Chapter 11 - THE NIGHT BEFORE MY FATHER DIED

Dad and Martin had argued in the library for almost an hour.

Florence heard enough through the closed doors to know Elise’s name came up.

She also heard my father shout, “You used that girl.”

Then Martin left.

Dad spent most of the night in his office.

The next morning, Florence found him collapsed beside his desk.

Heart attack.

Natural causes.

No mystery.

No poison.

No secret assassin.

The truth was almost more frustrating because it was ordinary.

Dad had been sixty-seven with a history of high blood pressure and a talent for ignoring doctors.

“He died angry,” Florence said. “I have hated Martin for that even without proof he did anything criminal that night.”

Victoria sat very still.

Then she said, “I was there.”

Florence stared at her.

“What?”

Victoria’s voice had gone thin.

“I was outside.”

She was seventeen.

Martin had picked her up from a friend’s house and driven her to the Ashford property. He told her James was finally going to admit what he had done to Elise.

Instead, Martin made her wait in the car.

“I got out,” Victoria said. “I went near the side door. I heard them yelling.”

“What did you hear?” I asked.

“Your father said, ‘You made her think the money was hers.’ Then Martin said, ‘She needed a reason to cooperate.’”

My skin went cold.

Victoria had told no one.

Why?

“Because Martin told me your father threatened my mother,” she said. “I still believed him.”

Then she looked at Florence.

“The next morning he told me James was dead. He said stress had caught up with him.”

Florence’s expression changed from grief to something harder.

“Martin kept you close after Elise died.”

“Yes.”

“Like a daughter?”

Victoria laughed once.

“No. Like a weapon.”

The word stayed in the room.

Detective Ruiz knocked and entered.

She looked grim.

“We just got a warrant return on Kessler’s financials.”

She placed a folder on the bedside table.

“North Creek Advisory, Bellweather Services, Alder Management. All three trace back to one holding company.”

I knew what she was going to say before she said it.

“The beneficial owner is Martin Kessler.”

---

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