Chapter 6 - GRANT
The room stopped breathing.
Walter held the receiver like it had burned him.
Officer Hayes immediately asked, "Who is Grant?"
"My attorney."
"And when did you last speak to him?"
"Yesterday morning."
Evelyn stood very still.
Too still.
I watched her face.
"You knew," I said.
"I knew nothing."
"You told Walter to ask Grant where the folder was."
Her eyes snapped toward me.
Officer Hayes noticed.
"Mrs. Carter, we're going to need you to come with us."
"Am I under arrest?"
"Not yet."
"Then I'm not going anywhere."
Walter's voice was low. "You are if I say so."
She looked at him with genuine disbelief.
She pointed at me. "This is because of her."
"No," Walter said. "This is because of you."
The words hit harder than shouting.
Police separated everyone for interviews.
When it was my turn, I told Officer Hayes everything: the sunroom recording, Victor, the threat messages, the planted key, Daniel's signature.
"Do you know Victor's last name?"
"No."
Maya, sitting nearby, suddenly looked up.
"I might."
She opened her laptop and searched through photos from Walter's birthday party six months earlier.
She stopped on one image.
Evelyn stood near the garden gate speaking to a silver-haired man in a gray suit.
Maya zoomed in on his name badge.
VICTOR SLOANE — SLOANE CAPITAL PARTNERS.
Walter cursed under his breath.
I knew the name.
Sloane Capital specialized in buying distressed family companies for pennies on the dollar.
Walter's manufacturing business was worth almost eighty million.
Officer Hayes looked at Daniel. "What exactly did your mother have you sign?"
Daniel swallowed.
"A voting proxy. I think."
Walter went white.
"Daniel," he whispered, "you gave her your shares?"
"Temporarily."
Evelyn closed her eyes.
May you like
And that was when I realized the affair wasn't the real secret.
The real secret was ownership.
