Chapter 5 - The Widow in Ethan Cain’s Car
Ethan’s mother had supposedly been living in Switzerland for nine years.
She entered the bank as if she owned it.
Eleanor Cain was sixty-two, elegant, controlled, and capable of frightening people without raising her voice.
Her eyes settled on Valerie.
“So,” Eleanor said. “You finally found her again.”
Ethan stiffened.
“You knew?”
“I knew everything your father knew.”
Valerie stepped forward.
“Did you know my husband?”
“Yes.”
The answer came too quickly.
Ethan’s gaze hardened.
Eleanor asked for privacy.
She did not get it.
“Daniel came to me eight months ago,” she said. “He had discovered a hidden financial structure your father created.”
“Account 417?”
Eleanor nodded.
“It was insurance.”
“Against whom?”
“You.”
Ethan almost laughed.
His father had prepared leverage against his own son.
That sounded exactly like Arthur Cain.
“What does Valerie’s ring have to do with it?”
Eleanor looked at Valerie.
“That ring never belonged to your grandmother.”
Valerie stared.
“What?”
“Not originally.”
Eleanor explained that decades earlier the sapphire had belonged to Ethan’s grandmother. It had disappeared after a secret transaction between the Cain and Bennett families.
Valerie shook her head.
“My grandmother wore it for fifty years.”
“Because Arthur Cain gave it to her.”
“Why?”
Eleanor hesitated.
“That is the question Daniel asked.”
Ethan drove Valerie home afterward.
Neither spoke for several blocks.
Finally Valerie said, “I loved Daniel.”
“I know.”
“But part of me never stopped being angry with you.”
“You should be.”
“I’m not asking permission.”
“I know.”
She looked through the window.
“And now I don’t know whether my husband is dead.”
Ethan’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“I’ll find out.”
“You always say things like they’re commands.”
“It’s a bad habit.”
“You had it at seventeen.”
“I had fewer people willing to point it out.”
That earned him a small smile.
At Valerie’s house, the front door was open.
Ethan immediately stopped her.
“I locked it.”
“I know.”
He drew his weapon and entered first.
Nothing appeared disturbed.
Until they reached the bedroom.
Daniel’s photograph had been placed on the pillow.
Beside it was his wedding ring.
Valerie gasped.
May you like
There was fresh blood on the gold band.
Then a floorboard creaked inside the closet.
