at Evelyn before walking out.
“I never wanted to frighten Mia.”
“You frightened her every time you frightened me.”
Trevor paused.
Then he left.
Walter watched through the window as his son drove away.
“We follow him,” he said.
Naomi shook her head.
“He’ll expect that.”
Evelyn remembered the storage-unit receipts.
“There is another way.”
At two in the morning, Naomi obtained emergency access to Trevor’s financial records.
A payment had been made from Northstar Holdings ten minutes after he left the estate.
The recipient was a private nursing facility three counties away.
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The patient’s name was listed as Jane Mercer.
The date of birth matched Margaret Hale’s.
