Chapter 5 - GRANDMOTHER OF THE YEAR
By the time we returned upstairs, the police were arriving.
Joe was nowhere to be seen.
Neither was Eleanor.
That told me everything.
The birthday girl had abandoned her own party.
David walked toward me.
“No Joe. His car’s still here.”
Tommy looked at me.
“The second drive.”
I nodded.
“Later.”
“No, Mom. If Dad gets to the car—”
“He’s not getting near you again.”
Two Greenwich officers entered the ballroom, followed by club security.
Then a woman in a navy suit stepped through the doors.
Claire Bennett.
My attorney.
I had called her three days earlier, right after finding the burner phone.
She had expected to hear from me Monday.
Instead, I had texted her one word twenty minutes earlier.
NOW.
Claire looked at the broken glass, crying relatives, police officers, and giant blank projector screen.
“I assume this isn’t about an uncontested divorce anymore.”
“Not exactly.”
She noticed Tracy.
Then Leo.
Then Tommy holding a USB drive.
Claire sighed.
“Start talking.”
We told her everything.
She didn’t interrupt once.
When I finished, she looked at Tommy.
“You copied files from your father’s phone?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“It synced to his old tablet at home.”
That surprised me.
“You knew his passcode?”
Tommy shrugged.
“Dad uses Leo’s birthday for everything.”
Tracy covered her mouth.
Claire almost smiled.
“Of course he does.”
Then she became serious.
“Do not plug that drive into anything else. Do not send the files around. We preserve exactly what you have and let investigators handle it.”
Tommy handed it to her.
“Okay.”
Claire looked impressed.
“You’re better at following legal advice than most adults.”
A voice came from behind us.
“You have no right to possess private family property.”
Eleanor had returned.
She was wearing her coat now.
Joe stood beside her.
And Mark Delaney stood behind them.
There he was.
The missing CFO.
Mark’s face looked gray.
Claire stepped in front of me.
“Mrs. Vance, I’m Claire Bennett, counsel for Sarah Vance.”
Eleanor barely looked at her.
“This is a family matter.”
Claire smiled politely.
“Not when millions of dollars and forged signatures are involved.”
Joe pointed at Tommy.
“He stole my phone.”
“No,” Tommy said. “You left it in your office.”
Joe snapped, “Stay out of this.”
Claire raised a hand.
“You will not address my client’s child like that.”
“My client?”
Joe laughed bitterly.
“She brought a lawyer to my mother’s birthday?”
“I didn’t,” I said.
“Then why is she here?”
“Because you tried to frame me for federal crimes, Joe.”
Eleanor stepped closer.
“No one tried to frame you.”
Tommy looked at me.
“Play the other recording.”
Joe shouted, “NO!”
Too late.
Claire connected the USB to her own secure laptop and opened the audio file.
Eleanor’s voice filled the room.
“If Sarah refuses to sign, we use the medical records.”
My stomach twisted.
Joe’s recorded voice asked, “Tommy’s?”
“Yes.”
“What do they prove?”
“Nothing,” Eleanor replied. “They don’t have to. We say Sarah’s been emotionally unstable from caring for a sick child. People believe exhausted mothers crack all the time.”
I stared at her.
She stared back.
No apology.
No shame.
Then the recording continued.
Eleanor said one final thing.
“And once she’s discredited, Tommy cannot inherit control.”
Claire’s head snapped toward me.
“Inherit control of what?”
Joe suddenly looked terrified.
I frowned.
“I don’t know.”
Claire turned slowly toward Eleanor.
But Eleanor said nothing.
May you like
That was when Claire whispered:
“Sarah, I think there’s a trust they never told you about.”
