Chapter 3 - What Lily Had Been Told
Daniel took Lily to a private suite at the Ocean Crown, the oldest Mercer resort, that afternoon.
He did not tell Celeste where they were staying.
Marcus arranged security.
Oscar came too.
Lily sat on the carpet feeding the dog pieces of turkey from room service while Daniel spoke with Helen Rowe near the windows.
Helen was seventy, sharp-eyed, and furious.
She examined the trust amendment with gloved hands.
“The signature is good,” she said.
Daniel stared at her.
“You just said it was fake.”
“I said I didn’t witness it.”
She pointed to her own signature.
“That’s a scan taken from another estate document.”
“And Dad’s?”
“I can’t tell yet.”
Daniel paced.
“What was he afraid of?”
Helen looked toward Lily before answering.
“August believed someone had been accessing his financial files.”
“Celeste?”
“He didn’t name her.”
“Why wouldn’t he?”
“Because your father trusted blood until the last possible second.”
That sounded painfully accurate.
Helen opened her briefcase.
“The original trust gives Lily twenty-four percent of Mercer Coastal voting shares when she turns twenty-five. Until then, you vote those shares as trustee.”
Daniel nodded.
His own personal holdings were thirty-one percent.
Combined, Daniel controlled fifty-five percent.
Celeste owned seventeen.
“Without Lily’s shares,” Helen said, “you lose majority voting control.”
Daniel understood.
“If I’m removed as trustee…”
“The successor trustee votes Lily’s shares.”
“Celeste.”
“If that amendment survives.”
Daniel looked toward the ocean.
“So this is about the company.”
“Maybe more than the company.”
Helen lowered her voice.
“The trust also owns this villa, three undeveloped beachfront parcels, and August’s interest in Blue Heron Marina.”
Combined value: nearly ninety million dollars.
Lily suddenly spoke from across the room.
“Aunt Celeste said Grandpa left her the beach.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
Lily stared at the carpet.
Helen sat beside her.
“When did she tell you that?”
Lily shrugged.
“A lot.”
Daniel crouched.
“What else did she tell you?”
Lily’s eyes filled.
“That you were spending Grandpa’s money.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“Anything else?”
“She said if I made you mad, you might send me away.”
“What?”
“And she said you didn’t like when I told stories.”
Daniel felt the room tilt.
“What stories?”
Lily looked frightened.
“The bad ones.”
He remembered.
Three months earlier, Lily had told him Celeste locked Oscar in the laundry room overnight.
Celeste said Lily had misunderstood.
Two months earlier, Lily said Celeste threw away a drawing Nora had made with her.
Celeste claimed the paper had been ruined by water.
Daniel had accepted both explanations.
He closed his eyes.
His daughter had tried to tell him.
He had failed to listen.
Lily whispered, “Are you mad?”
Daniel immediately shook his head.
“At you? Never.”
“You got mad when I said Aunt Celeste was lying about Mom’s box.”
His eyes opened.
“What box?”
Lily hesitated.
“She said Mom’s jewelry box was empty.”
Daniel stood.
Nora’s jewelry collection had been appraised at nearly two million dollars.
After Nora died, Daniel had sealed it in the villa’s bedroom safe.
He had not opened that safe in almost a year.
“Marcus.”
The security chief was already reaching for his phone.
They returned to the villa with two officers present because Daniel had reported suspected theft.
The safe was behind a panel in the primary bedroom.
Daniel entered the code.
The door opened.
The shelves were almost empty.
Three velvet cases remained.
Nora’s diamond necklace was gone.
Her grandmother’s emerald bracelet was gone.
So were several bearer-style collectible bonds August had stored temporarily before transferring them into custody.
Daniel looked at Marcus.
“When was this opened?”
Marcus checked the safe log.
“Keypad access seven times in the last four months.”
Daniel stared.
“I haven’t opened it.”
Marcus scrolled.
“Same code every time.”
Someone knew Daniel’s private code.
Lily stood in the doorway with Helen.
Her face changed.
“Dad.”
“What?”
“That’s why she kept asking me.”
“Asking you what?”
“The numbers.”
Daniel went cold.
“What numbers?”
“She said you taught me the safe code.”
“I never did.”
“I told her I didn’t know.”
Lily began rubbing her wrist.
“She got really mad.”
The dog bowl had not been about discipline.
Celeste had been demanding information.
Daniel crossed the room and opened the safe’s lower drawer.
There was one object inside.
A small silver picture frame that had belonged to Nora.
The photograph had been removed.
In its place was a folded note.
Daniel opened it.
Four words were written in black ink.
STOP DIGGING INTO AUGUST.
Helen read it over his shoulder.
Marcus swore softly.
Daniel turned the note over.
Nothing.
Then Lily pointed.
“There’s writing under it.”
Faint impressions marked the paper, apparently transferred from whatever had been written on the sheet above.
Helen angled it beneath the lamp.
Numbers emerged.
A date.
An account reference.
And two words:
Price Consulting.
Daniel looked at Marcus.
“Owen Price.”
The company CFO.
Helen’s face tightened.
“If Celeste has Owen inside Mercer Coastal…”
Daniel finished the thought.
“…then she isn’t trying to take control.”
He looked at the empty safe.
May you like
“She’s trying to hide what control would expose.”
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