Chapter 3 - The Lie She Had Signed
Detective Lena Ortiz arrived forty minutes later.
She wore a dark blazer over jeans and carried no expression Adrian could charm into changing.
“I understand there was a disclosure about a previous death,” she said.
Adrian folded his arms.
“My wife’s sister has been encouraging unhealthy ideas.”
Ortiz looked at Grace.
“Have you?”
“No.”
“Have you talked to Owen about how his mother died?”
“Only when he asked if she was cold.”
Ortiz’s pen paused.
“What did you tell him?”
“That she couldn’t feel cold anymore.”
Behind the sitting-room door, Owen was speaking quietly to Ruth.
Ortiz lowered her voice.
“Mr. Vale has agreed that Owen can spend tonight with Mrs. Mercer while we sort this out.”
Adrian hadn’t agreed out of kindness.
Half the room had watched him consider refusing.
His attorney, reached by phone, had apparently explained what refusal would look like.
Grace wanted to go with Owen.
Adrian answered before she could ask.
“She’s an employee. She has responsibilities here.”
“I quit,” Grace said.
For the first time that night, he looked truly surprised.
Then he recovered.
“You have nowhere to live.”
“I’ll manage.”
“No insurance.”
“I heard you.”
“No money.”
Ruth appeared in the doorway.
“She has somewhere to sleep.”
Adrian stared at the older woman.
“This is a family matter.”
“So was your wife.”
Nobody spoke.
Ortiz asked Grace to walk with her to the front steps.
Outside, the cool air smelled like rain.
“Tell me about the statement,” the detective said.
Grace looked back at the house.
“What statement?”
“The one Mr. Vale keeps mentioning.”
There it was.
The place where this could still turn into another night of cowardice.
Grace gripped the porch rail.
“He was supposed to be in his study when Nora went outside.”
“Did you see him?”
“No.”
“What did you hear?”
“His voice. Through the door.”
Ortiz waited.
“It was a recording,” Grace said.
“I didn’t know that when I heard it. He rehearsed speeches in there all the time. But afterward, I found the same speech playing on his laptop.”
“Did you tell the first investigator?”
Grace shook her head.
“Why?”
Adrian had stood in the kitchen with Owen’s custody papers in one hand and her unpaid hospital bills in the other.
He had never needed to say the whole threat.
“He told me I’d never see Owen again.”
Ortiz closed her notebook.
“Grace, I need a complete statement. Including that.”
“I know.”
May you like
From inside the house came the sharp crash of glass.
Then Celia screamed Owen’s name.
