Chapter 4 - THE WITNESS WHO SOLD HER
Detective Warren did not handcuff Flora in the bridal suite.
Portia clearly wanted him to.
That alone made Flora grateful for his restraint.
Instead, he asked everyone to return downstairs so statements could be taken separately.
The ballroom no longer resembled a wedding reception when they came back.
The musicians had stopped playing.
Dinner plates had gone cold.
Guests stood in nervous clusters beneath the chandeliers.
Some were already holding their phones.
Flora knew what that meant.
By morning, half the city would know that the Vale wedding had ended with police.
Portia walked into the room as if she had invited them herself.
She had reapplied powder over the mark on her cheek.
Flora almost admired the calculation.
Even humiliation could be turned into theater in Portia's hands.
Maisie ran to Flora the moment she saw her.
"Mommy."
Flora dropped to her knees and held her.
"I'm here."
Maisie looked at the officers.
"Are you in trouble?"
Flora forced herself to smile.
"No."
Portia spoke from behind them.
"Not yet."
Alonzo turned so quickly that one of the officers watched him carefully.
"Say one more thing to her."
Portia lifted her chin.
"Threatening me in front of the police is not wise."
Detective Warren stepped between them.
"Enough."
He looked at Portia first.
"You will not address the child again unless I ask you a question involving her."
Portia looked offended.
Warren did not care.
"And you."
He turned to Alonzo.
"Keep your distance."
Alonzo nodded once.
Flora saw several guests exchange surprised looks.
Portia was not accustomed to hearing authority used against her.
The detective set up interviews in three adjoining rooms.
Flora was taken into the library with an officer and a female detective named Ramirez.
Alonzo wanted to come with her.
They would not allow it.
Before the door closed, he touched Flora's shoulder.
"I am right outside."
Portia heard him.
She rolled her eyes.
Flora walked into the library.
The room had been Cedric's father's study before the mansion was converted for events.
Dark shelves covered three walls.
A portrait of a severe-looking Vale ancestor stared down from above the fireplace.
Detective Ramirez sat across from Flora.
"I need you to start at the beginning."
Flora told her about the vase.
She told her about Maisie.
She told her about Portia lunging for the envelope.
She told her about Lenora's letter and the missing third page.
She told her about the prepaid phone in the bridal suite and the green scarf marked with Portia's initials.
Ramirez took notes without interrupting.
When Flora finished, the detective looked at her carefully.
"How long have you known Alonzo Vale?"
"Three years."
"How long have you been engaged?"
"Nine months."
"Did you know about any trust in his name?"
"No."
"Did you know his mother left undisclosed documents?"
"No."
"Did you know the vase had anything inside or beneath it?"
"No."
Ramirez tapped her pen once against the notebook.
"Mrs. Hart, someone opened a private bank account using your identity six weeks ago."
Flora nodded.
"I heard."
"The account received two hundred and fifty thousand dollars from an intermediary tied to Vale Family Holdings."
"I did not receive it."
"The money was moved out yesterday."
Flora stared at her.
"To where?"
"We are tracing it."
"So whoever did this already knew the police might look."
Ramirez's expression suggested she had considered the same thing.
"Possibly."
"Portia did this."
"Can you prove that?"
Flora thought of the green scarf.
"Her scarf was in my bag."
"Which could mean she was there."
"Or?"
"Or someone wanted us to think she was there."
Flora almost laughed.
"That is exactly what her attorney said."
Ramirez looked up.
"Gideon Shaw?"
"Yes."
The detective wrote his name down.
"Interesting."
Flora leaned forward.
"Why?"
Ramirez did not answer.
A knock interrupted them.
Detective Warren stepped inside.
His expression had changed.
"We have a witness."
Flora's stomach tightened.
"To what?"
"He says you contacted him two months ago about the ballroom security system."
Flora stared at him.
"That's impossible."
Warren placed a photograph on the desk.
The man in it was one of the mansion's contract technicians.
His name, according to the employee badge, was Evan Pike.
Flora had never seen him before.
"He says you paid him five thousand dollars in cash to explain how Cedric Vale's executive credential could disable cameras without triggering an alarm."
Flora looked from Warren to Ramirez.
"He is lying."
Warren's face revealed nothing.
"He also provided a photograph."
He placed a second image on the desk.
The picture showed Evan sitting across from a woman in a coffee shop.
The woman's hair was the same color as Flora's.
Her coat was the same cream wool coat Flora owned.
Her face was turned away from the camera.
A black handbag sat on the chair beside her.
Flora recognized that too.
Portia had given her the bag as an engagement gift.
A sick understanding spread through her.
"She planned this."
Ramirez leaned closer to the photograph.
"Who?"
"Portia."
"How could she make a stranger look like you from behind?"
Flora pointed at the coat.
"Because she knows my clothes."
"And the bag?"
"She bought it for me."
Warren exchanged a look with Ramirez.
Flora saw it.
"What?"
Ramirez sat back.
"Nothing yet."
"Do not say nothing yet."
Flora's voice shook despite her effort to control it.
"My daughter was hit in front of two hundred people, and somehow I am the one sitting in a room explaining a bank account I never opened."
Ramirez softened slightly.
"I understand you're angry."
"No."
Flora looked toward the closed door.
"You understand paperwork."
She looked back at the detectives.
"I understand Portia."
Warren folded his arms.
"Then help us understand her too."
Flora took a breath.
"She hated me from the beginning."
"Why?"
"Because I wasn't chosen by her."
"Chosen for what?"
"For Alonzo."
Ramirez frowned.
Flora explained how Portia had spent years introducing Alonzo to daughters of wealthy families.
She explained the dinners where Flora had been ignored.
She explained the charity events where Portia had called Maisie baggage when she thought Alonzo was out of earshot.
She explained how the wedding date had been challenged, moved, and nearly canceled three times because Portia created emergencies around every venue contract.
Warren listened carefully.
"Did Alonzo know?"
"Some of it."
"Not all?"
"I did not want every insult to become a war."
Ramirez looked toward the door.
"It seems you got the war anyway."
Flora's throat tightened.
"Yes."
Another knock came.
An officer leaned inside.
"Detective, Mr. Pike is ready."
Warren nodded.
"Bring him in."
Flora looked up sharply.
"Here?"
"I want to see whether he identifies you in person."
Evan Pike entered thirty seconds later.
He was pale and sweating despite the cool room.
He looked at Flora once.
Then again.
Warren pointed to a chair.
"Sit down."
Evan obeyed.
"Is this the woman who paid you for information about the security system?"
Evan did not answer immediately.
Flora stared at him.
"Look at me."
Ramirez raised a hand.
"Mrs. Hart."
Flora did not care.
"Look at me and say it."
Evan's eyes finally met hers.
There was fear in them.
Not certainty.
Fear.
"Yes."
The word barely came out.
Flora felt something inside her go cold.
"You are lying."
Evan looked at the floor.
"No."
"You have never met me."
"I met you twice."
"Where?"
"At the coffee shop."
"What did I order?"
He blinked.
"What?"
"You met me twice."
Flora leaned forward.
"What did I drink?"
Evan swallowed.
"Coffee."
"I don't drink coffee."
For the first time, Ramirez's pen stopped moving.
Flora continued.
"I have not drunk coffee in nine years."
Evan looked toward Warren.
"Maybe it was tea."
"What did I say about my daughter?"
"I don't remember."
"Did you know I had one?"
He hesitated.
That was enough.
Flora stood.
"Someone paid you."
Ramirez stood too.
"Mrs. Hart, sit down."
"Portia paid you."
Evan's jaw tightened.
"No."
"Then who?"
He looked toward the door.
Warren stepped between him and the exit.
"Mr. Pike, answer the question."
Evan's hands began shaking.
"I told you what happened."
Warren looked at him closely.
"You also told me you recognized Mrs. Hart immediately."
Evan glanced at Flora.
"I do."
Warren pointed at her left hand.
"Then what is wrong with your statement?"
Evan went pale.
Flora looked down at her hand.
Her wedding ring had not yet been placed because the ceremony had been interrupted by a family toast before the reception incident.
She wore only her engagement ring.
Warren pulled a page from Evan's written statement.
"You wrote that the woman who met you wore a plain gold wedding band."
Evan said nothing.
Ramirez's eyes narrowed.
"Mrs. Hart has not been married before."
Evan stared at the floor.
Flora felt hope rise for the first time.
Then the library door opened again.
Portia stood there beside Gideon.
"Detective, I think you should know something before you pressure this poor man any further."
Warren looked irritated.
"You were told to wait outside."
Portia ignored him.
She held up a thin folder.
"Flora was married before."
The room went silent.
Flora stared at her.
"No, I wasn't."
Portia smiled.
"Then perhaps you should explain why the county clerk has a marriage certificate under your maiden name."
Gideon took the folder from her and placed it on the desk.
A certified seal gleamed at the bottom of the page.
Flora looked at the name printed beside hers.
She had never seen it before.
Evan Pike stood abruptly.
"That's him."
Everyone turned.
Evan pointed at the man's name on the certificate.
"That's the person who paid me."
Flora's heart stopped.
The name on the marriage certificate was Daniel Mercer.
And Daniel Mercer had been dead for six years.
Outside the library, the remaining guests were finally being released in small groups.
Flora could hear their whispers through the closed door.
Some sounded sympathetic.
Others sounded thrilled.
Scandal had already become entertainment for people who had watched a child fall to the floor only hours earlier.
That realization hardened something in Flora.
She no longer cared whether the Vale guests believed her by breakfast.
She cared whether Maisie believed cruelty could always win if the cruel person owned enough rooms, lawyers, and expensive antiques.
Flora looked at Evan Pike.
Then at Portia.
Then at the false certificate.
May you like
She decided she would not give her daughter that lesson.
