Chapter 12 - Grant Burns the House
Grant had done exactly what Michael threatened to do.
He exposed everything.
Northstar.
Falcon Crest.
False vendor transactions.
Manipulated debt ratios.
Undisclosed related parties.
And his own theft.
Claire found him sitting alone in the tasting room.
“You just destroyed Vale Ridge.”
He lifted his eyes.
“I told the truth.”
“After lying for eleven years.”
“Yes.”
“The bank called fourteen million dollars.”
“I know.”
“Four hundred employees may lose their jobs.”
“I know.”
Claire slapped the audit onto the table.
“You don’t get redemption by setting fire to the building after stealing from it.”
Grant stood.
“I wasn’t trying to redeem myself.”
“Then what?”
“Stop my mother.”
Claire laughed.
“You could have handed this to investigators privately.”
“She would have restructured Falcon Crest and buried the rest.”
“So you leaked it to the lender.”
“And the board.”
“And the press.”
He nodded.
Claire stared at him.
“You wanted public chaos.”
“I wanted something she couldn’t control.”
“At Ava’s expense?”
His face tightened.
“Don’t.”
“No. You don’t get to say don’t. This is Ava’s home too.”
“I know.”
“You keep saying that.”
He looked broken.
For the first time, she believed he might actually understand what he had destroyed.
It changed nothing.
Grant said, “Daniel didn’t act alone.”
Claire’s pulse quickened.
“He altered the medicine?”
“I still don’t know.”
“Then stop pretending you do.”
“The bottle came from my office.”
“What?”
Grant sat down.
“Michael kept accusing me of switching pills. I thought he was paranoid.”
“Why would the bottle come from your office?”
“Because I picked up his refill once.”
Claire stared.
“When?”
“Three weeks before he died.”
“Did you change anything?”
“No.”
“Where did you keep it?”
“In my desk overnight.”
“Who had access?”
“My assistant. Cleaning staff. Daniel. My mother when she visited.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Four possibilities.
Then Grant said, “And Ruth.”
Claire looked at him.
“Stop.”
“She entered my office the night the refill arrived.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire remembered the photograph of Ruth entering the San Francisco office with Grant.
“What happened in San Francisco?”
Grant frowned.
“What?”
“Michael had a photo of Ruth going into an office with you.”
Recognition crossed his face.
“She was following me.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t know until later.”
Claire called Ruth.
This time Ruth answered.
Claire asked directly.
“Did you ever touch Michael’s refill in Grant’s office?”
Silence.
Claire’s stomach sank.
“Ruth.”
“Yes.”
Grant stood.
Claire whispered, “Why?”
“I took the bottle.”
“Why?”
“Michael asked me to.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“What did he do with it?”
“He photographed the pills. Then told me to return it.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Were they already wrong?”
A pause.
“No.”
Claire opened her eyes.
Grant stared at her.
“What?”
Ruth continued.
“They matched his normal prescription when Michael checked them.”
Claire’s pulse accelerated.
“Then someone changed them after you returned the bottle.”
“Yes.”
“Who saw you return it?”
“Daniel.”
Claire felt the entire case shift.
Daniel knew the pills were correct.
Daniel knew where the bottle was.
Daniel entered Michael’s office before he collapsed.
But evidence still mattered.
Claire asked, “Why didn’t you tell police this?”
“I was ashamed.”
“Of what?”
“Michael wanted me to catch Grant. I agreed.”
“So you were helping Dad investigate.”
“Yes.”
“Then why the photo in San Francisco?”
“I followed Grant to Falcon Crest’s office.”
“Dad asked you?”
“Yes.”
Claire looked at Grant.
His jaw was clenched.
Ruth added, “Claire, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“Michael installed a camera in Grant’s office.”
Grant’s head snapped toward the phone.
“What?”
“He suspected Northstar.”
“Where is the footage?”
“Michael had copies sent to a private server.”
Claire looked at Grant.
“When was the refill sitting on your desk?”
He gave the date.
Ruth whispered, “Then we may have it.”
Two hours later they found the video.
Grant’s office.
10:34 p.m.
Daniel entered.
He opened Grant’s desk.
Removed Michael’s prescription bottle.
Held it for nearly three minutes.
Then replaced it.
Claire stopped the recording.
Grant whispered, “Jesus.”
But Ruth shook her head.
“Keep watching.”
At 11:12 p.m., another person entered.
Evelyn.
She opened the same drawer.
She took out the bottle.
May you like
And unlike Daniel, she left with it.
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