Chapter 6 - THE MAN BEHIND THE TRUST
Richard Cole had been part of Taylor’s family for twenty years.
He handled wills.
Trusts.
Property transfers.
When Taylor’s father died, Richard managed the estate.
When Lily was born, he helped my father structure her trust.
I had shaken his hand at Christmas dinners.
He had held my daughter when she was a baby.
Now his initials were attached to instructions describing how to frame me for negligence.
Detective Park called his office.
No answer.
His assistant claimed he had left town two days earlier.
“For where?” I asked.
“She says she doesn’t know.”
Park didn’t believe that.
Neither did I.
At the hospital the next morning, Lily was sitting up.
Her color had improved.
I brought her pancakes.
She smiled for the first time.
Then she saw Taylor behind me.
Her smile disappeared.
Taylor stopped.
“Baby?”
Lily moved closer to me.
Taylor’s face broke.
“Sweetheart, I didn’t know.”
Lily stared at her.
“Grandma said you did.”
Taylor froze.
“What?”
“She said Mommy knew.”
I looked at Taylor.
Lily continued.
“She said you wanted me to behave better.”
Taylor dropped to her knees beside the bed.
“No.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Lily, I swear to you, I never knew.”
“Grandma said you were tired of me.”
Taylor began sobbing.
“I could never be tired of you.”
Lily looked confused.
That was the cruelty of it.
Evelyn hadn’t only hurt her body.
She had poisoned her trust in her mother.
Detective Park arrived an hour later.
“We found Evelyn.”
“Where?”
“At her house.”
I frowned.
“She went home?”
“She apparently believes she hasn’t done anything serious.”
That sounded exactly like Evelyn.
“Did you arrest her?”
“We have.”
Taylor closed her eyes.
Park continued.
“But she requested an attorney.”
“Richard Cole?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Park looked at me.
“Someone from Cole’s firm.”
Of course.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
I KNOW WHERE JASON IS.
I showed Park.
Another message arrived.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT HIM ALIVE.
Park took the phone.
“You’re not going anywhere alone.”
A location appeared.
An abandoned warehouse near the river.
Taylor grabbed my arm.
“Mark, don’t.”
I looked at Park.
“We can use this.”
She nodded.
“We will.”
Two hours later, I drove toward the warehouse wearing a concealed police wire.
Officers followed at a distance.
The building looked abandoned.
I stepped inside.
“Jason?”
Nothing.
Then I heard coughing.
I followed the sound.
Jason sat tied to a chair beneath a hanging light.
His face was bruised.
“Mark.”
I ran toward him.
“Who did this?”
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“Get out.”
A door slammed behind me.
Footsteps echoed through the warehouse.
Slow.
Controlled.
Then a familiar voice spoke from the darkness.
“You really should have listened when we told you to stop digging.”
May you like
Richard Cole stepped into the light.
And he wasn’t alone.
