Chapter 4 - What Eleanor Bought
“If those funds were taken without authorization,” Daniel said, “this is no longer a family disagreement.”
Eleanor stopped crying.
Julian stared at her.
“What did you do with the money?”
She said nothing.
“Mom.”
Nothing.
Julian stepped closer.
“Four hundred and eighty-seven thousand dollars doesn't disappear. Where is it?”
Eleanor slowly lowered her hand from her mouth.
“You wouldn't understand.”
“Stop saying that.”
“I protected you.”
“From what?”
She looked at me.
“Her.”
The word landed harder than I expected.
Julian turned toward me, then back to his mother.
“Claire?”
“You had no idea who you married.”
A bitter laugh escaped me.
“That's interesting coming from you.”
Eleanor ignored me.
She opened her purse.
Daniel immediately stood.
“Mrs. Sterling.”
She froze.
“If you're reaching for a phone, that's fine. If you're reaching for documents, please place them on the table.”
Eleanor glared at him.
Then she removed a white envelope.
She dropped it beside the ramen.
Julian grabbed it.
“What is this?”
“Something I hoped you'd never need.”
He opened it.
Inside were photographs.
I recognized myself in the first one.
I was walking out of a Midtown office building.
The second showed me entering Daniel's firm.
The third showed me having lunch with a man Julian didn't recognize.
The fourth showed me outside a bank.
Julian looked at me.
“What the hell is this?”
“I don't know.”
Eleanor smiled faintly.
“I do.”
Daniel picked up one photograph.
“Who took these?”
“A private investigator.”
Julian's head snapped toward his mother.
“You hired someone to follow my wife?”
“I hired someone to find out who she really was.”
“You followed me?” I asked.
“For eighteen months.”
Even Daniel looked surprised.
I stared at her.
Suddenly small moments from the past year began rearranging themselves in my mind.
The black SUV outside my Pilates studio.
The same man reading a newspaper near Daniel's office twice in one month.
The strange phone call where someone asked whether I still used my maiden name.
I had dismissed all of it.
Now I felt cold.
“Why?” Julian asked.
Eleanor looked at him as though the answer should have been obvious.
“Because she was hiding something.”
“She inherited money. That's not a crime.”
“She hid it from you.”
“I didn't ask.”
“Exactly.”
Eleanor pointed toward me.
“She made you comfortable enough not to ask.”
I almost admired the logic.
Almost.
Daniel examined the photographs.
“These don't explain the missing funds.”
“They explain why I needed them.”
Julian went still.
“What?”
Eleanor pulled out her chair and sat.
For the first time all evening, she looked her age.
Maybe older.
Her shoulders dropped.
Her hands trembled.
“I paid the investigator.”
Julian stared at her.
“Half a million dollars?”
“No.”
“How much?”
“About sixty thousand.”
Daniel immediately asked, “Where did the rest go?”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“Mom,” Julian said.
She opened them.
“Investments.”
Nobody spoke.
Julian blinked.
“What investments?”
“Opportunities.”
“That doesn't mean anything.”
“They were supposed to make money.”
His face changed.
“Oh God.”
“Don't look at me like that.”
“What did you invest in?”
“A development project.”
“Where?”
“New Jersey.”
“What project?”
“A private residential complex.”
Daniel sat again.
“Name?”
Eleanor hesitated.
“Bellmont Gardens.”
Daniel's expression became unreadable.
I noticed.
“Daniel?”
He didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he opened his phone.
He typed the name.
Waited.
Then looked at Eleanor.
“There is no registered development under that name.”
Her face hardened.
“It's private.”
“Real estate developments still leave records.”
“You don't know everything.”
“No. But county databases tend to know where buildings are.”
Julian pressed his palms against the table.
“Who gave you this investment?”
“A friend.”
“What friend?”
“Someone I trust.”
“Name.”
Eleanor looked away.
“Mom.”
“Richard.”
“Richard who?”
“Vale.”
Daniel stopped typing.
I saw it.
A tiny pause.
“Daniel?”
He looked at me.
“You know him?” Julian asked.
Daniel put down the phone.
“I know the name.”
Eleanor's face drained of color.
Julian noticed.
“From where?”
Daniel leaned back.
“Richard Vale approached Claire's father about an investment approximately eleven years ago.”
I felt my pulse quicken.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“You never told me.”
“There was nothing worth telling. Your father refused.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked at Eleanor.
“Because he believed Vale was running a sophisticated investment fraud.”
Eleanor shot to her feet.
“That is a lie.”
Daniel didn't react.
“Your father commissioned a review before investing. Vale's numbers didn't survive basic due diligence.”
“He has successful businesses!”
“He has companies.”
“Same thing.”
“No, Mrs. Sterling. It isn't.”
Julian picked up the photographs again.
“Richard Vale.”
He said the name slowly.
Then his expression changed.
“Wait.”
Eleanor looked at him.
Julian stared at his mother.
“Uncle Rick?”
Nobody moved.
My stomach tightened.
“Who's Uncle Rick?” I asked.
Julian didn't look at me.
“He isn't actually my uncle.”
Eleanor whispered, “Julian.”
“He was around when I was a kid.”
“That's enough.”
“No.”
Julian's voice hardened.
“You said he moved overseas.”
“He did.”
“You said you hadn't spoken to him in twenty years.”
Eleanor grabbed her purse.
“I don't have to explain every friendship I've ever had.”
Julian stepped between her and the elevator again.
“You gave almost half a million dollars to a man you supposedly hadn't spoken to in twenty years?”
“I invested it.”
“With stolen money.”
“I was going to put it back.”
The room fell silent.
Eleanor heard herself.
Her hand rose to her mouth.
Julian stared at her.
Daniel calmly reached for his pen.
“I think that's the first clear answer we've had tonight.”
Eleanor pointed at him.
“Don't twist my words.”
“I don't need to.”
“You cannot prove anything.”
“The bank can.”
She turned toward me.
“You did this.”
“No.”
“You froze the account.”
“After the money disappeared.”
“You brought him here.”
“After my husband told me I was replaceable.”
Julian looked down.
The anger left his face for a moment.
He looked ashamed.
But Eleanor wasn't finished.
“You think you're better than us because your father left you money.”
“This isn't about my father.”
“It has always been about your father.”
That stopped me.
“What?”
Eleanor realized she had said too much.
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“Mrs. Sterling,” he said quietly, “did you know Claire's father?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
I stood.
“You just said it has always been about my father.”
“I meant her inheritance.”
“No, you didn't.”
“Yes.”
Daniel watched her carefully.
“Eleanor.”
She flinched at the use of her first name.
He continued.
“Did you know Thomas Bennett?”
My father's name seemed to change the temperature in the room.
Eleanor didn't answer.
Julian looked confused.
“Who?”
“My father.”
He turned toward his mother.
“You knew Claire's dad?”
“No.”
Daniel reached for one of the photographs.
Then another.
He studied them.
Something bothered him.
“What?” I asked.
He placed the photograph of me leaving his office beside the one showing me outside the bank.
“These were not taken to determine whether Claire was having an affair.”
Eleanor said nothing.
Daniel tapped the bank photograph.
“This photographer was documenting locations.”
Julian leaned closer.
“What does that mean?”
“Look.”
The photograph showed me walking down Madison Avenue.
Behind me stood the entrance to Hartwell Private Bank.
Another showed me outside Daniel's office.
Another outside a storage facility in Queens.
Another outside a building owned by my father's trust.
Daniel arranged them across the table.
My stomach tightened.
“They were tracking my father's assets.”
“Yes.”
Julian slowly turned toward Eleanor.
“Why?”
She stepped backward.
Nobody followed her.
She looked trapped anyway.
“I was trying to understand Claire.”
“No,” Daniel said. “You were looking for something.”
Eleanor's eyes flashed.
“You don't know what you're talking about.”
“I think I do.”
He reached for his phone.
“Who are you calling?” she demanded.
“My office.”
“At nine o'clock?”
“My firm has people working later than nine.”
Eleanor moved toward him.
“Don't.”
Daniel looked up.
That one word changed everything.
Julian heard it too.
“Why don't you want him calling?”
“I don't care.”
“You just told him not to.”
“I want this ridiculous interrogation to stop.”
Daniel made the call.
“Melissa, it's Daniel. I need the archived Vale file.”
He listened.
“Thomas Bennett. Approximately eleven years ago.”
Another pause.
“Yes. Everything.”
He hung up.
Eleanor looked sick.
I stared at her.
“What was my father investigating?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel answered.
“Richard Vale.”
“I know that. Why?”
“He approached your father with an investment opportunity involving luxury residential properties.”
“Bellmont Gardens?”
“No. Different name.”
“What happened?”
“Your father discovered that several properties Vale claimed to control didn't belong to him.”
Julian looked at his mother.
She shook her head.
“Richard told me Thomas cheated him.”
Daniel's expression sharpened.
“He told you?”
Eleanor realized her mistake.
Again.
I stepped closer.
“So you did know my father.”
“I knew of him.”
“You just said you didn't.”
“I never met him.”
Daniel asked, “When did Richard tell you Thomas cheated him?”
She looked toward the elevator.
Julian blocked it.
“Answer.”
“Years ago.”
“How many?”
“I don't remember.”
“Before I met Claire?”
Silence.
Julian's face changed.
“Mom.”
Eleanor's eyes filled again.
This time Julian didn't soften.
“You knew who Claire was before I married her.”
“I knew her name.”
“How?”
No answer.
“How?”
“Richard mentioned Thomas had a daughter.”
My heart began pounding.
“That doesn't explain how you recognized me.”
“I didn't.”
Daniel spoke quietly.
“Then why hire an investigator?”
Eleanor stared at him.
Nobody moved.
Finally she whispered, “Because of the wedding announcement.”
I frowned.
“What about it?”
“Your name.”
“My name was public.”
“Your maiden name.”
Bennett.
My father's name.
Julian sat down slowly.
“You knew.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“I suspected.”
“Suspected what?”
“That she was Thomas Bennett's daughter.”
Julian looked at me.
Then at his mother.
“You encouraged me to marry Claire.”
Eleanor said nothing.
My stomach dropped.
Julian stood again.
“You loved her.”
His voice cracked slightly.
“You kept telling me how perfect she was.”
“Julian—”
“You told me not to ruin it.”
“I wanted you happy.”
“You wanted me married to her.”
Eleanor's silence answered him.
I suddenly remembered our engagement dinner.
Eleanor had been warmer to me that night than ever before.
She had asked about my father.
His businesses.
His estate.
Whether I had siblings.
At the time, I thought she was getting to know me.
Now every question sounded different.
I stepped back from the table.
Julian looked destroyed.
“Was my marriage part of this?”
Eleanor's eyes widened.
“No.”
“Tell me the truth.”
“I didn't make you fall in love with her.”
“But you knew who she was.”
“I suspected.”
“And you were talking to Richard Vale.”
“No.”
Daniel's phone buzzed.
Every person in the room looked at it.
He opened the message.
His expression changed immediately.
“What?” I asked.
He didn't answer.
“Daniel.”
He read the message again.
Then he looked at Eleanor.
“How long have you been in contact with Richard Vale?”
She went pale.
“I told you—”
“Don't lie.”
Julian stepped closer to Daniel.
“What did your office find?”
Daniel turned the phone toward us.
It was a scanned document.
An old corporate filing.
Richard Vale's name appeared near the bottom.
Another name appeared beside it.
Eleanor Sterling.
Julian stopped breathing.
“What is that?”
Daniel enlarged the page.
“Eleven years ago, Richard Vale established a company called RV Property Ventures.”
He looked at Eleanor.
“Your mother was listed as its secretary.”
Julian stared at her.
“You were his business partner?”
“No.”
“Your name is right there!”
“I signed some documents.”
“Why?”
“He asked me to.”
“You said you barely knew him!”
“I never said that.”
“You told me he was an old family friend!”
“He was.”
Daniel swiped to another page.
His face became even more serious.
“There's more.”
I moved beside him.
“What?”
“Thomas didn't merely refuse Vale's investment.”
He looked at me.
“Your father reported him.”
My chest tightened.
“To whom?”
“Federal investigators.”
Eleanor sat down.
Her legs seemed unable to support her anymore.
Daniel continued.
“Vale disappeared shortly afterward.”
I remembered my father's last years.
The security system he suddenly installed.
The driver he insisted I use.
The way he sometimes checked behind us when leaving restaurants.
I had thought it was paranoia from getting older.
“What happened to the investigation?”
“Apparently it collapsed.”
“Why?”
“A key witness withdrew.”
Daniel looked toward Eleanor.
Nobody needed to ask.
She shook her head violently.
“No.”
Daniel placed the phone down.
“The witness was you.”
Julian whispered, “Mom?”
“I had a child.”
“You had me.”
“Yes.”
Her voice finally broke.
“I was terrified.”
“Of Richard?”
She didn't answer.
I stepped closer.
“Did my father know you?”
Eleanor looked at me.
For the first time that night, I saw something other than arrogance.
Guilt.
Deep, old guilt.
“Yes.”
My throat tightened.
“How?”
“He came to my house.”
“When?”
“Eleven years ago.”
“Why?”
“To convince me to testify.”
Daniel watched her.
“And?”
“I refused.”
“Why?”
She looked at Julian.
“I couldn't.”
“Because Richard threatened you?”
Her eyes closed.
“No.”
I felt something worse coming.
“Then why?”
She opened her eyes.
“Because if I testified, Julian would have learned the truth.”
Julian stared at her.
“What truth?”
Eleanor began to cry.
She shook her head.
“Mom.”
“I can't.”
“You've lied to me all night.”
“I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
She looked at her son.
“From Richard.”
Julian went still.
I saw the realization begin before he said anything.
“No.”
Eleanor covered her face.
“No.”
Julian backed away.
“No, no, no.”
I reached for him.
He pulled away.
“Don't.”
He looked at his mother.
“What are you saying?”
She couldn't answer.
Daniel's phone rang.
He glanced at the screen.
“My office.”
He answered.
“Daniel Mercer.”
Silence.
His face changed.
“Yes.”
Another pause.
“When?”
He looked at me.
“Are you certain?”
Julian grabbed the edge of the table.
Daniel listened for several seconds.
Then he said, “Send everything immediately.”
He hung up.
“What?” I asked.
Daniel didn't answer.
“Daniel, what did they find?”
Before he could speak, the private elevator chimed.
All four of us turned.
Eleanor stood so quickly her chair fell backward.
“No.”
Julian looked at her.
“Were you expecting someone?”
She backed away from the foyer.
“No.”
The elevator chimed again.
Then my phone vibrated.
A message appeared from building security.
I opened it.
My blood went cold.
A visitor had entered the private elevator using an access authorization created under Julian's account.
The authorization had been active for eleven months.
I looked up.
The elevator began climbing.
Floor 41.
Floor 42.
Floor 43.
Julian moved toward the doors.
Eleanor grabbed his arm.
“Don't.”
He pulled free.
“Who is coming up?”
She said nothing.
Floor 44.
Daniel closed his briefcase.
Floor 45.
The penthouse.
The elevator stopped.
A man's voice came through the other side of the doors.
“Eleanor?”
Julian froze.
His mother whispered one name.
“Richard.”
May you like
The doors began to open.
And the man Julian had been told disappeared twenty years ago was standing on the other side.
