Chapter 13 - Grant Ashford Finally Tells the Truth)
Grant asked to speak with Claire three days later.
She refused.
Then he offered something.
A complete confession.
But only if Claire heard it personally.
Ethan expected her to refuse again.
Instead she said, "I'll go."
The meeting took place in a secure interview room.
A glass wall separated them.
Grant wore detention clothes.
Without expensive suits and his mother's presence, he looked older.
Smaller.
Claire sat opposite him.
Ethan remained behind her.
Detective Mills recorded everything.
Grant looked at Claire.
"I'm sorry."
Claire's expression did not change.
"Don't start with that."
He nodded.
"Fair."
"Why did Samuel die?"
Grant stared at the table.
"My mother arranged it."
"How?"
"She still had access to people through North Crown."
"From jail?"
"She prepared for emergencies."
"Who?"
Grant named a former security contractor.
Detective Mills wrote it down.
Claire continued.
"My father."
Grant closed his eyes.
"I hit his car."
"Why?"
"Mother said he was going to destroy us."
"You were eighteen."
"Yes."
"Old enough to know what a cliff was."
Grant flinched.
"Yes."
"You followed him."
"Yes."
"You hit him."
"Yes."
"And you left."
Grant began crying.
"Yes."
Claire watched him.
"My mother."
"I wasn't there."
"But you knew."
Grant nodded.
"Afterward."
"And you said nothing."
"Yes."
"Then me."
Grant wiped his face.
"Mother panicked after Eleanor died. You kept talking about the tea."
"So she hid me."
"For a few days at first."
Claire laughed bitterly.
"Twenty years is a long few days."
"I know."
"No. You don't."
Grant looked at her.
"You're right."
She leaned forward.
"Why did you help?"
He looked through the glass toward nothing.
"Because every year it became harder to admit what we had already done."
Claire remained silent.
Grant continued.
"When you were six, I thought we should let you go."
"What happened?"
"Mother said we'd all go to prison."
"Good."
"Yes."
"When I was ten?"
"I stopped thinking about letting you go."
"When I was fifteen?"
Grant looked ashamed.
"You became part of the house."
Claire stared at him.
Those words disturbed Ethan more than anything else Grant had said.
Part of the house.
Not a person.
A secret.
A locked room.
Claire whispered, "And when I was twenty?"
"Mother needed signatures."
"You brought me books."
Grant nodded.
"Why?"
"I told myself it made me different from her."
"It didn't."
"I know."
Claire looked at Detective Mills.
"Ask about the insurance."
Grant's face changed.
Claire noticed.
"You knew."
"Not at first."
"When?"
"Two months ago."
"What was the plan?"
Grant looked at Ethan.
Then back at Claire.
"After the probate transfer, we were going to move you to Canada."
"And?"
"Mother said you'd have an accident."
Claire's face remained strangely calm.
"How?"
"Medication."
"And the body?"
"The lake."
Ethan's hands tightened.
Claire continued.
"Then the insurance pays."
"Yes."
"Two hundred fifty million."
"Yes."
"Enough to pay North Crown."
"Most of it."
She stared at him.
"My entire life had a price."
Grant whispered, "Yes."
Claire sat back.
For a moment Ethan thought she might leave.
Instead she asked one final question.
"Why did you tell the truth now?"
Grant looked toward the observation glass.
"Because Mother ordered Samuel killed."
"That frightened you?"
"She ordered me killed too."
Claire's eyes narrowed.
Grant continued.
"The man at the hospital wasn't only supposed to kill you."
"What?"
"If he succeeded, he was supposed to come here afterward."
Grant gave a hollow laugh.
"Mother decided I knew too much."
Claire studied him.
"So you're confessing because she finally treated you the way she treated everyone else."
Grant looked ashamed.
"Yes."
"Not because you're sorry."
"I am sorry."
"But that's not why."
"No."
Claire stood.
"Thank you for finally telling one honest thing."
She turned away.
Grant pressed both hands against the glass.
"Claire."
She stopped.
"I'm sorry."
Claire looked back.
"For which year?"
He stared.
She continued.
"The year you helped hide me? The year you threatened Mrs. Doyle? The year you brought documents for me to sign? The year you knew she planned to kill me?"
Grant had no answer.
Claire nodded.
"That's the problem."
She walked out.
In the hallway she leaned against the wall.
Ethan stayed silent.
After several moments Claire said, "I thought hearing him confess would make me feel better."
"Did it?"
"No."
"What do you feel?"
"Hungry."
Ethan almost laughed.
Claire looked at him.
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
She smiled.
It was small.
But real.
"Can we get pancakes?"
"At four in the afternoon?"
"I missed twenty years. I think breakfast rules no longer apply."
"Fair."
They were halfway to the elevator when Detective Mills came after them.
"Claire."
She turned.
"We just received confirmation."
"What?"
"The contractor Grant named was arrested."
Claire waited.
"He had records connecting Vivian directly to Samuel Voss's death and the hospital attempt."
Ethan exhaled.
Claire did not celebrate.
She simply asked, "Is it enough?"
Detective Mills nodded.
May you like
"Vivian Ashford is never controlling your life again."
For the first time, Claire believed it.
