Chapter 2 - WHAT MY FATHER LEFT BEHIND
I stared at the message until the letters blurred.
He left you more than a house.
My father had been dead for four years.
His estate had been simple.
At least I had believed it was simple.
The small brick house on Whitmore Avenue.
A modest retirement account.
His old pickup truck.
Boxes of accounting textbooks no one wanted except me.
There had been no hidden fortune.
No secret company.
No mysterious inheritance.
So why would someone threaten me with his grave?
My phone buzzed again.
Unknown number.
Answer me, Jessica.
I did not.
I forwarded the messages to Agent Ruiz.
His response came immediately.
Stay where you are.
Thirty seconds later, someone entered the restroom.
Heels clicked across the marble floor.
Brenda.
I knew the rhythm of her walk.
Measured.
Confident.
Designed to announce that she belonged wherever she entered.
“Jessica?”
Her voice floated through the room.
I remained silent.
“I know you’re in here.”
The stall door suddenly felt very thin.
I slipped my phone into my bra and closed my purse.
Brenda stopped outside my stall.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then she laughed softly.
“You always were dramatic.”
I unlocked the door.
She stood six feet away, arms folded.
Her champagne smile was gone.
“What?” I asked.
She studied my face.
“You embarrassed Connor.”
I almost laughed.
“My face was in a salad bowl.”
“And somehow you still found a way to make the evening about you.”
There were moments in my marriage when Brenda’s cruelty was so absurd that I wondered whether I had misunderstood it.
I no longer wondered.
“You followed me into a bathroom to tell me that?”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“I followed you because I want your phone.”
My pulse jumped.
“Why?”
“You’ve been acting strange.”
“I was kicked out of a chair.”
“Don’t play stupid.”
The sweetness vanished from her voice.
“You’ve been asking questions for days.”
“What questions?”
Brenda’s eyes moved toward my purse.
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
She held out her hand.
“Jessica.”
“No.”
Her mouth tightened.
Then she said something that told me far more than she intended.
“Connor should have changed the tablet password when I told him to.”
The microphone in my purse captured every word.
I felt a surge of adrenaline so sharp it almost made me dizzy.
But my face stayed blank.
“What tablet?”
Brenda froze.
We stared at each other.
She realized it.
I knew she realized it because her pupils widened and her shoulders pulled back.
I had not admitted seeing anything.
She had just admitted knowing there was something to hide.
“That’s enough,” she said.
She moved toward me.
I stepped back.
“Don’t touch me.”
She smiled again.
But now there was nothing polished about it.
“You think you’re clever because your father taught you how to balance a checkbook?”
“My father taught me more than that.”
Her expression changed.
It was only a flicker.
But it was fear.
Not fear of me.
Fear of my father.
A dead man.
“Why did you say his name?” I asked.
“I didn’t.”
“You brought him up.”
Brenda took another step.
“Your father was not the man you think he was.”
The restroom door opened.
A woman entered, saw us, and stopped.
Brenda immediately smiled.
“There you are, sweetheart.”
She reached toward my hair.
“Let me help you clean up.”
I flinched away.
The woman pretended not to notice.
She went to the sinks.
Brenda lowered her voice.
“Give me the phone before you make this worse.”
I looked directly into her eyes.
“You first.”
Her brow furrowed.
“Tell me what my father left me.”
For the first time in the five years I had known her, Brenda went completely pale.
Then the restroom door opened again.
Agent Ruiz entered.
Brenda spun around.
“This is the women’s room.”
Ruiz held up his badge.
“State Financial Crimes Division.”
The woman at the sink turned so quickly she nearly dropped her lipstick.
Brenda stared at the badge.
Then at me.
Then back at Ruiz.
I watched the exact moment she understood.
The color drained from her face.
Ruiz spoke calmly.
“Mrs. Carter, step away from Ms. Hayes.”
Brenda’s eyes snapped toward me.
Ms. Hayes.
My maiden name.
The name on the title to my father’s house.
The name Brenda hated because it represented the one thing she and Connor had never managed to own.
“Jessica,” she whispered.
I said nothing.
Ruiz opened the door behind him.
Two more investigators stood in the hallway.
Brenda recovered quickly.
She always did.
She laughed.
“This is some misunderstanding.”
“No misunderstanding,” Ruiz said.
“We need you to return to the dining room.”
Brenda’s eyes narrowed.
“Am I under arrest?”
“Not at this time.”
“Then I’m leaving.”
“You can.”
Ruiz nodded toward the corridor.
“But your vehicle is currently being held under a search warrant.”
Her face went still.
“My vehicle?”
“And your residence.”
She stopped breathing for a second.
Ruiz continued.
“And the offices of Apex Solutions.”
I had known warrants were coming.
I had not known they had already been signed.
Brenda looked at me.
I expected rage.
Instead, she smiled.
That frightened me more.
“You stupid girl.”
Ruiz stepped between us.
“That’s enough.”
But Brenda was looking over his shoulder at me.
“You have absolutely no idea what you’ve just done.”
I thought of the photograph of my house.
The photograph of my father’s grave.
“What did my father leave me?” I asked again.
Brenda’s smile widened.
“Ask your husband.”
Then she walked out.
Ruiz waited until the door closed.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Show me the messages.”
I pulled out my phone.
He read them without speaking.
His face changed at the photograph of my father’s grave.
“You recognize the number?”
“No.”
“Anyone else know about your father’s estate?”
“Connor.”
“Anyone else?”
“My attorney.”
“Your father’s former business partner?”
“Yes.”
Ruiz looked up.
“Name?”
“Samuel Pierce.”
His expression became unreadable.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing yet.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Ruiz glanced toward the door.
“Jessica, I need you to listen carefully.”
The use of my first name told me the conversation had shifted.
“We went into tonight thinking this was investor fraud and forged loan documents.”
“And now?”
“We executed an emergency search on Apex’s server backups at five forty-three.”
My throat tightened.
“What did you find?”
Ruiz hesitated.
“That’s what I’m trying to determine.”
“You found something about my father.”
He did not answer.
Which was an answer.
“What?”
“Some archived folders are encrypted.”
“So?”
“One of them is labeled HAYES.”
My father’s last name.
My last name before Connor.
I stared at him.
“How old is the folder?”
“Created eleven years ago.”
Apex Solutions had existed for six.
“That’s impossible.”
“I know.”
Another investigator appeared in the doorway.
“Ruiz.”
He looked tense.
“We have a problem.”
Ruiz stepped into the hall.
I followed.
At the far end of the corridor, the private dining room doors were open.
Connor was no longer laughing.
Two agents stood beside him.
Martin Hale was on his feet.
Peter Lyle looked sick.
Brenda stood near the windows with her arms crossed.
Ruiz walked quickly toward the dining room.
“What happened?”
The investigator lowered his voice.
“We tried to secure Carter’s phone.”
Connor’s last name.
“He handed it over?” Ruiz asked.
“No.”
“He smashed it.”
I looked through the glass.
Connor met my eyes.
His face was full of hatred.
Then Brenda said something to one of the agents.
The agent turned toward me.
“What?” Ruiz asked.
The investigator exhaled.
“Mrs. Carter says the fraud was Jessica’s idea.”
I actually laughed.
It came out sharp and disbelieving.
“Of course she does.”
“That’s not the problem.”
Ruiz looked at him.
“What’s the problem?”
The investigator held up a clear evidence bag.
Inside it was a printed contract.
At the bottom of the page was my signature.
Not a crude imitation.
Not the shaky forgery I had found on the loan documents.
My signature.
Perfectly reproduced.
The investigator met my eyes.
“We found this in Connor’s briefcase.”
I read the title through the plastic.
MERIDIAN RIDGE HOLDINGS - BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP AGREEMENT.
My name appeared beneath it.
Jessica Hayes Carter.
Fifty-one percent owner.
I stared at the page.
“That isn’t mine.”
Brenda’s voice floated across the room.
“Really?”
She looked at Martin and the other investors.
“Because Jessica signed it in front of me.”
Connor stood beside her.
His phone lay shattered on the table.
He looked devastated.
Not angry.
Devastated.
It was a performance.
A very good one.
“I tried to protect her,” he said quietly.
My stomach turned.
Martin looked at me.
“What is Meridian Ridge?”
I opened my mouth.
Connor answered first.
May you like
“My wife’s company.”
And suddenly the entire room was looking at me as if I had just become the criminal.
