Chapter 18 - WHAT BROOKE DID
Ruiz moved Brooke into the boatyard office.
A camera recorded from the corner.
An officer read Brooke her rights.
She asked for a lawyer.
Then she changed her mind.
“I want to talk first.”
Ruiz sat across from her. “That is your choice.”
Dominic stood behind the glass partition.
Natalie had arrived with Emma and Luca.
She should not have come.
Nobody could have stopped her.
Brooke looked smaller now.
No silk robe.
No perfect hair.
No diamond engagement ring; police had bagged it with her other property.
Just a soaked woman wrapped in a gray blanket.
Ruiz asked, “Tell me about Catherine Mercer.”
Brooke stared at the table.
“Adrian started moving money before I knew anything.”
“From the trust?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I don’t know all of it. Vendors. Fake repairs. Consulting invoices. Grant made documents look legitimate.”
“Your father?”
Brooke swallowed.
“My father had debt. Harbor Nine paid some of it.”
“Did you receive trust money?”
“Yes.”
Natalie closed her eyes.
Brooke continued.
“At first Adrian told me it was money Dominic couldn’t move openly because of taxes and business exposure. I believed him.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Ruiz asked, “When did you stop believing him?”
Brooke gave a bitter laugh.
“When Catherine showed me the ledger.”
Natalie’s eyes opened.
“What?” she whispered.
Brooke looked through the glass as if she had heard.
“She confronted me. She knew Bellweather got money. She said if I was innocent, I should help her expose Adrian.”
Ruiz leaned forward. “Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I had already spent some of it. Because my father had taken more. Because Adrian said if Catherine went public, Dominic would destroy all of us.”
Dominic said nothing.
It was possible that, two years earlier, Brooke had been right about that.
Ruiz asked, “What happened the night Catherine died?”
Brooke’s hands began to shake.
“Adrian went to her house.”
“Were you with him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To get the ledger and trust originals.”
“Did Catherine give them to you?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
Brooke’s eyes filled.
“She told Adrian she had already copied everything. He lost control.”
Natalie gripped Emma’s hand.
Ruiz’s voice stayed steady. “Did Adrian hurt her?”
Brooke took a long breath.
“He scared her. He shouted. She told him to leave.”
“And you?”
“I stayed.”
“Why?”
Brooke looked at Dominic through the glass.
“Because she knew I had access to her medication.”
Natalie made a sound like she had been struck.
Dominic’s face went blank.
Ruiz asked carefully, “What did you do?”
Brooke started crying.
“I switched her pills.”
The room seemed to lose sound.
Ruiz did not ask for details.
“You intentionally interfered with medication Catherine needed?”
“Yes.”
“Did Adrian tell you to?”
“Yes.”
“Did you understand she could die?”
Brooke closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Natalie turned away and sobbed into Emma’s shoulder.
Dominic did not move.
Brooke whispered, “I thought I could fix it. I thought I’d come back in the morning, put everything back, tell her I was sorry.”
Ruiz’s expression did not soften.
“But she died.”
“Yes.”
“And then you stayed with Dominic.”
Brooke looked through the glass again.
“Yes.”
“And agreed to marry him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Brooke’s face twisted.
“At first because Adrian told me to.”
Ruiz waited.
“And later?”
Brooke’s answer was barely audible.
“Because Dominic treated me like I was better than what I had done.”
Dominic turned away.
That sentence hurt more than he wanted it to.
Brooke spoke faster now, as if confession had broken a dam.
“The plan was to move the old trust theft into Natalie’s name, use the marriage to create new access, and then blame Dominic if investigators ever came. Adrian kept saying Dominic’s reputation would do the rest.”
“Did Dominic know?”
“No.”
“Did Natalie know?”
“No.”
“Did Emma Collins know?”
Brooke laughed through tears.
“Emma knows everything eventually.”
Behind the glass, Emma blinked.
Ruiz closed her notebook.
“Anything else?”
Brooke looked at Dominic one final time.
“Yes.”
Dominic faced her.
Brooke said, “The person who first showed Adrian how to get into Catherine’s accounts wasn’t Grant.”
Ruiz leaned forward.
“Who was it?”
Brooke swallowed.
“Someone inside Dominic’s family.”
—
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