Chapter 6 - Lydia Bennett
Claire’s mother refused to return to Napa.
“I buried that place thirty years ago.”
Claire stood in her hotel room holding the phone.
“Mom, Graham is using the vineyard debt to force them.”
“Let him.”
“Twenty percent is Dad’s.”
“Your father wanted his name cleared. He didn’t want that land.”
“That isn’t what his letter says.”
Silence.
Claire softened her voice.
“He said the vineyard belonged to everyone Edward stole it from.”
Lydia exhaled.
“That sounds like Samuel.”
Claire looked at Marcus, who stood near the window.
“I need you.”
Lydia’s voice tightened.
“No.”
“You’re the only living person who knows what happened before Dad left.”
“Eleanor knows.”
“She lies.”
“So do I.”
Claire stopped.
“What?”
Another silence.
“Ask Marcus about October third, 1994.”
“What happened?”
“Ask him.”
The call ended.
Claire turned.
Marcus looked uneasy.
“What is October third?”
He stared at the vineyard outside.
“The day Samuel left.”
“No. Dad left September twenty-second.”
Marcus turned.
“What?”
Claire took out Samuel’s journals.
“He and Mom were already in Portland by September twenty-fifth.”
Marcus went pale.
“That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because I saw Samuel on October third.”
Claire stared.
“Where?”
“At the vineyard.”
The room went quiet.
Marcus sat.
“He came into my office after midnight.”
“What did he say?”
Marcus rubbed his forehead.
“He was furious. He told me Dad was framing him. I told him to stop blaming everyone else.”
Claire’s face hardened.
“You saw my father after he supposedly left Napa.”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell anyone?”
“My father knew.”
“Police?”
“There was no police investigation. Samuel wasn’t missing. Everyone believed he left voluntarily.”
Claire moved closer.
“What happened that night?”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“He asked me to leave with him.”
That surprised her.
“What?”
“He said we could expose Edward together.”
“And?”
“I called him selfish.”
Claire’s jaw tightened.
Marcus continued.
“I told him the vineyard employed eighty families and that destroying Dad would destroy them too.”
“So you chose the vineyard.”
“Yes.”
The same phrase Claire had used at the anniversary.
He looked at her.
“I didn’t know the theft allegations were fabricated.”
“But he told you.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t believe him.”
“No.”
Claire turned away.
Marcus said, “There’s something else.”
She stopped.
“Samuel gave me a key.”
“What key?”
“I threw it back at him.”
“Why?”
“He said it opened a records cabinet at Lydia’s office.”
Claire stared.
“What was inside?”
“I never knew.”
“You didn’t look?”
“I threw it at him.”
Anger rose through her.
“My father gave you evidence.”
“He gave me a key.”
“And you refused to use it.”
Marcus stood.
“Yes.”
For once he did not defend himself.
Claire hated that his honesty made hating him harder.
The next morning, Lydia Bennett arrived at Bellamy Estate.
She was sixty-three, silver threaded through black hair, her posture still straight.
Eleanor saw her crossing the courtyard and nearly dropped her teacup.
Lydia stopped three feet away.
“You got old.”
Eleanor whispered, “So did you.”
“Samuel didn’t get enough time.”
Marcus watched his mother flinch.
Lydia entered the library and refused wine.
“I’ll tell it once.”
Detective Ortiz joined them.
Lydia began.
In 1994, Edward had been using the employee profit-sharing reserve as temporary capital for land acquisitions.
“It was illegal?”
Claire asked.
“It violated the plan documents and board representations. Whether prosecutors would have charged him, I don’t know. But it would have destroyed his reputation.”
Samuel discovered it.
He moved $183,600 into Lydia’s custodial account to prevent Edward from taking another distribution.
“When Edward found out,” Lydia continued, “he created evidence making it look like Samuel and I were stealing.”
“Who created the false records?” Ortiz asked.
“Graham Voss.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
Lydia looked at Marcus.
“Samuel went to you.”
“I know.”
“He thought you would choose him.”
Marcus lowered his gaze.
“I didn’t.”
“No.”
Lydia’s voice carried no cruelty.
That made it worse.
“After Samuel left Napa, he came back once.”
“October third.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To get the original payroll ledger.”
Claire frowned.
“What happened?”
Lydia looked at Eleanor.
“Edward was waiting.”
Eleanor began crying.
Lydia continued.
“They threatened Samuel with criminal charges against me. I was pregnant with Claire.”
Claire went still.
“They knew?”
“Yes.”
“Dad knew you were pregnant?”
“Of course.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
Lydia touched her hand.
“He left Napa because Edward said if Samuel pursued the shares, he would have me arrested before you were born.”
Marcus whispered, “Why didn’t Samuel tell me?”
“He tried.”
Marcus remembered the night.
The desperation in Samuel’s face.
The key hitting the floor.
He had watched his brother leave.
Lydia reached into her purse.
She placed a small brass key on the table.
Marcus stared.
“The same key?”
“Samuel picked it up after you threw it.”
She slid it toward Claire.
“The cabinet still exists.”
“Where?”
“My old bookkeeping office.”
Marcus frowned.
“That building was demolished.”
Lydia shook her head.
“Moved.”
Eleanor whispered, “Graham.”
Everyone looked at her.
Eleanor swallowed.
“Edward had the office cabinet moved to the old cooperage after Samuel left.”
Marcus felt cold.
“Why?”
“Because Graham said it contained records that could never enter discovery.”
Claire closed her fingers around the key.
“Then we find the cabinet.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“You’re too late.”
May you like
“How do you know?”
“Because Graham asked me about that key yesterday.”
