Chapter 7 - What Elaine Did Eleven Years Ago
Alan refused to say more until he was discharged.
Nora was furious.
Harold was cautious.
Priya was suspicious.
Detective Vasquez was openly annoyed.
“He withheld information in a homicide-related matter for two decades?”
“We don’t know if Rachel’s death was homicide,” Harold said.
Vasquez stared at him.
“You clearly think it might have been.”
Harold did not answer.
Meanwhile, Elaine behaved as though nothing had happened.
Two days later she held a charity luncheon at a private club.
Nora saw photographs online.
Elaine smiling.
Elaine raising champagne.
Elaine beside Marcus.
The caption read:
Family remains everything.
Nora almost threw her phone.
Then an email arrived from Elaine.
We should talk privately.
Nora showed Harold.
He said, “Absolutely not.”
Nora replied anyway.
Public place. Tomorrow. Noon.
They met at a restaurant near the river.
Security sat three tables away.
Elaine noticed.
“How dramatic.”
“Someone threatened me.”
“You’ve always loved attention.”
Nora nearly laughed.
“You called me.”
Elaine removed her sunglasses.
She looked tired.
Older.
For the first time Nora could remember, Elaine’s makeup did not fully hide the lines around her eyes.
“Your grandmother created a fantasy.”
“What fantasy?”
“That everyone was stealing from her.”
“Twenty-seven million dollars is missing.”
Elaine’s expression flickered.
“Business losses happen.”
“Through fake consulting companies?”
“Who told you that?”
Nora did not answer.
Elaine leaned forward.
“Nora, you do not understand the people involved.”
“Then explain.”
“No.”
“Why ask me here?”
“Because I am giving you an opportunity.”
“To do what?”
“Walk away.”
Nora laughed.
“Alan said the same thing.”
Elaine went still.
“Alan spoke to you?”
“He’s alive.”
Elaine looked genuinely startled.
Nora noticed.
“You didn’t know?”
“Know what?”
“That he was attacked.”
Elaine recovered quickly.
“Of course not.”
Nora studied her.
“Where were you the night File 17 disappeared?”
Elaine smiled.
“You sound like a detective.”
“My mother died. My father vanished. Grandma spent twenty-two years investigating both. I think I’m allowed a few questions.”
Elaine’s face hardened.
“Rachel died because she never knew when to stop.”
The words landed like a gunshot.
Nora leaned forward.
“What does that mean?”
Elaine realized her mistake.
“Nothing.”
“Say it again.”
“I meant she was reckless.”
“No. You said she never knew when to stop.”
Elaine looked toward the window.
Nora pressed.
“Stop doing what?”
“Digging into things that were not her responsibility.”
Nora’s heart hammered.
“You knew.”
“Nora.”
“You knew she was investigating.”
Elaine stood.
The security guards immediately looked over.
Nora remained seated.
“November seventeenth,” she said.
Elaine froze.
Slowly, she sat again.
Nora saw fear.
“What happened eleven years ago?” Nora asked.
Elaine stared at her.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Grandma said she knew what you did on November seventeenth eleven years ago.”
Elaine’s lips tightened.
“That old woman enjoyed games.”
“You’re afraid.”
“I am not afraid of you.”
“I didn’t say me.”
For several seconds they looked at one another.
Then Elaine spoke quietly.
“Eleven years ago, Mother accused me of trying to have her declared incompetent.”
“Did you?”
“I filed a petition.”
“Why?”
“She was making dangerous financial decisions.”
“Four doctors disagreed.”
“They saw her for hours. I saw her for years.”
“What happened November seventeenth?”
Elaine looked down.
“That was the day of the competency hearing.”
Nora remembered Harold’s recording.
Grandma had known exactly what Elaine would do after her death because she had tested her before.
“What did Grandma do?”
“She humiliated me.”
“How?”
Elaine’s voice shook with remembered rage.
“She walked into court with medical reports, recordings, bank statements, and testimony from employees. She proved I had paid a physician to exaggerate her cognitive decline.”
Nora stared.
“You bribed a doctor?”
“I paid for an evaluation.”
“You tried to steal control of her money.”
“I was protecting family assets.”
“From her?”
“From people like you.”
Nora stood.
Elaine grabbed her wrist.
“Listen to me.”
Nora pulled free.
“You should have lost everything then.”
Elaine’s eyes burned.
“I almost did.”
“Why didn’t she report you?”
Elaine laughed bitterly.
“Because I was her daughter.”
That was Eleanor.
Protecting the person who hurt her because love had outlived trust.
Nora hated how much sense it made.
Elaine leaned closer.
“Mother gave me one condition. I was to stay away from certain companies and never access the old records.”
“File 17.”
Elaine said nothing.
“You knew.”
“I knew it existed.”
“What was inside?”
“I never saw it.”
Nora did not believe her.
Elaine continued.
“But I know who wanted it.”
Nora sat again.
“Who?”
Elaine looked toward the security guards.
Then whispered.
“Your father.”
Nora stared.
May you like
Elaine’s next words destroyed the fragile shape of everything Nora believed.
“Daniel Cross came back eleven years ago.”
