Chapter 6 - What Grant Bought for $875,000
Police reached Margaret Sloan's house before Norah did.
The front door had been forced.
A window was broken.
Margaret was gone.
So was the original trust.
There was no blood.
That was the only good news.
Luca's people obtained footage from a neighbor's camera.
A dark sedan had left six minutes before police arrived.
The license plate was obscured.
Norah watched the footage repeatedly.
On the fourth viewing, she noticed the passenger.
"Stop."
Luca froze the image.
A man's profile appeared through the window.
Grant.
Norah called him.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
She drove to his apartment.
Luca followed.
Grant's door was unlocked.
Inside, drawers had been emptied.
Clothes covered the floor.
His passport was gone.
Norah found a receipt on the counter.
Private aviation terminal.
Departure scheduled for midnight.
Grant was running.
She called the terminal.
The aircraft belonged to Hian Consulting.
Of course it did.
They reached the hangar at 11:42.
Grant stood beside the jet.
Alone.
Norah walked toward him.
"Where's Margaret?"
His face collapsed.
"I don't know."
"You were in the car."
"I was following Daniel."
"Why?"
"Because I knew he'd go after her."
"Why didn't you call me?"
"Because I thought I could fix it."
Norah laughed once.
The Bennett family disease.
Fixing things secretly until the secret became worse than the problem.
"Where is Daniel?"
"I lost him."
"And the plane?"
"I wasn't leaving."
"Your passport is missing."
"I brought it because Daniel told me Margaret had hidden documents overseas."
Norah stared.
"Do you hear yourself?"
Grant rubbed both hands over his face.
"I know."
"Tell me everything."
So he did.
The $875,000 had been blackmail money.
But Grant had diverted part of it.
Two hundred thousand dollars.
"Where?"
"An account Mom created."
Norah frowned.
"What account?"
"I found it while setting up Hian."
"Why didn't you tell Dad?"
"Because it had your name on it."
Grant looked ashamed.
"I was angry."
Norah waited.
"I thought Mom had chosen you."
"She did choose me."
"I know that now."
The honesty hurt more than excuses.
"I moved two hundred thousand into the account so Dad couldn't touch it."
Norah blinked.
"You stole money to give it to me?"
"Technically."
"Grant."
"I know how it sounds."
"It sounds insane."
"It was."
For the first time in years, they both almost laughed.
Almost.
Grant handed her a flash drive.
"I copied everything before Daniel took Margaret."
"Why?"
"Because you're right."
Norah looked at him.
"About what?"
"I keep waiting for Dad to tell me who I'm supposed to be."
He swallowed.
"I'm thirty-five years old."
Before Norah could respond, Luca's phone rang.
One of his men had found Daniel's sedan.
Abandoned.
Margaret's purse was inside.
So was her phone.
The last location searched on it was a Bennett Construction site on the riverfront.
They drove there.
An unfinished underground parking structure stretched beneath the development.
Norah heard voices.
Daniel.
Richard.
And Margaret.
They found her sitting in a construction office, furious rather than frightened.
"I'm eighty-one years old," she snapped at Daniel. "If you intended to scare me, you should've started thirty years ago."
Norah nearly cried from relief.
Richard turned.
"What are you doing here?"
"Ending this."
Margaret held up a document.
"The original trust."
Richard lunged.
Luca stepped between them.
"No."
One word.
Richard stopped.
Margaret gave the trust to Norah.
"This gives you controlling authority over Eleanor's shares and all Hian property."
Norah read the signature.
Real.
Not copied.
Not electronic.
Her mother's handwriting.
Richard sank into a chair.
"If you file that, I'm finished."
Norah looked at him.
"You finished yourself."
Sirens sounded outside.
Grant had called police.
Daniel stared at him.
"You idiot."
Grant shook his head.
"No. Just late."
Police entered.
Daniel was arrested for Margaret's abduction and the bank intrusion.
Richard wasn't.
Not yet.
As officers escorted Daniel away, he laughed.
Norah watched him.
"What?"
Daniel stopped.
"You think this is about Richard?"
"Isn't it?"
"He couldn't organize breakfast without Eleanor."
Richard's face changed.
Daniel smiled.
"Ask Luca why his father really financed Hian."
Norah turned toward Luca.
He was perfectly still.
Too still.
Daniel continued.
"Ask him what Samuel Vale found underneath the riverfront."
Luca said, "Take him."
Police moved Daniel toward the exit.
But Daniel shouted over his shoulder:
"Forty million dollars isn't what that land is worth!"
Norah looked at Luca.
"What did Samuel find?"
Luca didn't answer.
Grant picked up a construction map.
One section beneath the original Hian parcel had been circled in red.
An old sealed basement.
Norah recognized her mother's handwriting beside it.
DO NOT OPEN WITHOUT LUCA MORETTI.
May you like
Norah slowly raised her eyes.
"My mother wrote your name."
