Chapter 3 - Rebecca’s Secret Will
Claire had known Rebecca before Ethan ever noticed her.
Not socially.
Professionally.
Six years earlier Claire Bennett was twenty-nine and worked as a senior event manager at Whitmore Grand.
Rebecca frequently organized charity fundraisers at the resort.
They became friends.
Not best friends.
But close enough that Rebecca once called Claire at two in the morning after an argument with Ethan.
Ethan stared at Claire across the empty ballroom.
“You never told me.”
“I knew her before we started dating.”
“You said that.”
“I didn’t tell you how close we became.”
“Why?”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“Because after we fell in love, I knew how it would look.”
“How does it look?”
“Like I stepped into a dead woman’s life.”
Mia whispered, “Mom liked Claire?”
Claire looked toward her.
“Yes.”
Mia seemed strangely relieved.
Ethan was not.
“What will?”
Claire walked toward the bridal table and removed her phone.
“I don’t have the original.”
“Where is it?”
“I gave it to the police six years ago.”
Detective Morales frowned.
“It isn’t in the case file.”
Claire stared.
“What?”
“I’ve reviewed every document in Rebecca’s file.”
Claire shook her head.
“I gave it to Detective Harland.”
Morales knew the name.
Thomas Harland had been the original lead investigator.
He retired four years earlier.
“What did the document say?” Ethan demanded.
Claire hesitated.
“Rebecca had created a new estate plan.”
Ethan felt something cold crawl through him.
“Without telling me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she didn’t trust Margaret or Lucas.”
Mia looked between them.
Claire continued carefully.
“Rebecca owned separate property inherited from her grandmother. Most of it was invested before your marriage. She also owned a minority interest in Whitmore Heritage through shares Charles transferred to her after Mia was born.”
Ethan nodded slowly.
His father had given Rebecca eight percent of the company.
Charles said Rebecca understood the business better than half his executives.
Lucas had hated it.
“What did she change?”
“She placed almost everything in a trust for Mia.”
“That isn’t surprising.”
“Margaret and Lucas were specifically prohibited from serving as trustees.”
Ethan stared.
“And me?”
Claire swallowed.
“You were not the first trustee either.”
His face changed.
“Who was?”
“Rebecca.”
“She was alive.”
“If she became unavailable, an independent trust company took over until Mia turned thirty.”
Ethan laughed without humor.
“She cut me out.”
“Not completely.”
“How generous.”
Claire’s expression hardened.
“This is exactly why she was afraid to tell you.”
Silence.
Ethan immediately regretted his tone.
Mia watched him.
He lowered his voice.
“What else?”
“The will contained a memorandum about Northstar Point.”
Ethan stiffened.
Northstar Point was a sixty-acre bluff property north of Santa Barbara.
Charles Whitmore purchased it twenty-two years earlier.
Today it was worth at least sixty million dollars.
“What about it?”
“Rebecca believed Charles intended the land for Mia.”
“That makes no sense. Dad died before Mia was born.”
“He amended the family trust after she was born.”
Ethan stared.
He remembered nothing about such an amendment.
Lucas managed many estate records with the family attorney.
Claire continued.
“Rebecca said Lucas had used Northstar Point as collateral for company debt without proper authorization.”
Ethan’s pulse accelerated.
“That would require trustee approval.”
“She believed signatures were forged.”
Morales began writing.
“Who was the trust attorney?”
“Victor Hale,” Ethan said.
The name fell strangely into the room.
Victor Hale was seventy-one, one of California’s best-known private wealth attorneys.
He had represented the Whitmore family for twenty-five years.
Ethan remembered the grainy figure beginning to emerge from the bridal suite.
Tall.
Dark suit.
Victor was tall.
Claire saw the same thought.
“You think it was Hale?”
Ethan called Daniel.
“Any progress on the backup?”
“Downloading now.”
“How long?”
“Minutes.”
Lucas had known about the will.
Margaret had known about Northstar Point.
Maybe Victor had helped them.
Morales called the retired detective.
Thomas Harland answered after several attempts.
When Morales asked about Rebecca’s will, there was a long silence.
“I remember something,” he finally said.
“Something?”
“A document was delivered.”
“What happened to it?”
“I turned it over to the department property clerk.”
“It isn’t logged.”
Another silence.
“Then something went wrong.”
Morales’s voice became colder.
“Did Victor Hale contact you during the investigation?”
Harland did not answer immediately.
“Yes.”
Ethan stood.
“Why?”
“He represented the family.”
“What did he want?”
Harland sighed.
“He said Rebecca had been emotionally unstable and had fabricated financial accusations against the Whitmores.”
Claire whispered, “She wasn’t unstable.”
Harland continued.
“I had no evidence she was harmed. Her passport was missing. There were international transactions in her name.”
Ethan frowned.
“What international transactions?”
“Money moved from an account Rebecca controlled to a bank in the Cayman Islands.”
Ethan stared.
“I was never told that.”
“You were told she might have left voluntarily.”
Margaret had told him Rebecca was hiding money.
Lucas had said the same.
Victor Hale had confirmed it.
Ethan felt the architecture of six years begin to collapse.
Daniel entered.
“Backup is ready.”
Everyone gathered around the tablet.
The full hallway recording played.
Rebecca entered.
Lucas followed.
Margaret followed.
At 11:52, the door opened.
The third person stepped out.
Victor Hale.
No doubt.
He looked down the hallway.
Then reached up toward the security camera housing.
The image shook.
But before it cut, one more thing appeared.
Behind Victor, inside the bridal-suite doorway, Rebecca was visible.
She was sitting on the floor.
Lucas stood over her.
Margaret was kneeling beside her.
Ethan leaned closer.
Rebecca moved.
She was alive.
Then Victor blocked the lens.
The screen went black.
Mia whispered, “Mom was there.”
Ethan could not answer.
For six years he had wondered whether Rebecca walked away.
Now he knew she had been trapped in that room with his mother, his brother, and his family attorney.
Morales immediately called for warrants.
Ethan stared at Victor’s frozen image.
Then Daniel enlarged the final frame.
Something lay on the carpet beside Rebecca.
A silver chain.
Her bracelet.
The same bracelet Margaret claimed she had found at home.
Mia looked down at the empty place on her wrist.
Claire whispered, “Margaret didn’t find it in Rebecca’s dressing room.”
Ethan’s eyes hardened.
“No.”
“She took it from that suite.”
May you like
And suddenly the reason Margaret had attacked Mia became terrifyingly clear.
She had recognized the bracelet because she remembered exactly where Rebecca had lost it.
