Chapter 11 - CEDRIC DISAPPEARS
The emergency petition did not ask for money.
That made it more dangerous.
It asked the court to suspend Cedric's authority over the family trusts and temporarily restrict Alonzo from exercising new beneficiary rights.
The petition claimed Cedric was cognitively impaired.
It claimed Alonzo was under Flora's undue influence.
It claimed the wedding had been orchestrated to trigger a dormant trust whose existence Flora secretly knew about.
It attached the forged marriage certificate.
It attached the fraudulent bank transfer.
It attached Evan Pike's first statement.
It did not mention that he had contradicted himself.
It did not mention the fabricated filing date.
It did not mention Portia striking Maisie.
It did not mention Lenora's recording.
Portia had taken every planted piece of evidence and filed it with the court before police could finish disproving it.
Flora read the petition on Alonzo's phone.
"She prepared this before the vase broke."
Alonzo nodded.
"It is thirty-two pages long."
Cedric looked at Gideon.
"Did your firm file this?"
Gideon did not answer.
"Did your firm file this?"
Gideon finally nodded.
Cedric's face changed.
"Get out of my house."
Portia stood beside him.
"He is my attorney."
"Then he can wait with you outside."
Warren intervened before the argument became physical.
"No one is leaving yet."
The judge scheduled a remote emergency hearing for eight that morning.
It was less than four hours away.
The ballroom staff began clearing untouched food while attorneys and detectives filled rooms that had been prepared for wedding guests.
Flora sat with Maisie in the guest suite until her daughter woke.
The first thing Maisie asked was whether Alonzo was still going to marry them.
Flora smiled despite the pressure in her chest.
"He already chose us."
Maisie thought about that.
"But we didn't finish."
"No."
"Can we finish later?"
Flora kissed her forehead.
"Yes."
"Even without the vase?"
Flora almost laughed.
"Especially without the vase."
At six-thirty, Flora returned downstairs.
Alonzo had changed out of his wedding jacket but still wore the white shirt and black trousers from the ceremony.
He looked as though he had aged through the night.
Cedric was nowhere in sight.
"Where's your father?"
Alonzo looked toward the west hall.
"He went to get something."
Flora's stomach tightened.
"What?"
"He would not say."
"You let him go alone?"
"Tomas went with him."
Tomas had refused the hospital after being examined by the medic.
He had a bruised head and a temper twice its normal size.
Flora still did not like it.
"Where did they go?"
"Dad said the original ledger might not have been in the blue-room cabinet."
"Then where?"
"He said he finally remembered Lenora's phrase about the china."
Flora's pulse quickened.
"The china remembers."
Alonzo nodded.
"He went to the old family archive building near the east gate."
Flora looked at the clock.
"When?"
"Forty minutes ago."
"How far is it?"
"Five minutes by car."
They looked at each other.
Alonzo called Tomas.
No answer.
He called Cedric.
Straight to voicemail.
The head of security was already moving before Alonzo finished the second call.
Two vehicles left for the archive building.
They found it locked.
Cedric was not inside.
Tomas was not inside.
Cedric's car was gone.
At seven-ten, highway cameras found the car heading north.
At seven-twenty-two, it disappeared from traffic surveillance near an industrial district.
At seven-forty, police found it abandoned behind a closed furniture warehouse.
The driver's door was open.
Cedric's phone lay crushed beneath the rear tire.
There was no blood.
There was no sign of a struggle.
There was no Cedric.
Tomas was missing too.
Portia began screaming before Detective Warren finished explaining.
"Alonzo did this."
Flora stared at her.
"What?"
Portia pointed at Alonzo.
"You knew Cedric was going to testify against the trust petition."
Alonzo looked at her in disbelief.
"My father is missing."
"Exactly."
Portia turned toward Warren.
"He needed Cedric unavailable for the hearing."
Flora stepped between them.
"You filed the petition."
"And Cedric was my best witness."
"You called him incompetent in thirty-two pages."
Portia's voice rose.
"He could still explain how Flora manipulated him."
Alonzo's face went cold.
"You are disgusting."
Portia looked at the police.
"Ask him where he was between six-forty and seven."
Alonzo frowned.
"Here."
Portia smiled.
"All of it?"
Flora looked at him.
Alonzo hesitated.
It was brief.
Portia saw it.
"No."
Warren turned.
"Where were you?"
Alonzo rubbed his jaw.
"I went outside."
"Where?"
"The front drive."
"Why?"
"To call our outside counsel."
"How long?"
"Ten minutes."
Portia laughed softly.
"No camera footage, of course."
The mansion's front cameras had been restored after midnight.
Security checked them.
Alonzo appeared on the drive at six-forty-six.
He walked out of camera range toward the east side.
He returned at seven-oh-two.
Sixteen minutes.
Long enough to reach the archive building if someone drove him.
Flora knew what Portia was doing.
She had probably planned this timing too.
Then Warren received a call from the officers processing Cedric's abandoned car.
His eyes moved toward Alonzo while he listened.
Flora's stomach dropped.
"What did they find?"
Warren ended the call.
"A cufflink."
Alonzo looked down at his sleeves.
One cufflink was missing.
Portia made a quiet sound of triumph.
Flora grabbed Alonzo's wrist.
"When did you lose it?"
"I don't know."
"Was it there during the ceremony?"
"I think so."
"Think."
Alonzo closed his eyes.
"Yes."
"How do you know?"
"Because Maisie told me the little black stone looked like a bug."
Flora almost smiled at the memory.
"When?"
"After I carried her away from the vase."
Portia's eyes narrowed.
The cufflink had been on Alonzo after the vase broke.
That did not clear him six hours later.
Warren looked at Alonzo.
"I need you to come with me."
Flora shook her head.
"No."
Alonzo touched her arm.
"It's okay."
"No, it isn't."
"I am not being arrested."
Warren spoke carefully.
"Not at this time."
Portia smiled.
Flora wanted to slap that smile from her face.
She did not.
That was the difference between them.
Alonzo bent down to Maisie, who had come into the hall with Nora.
"I have to go answer some questions."
Maisie's eyes filled.
"Did you do something bad?"
"No."
"Then why do you have to go?"
Alonzo looked at Flora.
There was no good answer for a child.
"Because sometimes grown-ups have to explain the truth more than once."
Maisie hugged him around the neck.
Alonzo held her for a long moment.
Then he stood and kissed Flora.
"Do not let Portia isolate you."
Flora nodded.
"Find your father."
"I will."
He walked away with Warren.
Portia watched until the front doors closed.
Then she turned toward Flora.
"You should pack."
Flora stared at her.
"This is Cedric's house."
"Cedric is missing."
Portia lifted her phone.
"And at eight o'clock, I expect to be temporary trustee."
"You expect a lot of things."
"I expected this wedding to fail."
Her eyes moved to Maisie.
"At least I was right about one."
Flora stepped close enough that Portia's smile faded.
"The wedding is not what failed."
Flora's voice was quiet.
"Your secret did."
Portia leaned closer.
"You still have no idea what the secret is."
Then Warren returned through the front doors.
Flora's heart jumped with hope.
He was alone.
"What happened?"
Warren held up a clear evidence bag.
Inside was a torn strip of cream paper.
"We found this beneath the passenger seat of Cedric's car."
Flora recognized Lenora's handwriting.
It was part of the missing third page.
Only one sentence remained intact.
May you like
DO NOT TRUST THE PERSON WHO BRINGS CEDRIC BACK.
