Chapter 13 - Under Oath
The lien dispute became the first place Grant had to answer questions where shouting could not replace facts.
A deposition was scheduled as part of the expedited challenge.
Marcus warned me not to attend in person.
“You will want to react,” he said.
“I can control myself.”
“I believe you.”
“Then why can't I go?”
“Because his lawyer will watch every expression and use your presence to shape his performance.”
“So I sit at home.”
“You watch remotely with Leah if permitted.”
I hated it.
I agreed.
Grant arrived wearing the same dark confidence he had worn at the New Year's table.
Under oath, however, confidence required memory.
That was where he began to fail.
Marcus started with the alleged $900,000 loan.
“When did you first discuss lending money to Claire Bennett?”
“Before she purchased the penthouse.”
“Where?”
“I don't recall.”
“Who was present?”
“I don't recall.”
“How did she ask you for the money?”
“Verbally.”
“Phone or in person?”
“I don't recall.”
“Did you know Claire before she met your son?”
Grant paused.
“Yes.”
I sat forward.
That was false.
Marcus knew it too.
“How?”
“Through mutual contacts.”
“Name one.”
Grant looked at his attorney.
His attorney objected to the tone.
Marcus repeated the question.
Grant named a person I had never met.
Marcus moved to the closing date.
He showed Grant the real settlement statement.
No private loan appeared.
Grant claimed the loan was deliberately kept separate.
“Why?” Marcus asked.
“Claire wanted privacy.”
“Did she tell you that?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“I don't recall.”
Grant's story became more detailed whenever emotion could substitute for records and less detailed whenever a fact could be checked.
Then Marcus displayed the notary block.
“Who is Evelyn Hart?”
“The notary.”
“Did you meet her?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don't recall.”
“Was she present when Claire signed?”
“Yes.”
“Were you present?”
“Yes.”
“Was Ryan present?”
“I believe so.”
I stopped breathing.
Grant had just placed all three of us in a room with a woman who had been dead at the time.
Marcus allowed several seconds of silence.
Then he slid an obituary into view.
“Mr. Bennett, Evelyn Hart died on February fourth of the previous year.”
Grant stared at it.
Marcus continued.
“The loan agreement you claim she notarized is dated eleven months after her death.”
Grant's face changed.
His attorney asked for a break.
Marcus declined until the pending question was answered.
“Were you present when a deceased woman notarized Claire Bennett's signature?”
Grant's jaw tightened.
“I may have confused the notary.”
“You testified under oath that you met Evelyn Hart.”
“I met a notary.”
“You testified it was her.”
“I misspoke.”
“Did you also misspeak when you said Claire signed in front of you?”
“No.”
“So Claire signed?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don't recall.”
Grant's confidence began cracking at the edges.
Marcus changed topics.
He showed Grant records from Bennett Family Management.
Grant claimed it was a legitimate family company.
Marcus asked why its target-asset schedule listed property Grant did not own.
Grant said it was aspirational planning.
“Why was Claire's penthouse listed?”
“Ryan told us Claire intended to contribute it.”
My hands curled into fists.
“Did Claire tell you that?”
“I don't recall.”
“Did you ever ask her?”
“I don't recall.”
“Did she sign a contribution agreement?”
“I believe so.”
“Produce it.”
Grant's lawyer objected.
Marcus moved to the SentinelPeak shares.
“Why were those listed?”
“Ryan said Claire wanted family assets managed together after the baby arrived.”
“Did Claire tell you that?”
“Ryan spoke for his wife.”
Marcus's expression did not change.
“That was not my question.”
Grant leaned back.
“No.”
It was the first clear answer of the morning.
Marcus then asked about Front Range Investigations.
Grant admitted Bennett Family Management had hired the firm.
“For what purpose?”
“Business diligence.”
“On whom?”
“Various matters.”
“Was Claire Bennett one of those matters?”
Grant's attorney objected.
Grant answered anyway.
“Ryan had concerns.”
I felt Leah's eyes on me.
“What concerns?” Marcus asked.
“About her behavior.”
“What behavior?”
“She was secretive.”
“With her own employer's confidential information?”
Grant's face hardened.
“She was married.”
Marcus let that answer sit.
“So your position is that marriage entitled Ryan to SentinelPeak's confidential business information?”
“I did not say that.”
“You hired an investigator because Claire would not tell Ryan confidential information.”
“I did not say that either.”
“What did you say?”
Grant lost his temper.
“I said Ryan needed to know what she was doing before she moved everything away from him.”
The room went silent.
Even Grant realized the sentence mattered.
Marcus leaned forward.
“Moved what away from him?”
Grant looked at his lawyer.
His lawyer told him not to speculate.
Marcus repeated the question.
Grant refused to answer beyond saying he meant “family finances.”
Then Marcus asked about New Year's Eve.
Grant's attorney objected that the assault investigation was outside the lien dispute.
Marcus tied it back to the alleged emails, which were dated around the same period.
Grant admitted he had been at the penthouse.
He admitted there was an argument.
He admitted holding a cigarette.
He denied intentionally touching me with it.
“Did Ryan tell you before dinner that he wanted Claire angry?”
Grant went still.
His lawyer objected.
Marcus waited.
Grant answered.
“No.”
“Did Ryan ask Brooke to record Claire?”
“No.”
“Did Ryan tell you to push the disrespect issue?”
“No.”
Marcus looked down at his notes.
Then he played the recovered corridor recording.
Ryan's voice filled the deposition room.
“Push the disrespect thing.”
Grant's face turned gray.
The clip continued.
“Just make her show it.”
Marcus stopped the video.
“Would you like to change any of your last three answers?”
Grant's lawyer demanded a break.
This time Marcus agreed.
The video feed paused.
I stood so quickly my chair scraped backward.
Leah touched my arm.
“Where are you going?”
“Nowhere.”
I paced the living room.
“He lied under oath after knowing there was recovered footage.”
“Yes.”
“He thinks he can still talk his way out.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it has worked for him his entire life.”
When the deposition resumed, Grant's answers became shorter.
He blamed Ryan for business details.
He blamed Diane for bookkeeping.
He blamed Brooke for company filings.
He blamed document services for paperwork errors.
The family unity from New Year's Eve was disappearing one sworn answer at a time.
Then Marcus asked the question I had been waiting for.
“Who prepared the alleged loan agreement?”
Grant said he did not remember.
Marcus showed him an invoice from Rothman Document Services.
The invoice was paid by Bennett Family Management four days before the lien was filed.
Description: real-estate debt memorialization.
“Did Rothman prepare it?”
“I don't know.”
“Who instructed Rothman?”
“I don't know.”
“Was it Ryan?”
Grant looked at his lawyer.
“I don't know.”
Then Marcus produced an email recovered through subpoena from the document service.
The sender address belonged to Grant.
The message read:
USE THE OLD HART BLOCK.
MAKE IT MATCH THE OTHER SET.
I stared at the screen.
Grant stopped moving.
Marcus read the email aloud.
“What does old Hart block mean?”
Grant's attorney instructed him not to answer on privilege grounds while they conferred.
The deposition broke again.
This time Leah's phone vibrated before it resumed.
A message from Brooke.
I NEED TO TALK NOW.
Leah showed me.
Brooke sent another before we could answer.
DAD IS GOING TO SAY RYAN DID EVERYTHING.
Then another.
RYAN IS GOING TO SAY I DID.
I typed carefully.
WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID THEY WILL BLAME YOU FOR?
Brooke replied with a photograph.
It showed a blue folder on a workbench.
Across the front, in black marker, was one word.
SUMMIT.
Below the folder sat a printed email.
I enlarged the image.
The sender was Ryan.
The recipient was Grant.
The date was December twenty-ninth.
The message read:
SHE HAS TO LOOK UNSTABLE BY MIDNIGHT.
BOARD PACKET GOES AT 12:05.
And beneath it was a second line.
May you like
AFTER THAT, WE CONTROL THE STORY.
