Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN WHO CHANGED HER STORY
Cedric stared at his empty ring finger as if he had forgotten it existed.
Alonzo noticed before anyone spoke.
"Where is your ring?"
Cedric rubbed the pale indentation around his finger.
"I lost it."
Portia laughed.
"Of course you did."
Cedric looked at her.
"Three months ago."
"Did you report it?"
"To insurance, yes."
Warren held out his hand.
"I need that report."
Cedric nodded.
Gideon spoke quietly.
"This is becoming theatrical."
Flora turned toward him.
"A forged marriage certificate is theatrical."
"A cloned phone number is theatrical."
"A stolen key in a child's pocket is theatrical."
She stepped closer.
"Maybe stop acting surprised that someone built a stage."
Gideon did not answer.
The photograph of Evelyn was enlarged on a security monitor.
The black sedan had no visible plate.
The man's sleeve was charcoal gray.
Half the men at the wedding wore gray or black suits.
The signet ring was the only distinctive detail.
Cedric's insurance report confirmed he had reported his ring missing eighty-seven days earlier.
The report also listed where he believed he lost it.
Portia's lake house.
Portia read that line twice.
"He visited my house constantly."
Cedric stared at her.
"I visited twice that month."
"Then you had two opportunities to lose it."
"And you had eighty-seven days to find it."
Portia smiled.
"If I found it, why would I give it to a kidnapper?"
Warren looked at her.
"No one has called this a kidnapping yet."
Portia's smile vanished.
Flora caught the mistake.
So did Alonzo.
"Why did you?"
Portia folded her arms.
"Because Evelyn appears to be in a car with someone."
"She could have left willingly."
"She left her purse and keys."
"You knew that before the photograph was shown."
Portia's face tightened.
Gideon stepped in.
"My client has been questioned for hours."
Warren looked at him.
"Your client just volunteered a word I did not use."
"Words are not evidence."
"Neither are speeches."
Gideon stopped talking.
By one in the morning, most guests had finally been allowed to leave after providing contact information.
The wedding reception had emptied into a crime scene.
White flowers drooped over untouched tables.
Broken porcelain remained marked off beneath the cabinet.
Maisie fell asleep against Flora's shoulder.
Alonzo carried her to a guest room and stayed until Flora was ready to leave her with Nora.
Before Flora returned downstairs, Maisie opened her eyes.
"Mommy?"
"I'm here."
"Is the vase mad at me?"
Flora felt her throat tighten.
"No, sweetheart."
"Aunt Portia said I ruin things."
Flora brushed hair from her forehead.
"Aunt Portia was wrong."
Maisie looked worried.
"But I broke it."
"You broke a vase by accident."
Flora kissed her forehead.
"That is not the same as ruining anything."
Maisie's eyes closed again.
"Maybe the vase wanted us to find the letter."
Flora almost smiled.
"Maybe it did."
When she returned downstairs, a woman was waiting in the service corridor.
She wore a gray housekeeping uniform and twisted a handkerchief between both hands.
Flora recognized her as Mara Bell, one of the estate housekeepers who had worked for Cedric for years.
Mara looked toward the guards.
"I need to speak to you."
Flora stopped.
"Me?"
"You and Mr. Alonzo."
Mara's eyes were red.
"Not in front of Portia."
Flora found Alonzo and Detective Ramirez.
They brought Mara into a small pantry away from the main hall.
The housekeeper sat on a stool and began crying before anyone asked a question.
"I should have said something earlier."
Ramirez opened her notebook.
"About what?"
Mara looked at Flora.
"The vase."
Flora's pulse quickened.
"What about it?"
"Mrs. Lenora told me never to move it."
Alonzo leaned forward.
"My mother told you that?"
Mara nodded.
"Two weeks before she went to the hospital for the last time."
"What exactly did she say?"
Mara closed her eyes.
"She said the vase was ugly, overpriced, and the safest place in the house."
Despite everything, Alonzo gave a broken laugh.
"That sounds like her."
Mara continued.
"She told me if anyone ever tried to move it after she died, I was to call your father."
Flora frowned.
"Did anyone try?"
Mara looked at the floor.
"Portia."
The word came out as a whisper.
Alonzo's face hardened.
"When?"
"Many times."
"How many?"
"At least five."
Flora stared at her.
"And Cedric never knew?"
Mara shook her head.
"The first time, I called him."
"What happened?"
"Portia told him she wanted to send it for appraisal."
"And?"
"He said no."
Mara's hands shook harder.
"After that, Portia stopped asking in front of me."
Ramirez leaned closer.
"Did you see her near it tonight?"
Mara nodded.
"At about four-thirty."
"Was she alone?"
Mara hesitated.
"No."
Alonzo's eyes sharpened.
"Who was with her?"
Mara swallowed.
"Mr. Shaw."
Gideon.
Flora felt the last pieces of doubt fall away.
"What were they doing?"
Mara looked toward the pantry door.
"Arguing."
"About what?"
"I could not hear everything."
"What did you hear?"
Mara squeezed the handkerchief.
"Mr. Shaw said, 'There were three pages.'"
Alonzo stared at her.
"He knew."
Mara nodded.
"Portia said, 'There are two now.'"
Flora's breath caught.
Ramirez stopped writing.
"Did she say anything else?"
Mara looked terrified.
"She said the last page would never survive the night."
Silence filled the pantry.
Alonzo stood.
"We have enough to arrest her."
Ramirez raised a hand.
"We have a witness statement."
"A witness statement placing both of them at the vase discussing the missing page."
"Yes."
"How much more do you need?"
"Enough that it survives more than ten minutes with a defense attorney."
Alonzo turned away in frustration.
Mara began crying harder.
"There is more."
Flora crouched beside her.
"Tell us."
Mara looked at Alonzo.
"Your mother left something else."
He slowly turned back.
"What?"
"A recorder."
Mara wiped her face.
"An old digital voice recorder."
"Where?"
"I don't know exactly."
Alonzo's jaw tightened.
"Mara."
"She never told me the place."
The housekeeper spoke faster.
"She only said that if the letter was ever found and the last page was missing, I should tell Cedric to remember the garden house."
Flora looked at Alonzo.
"Garden house."
The Vale estate had an old glass greenhouse at the back of the grounds.
It had been locked since Lenora's death.
Alonzo's expression changed.
"My mother grew lilies there."
The same flower pressed into the wax seal.
Before they could move, Mara's phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
Her entire face changed.
"Who is it?" Ramirez asked.
Mara shook her head.
The call stopped.
A text appeared.
Mara read it.
Then she made a sound that was almost a sob.
Flora took her hand.
"What does it say?"
Mara would not show them.
Ramirez reached for the phone.
Mara jerked it away.
"No."
"Mara."
"I made a mistake."
Alonzo stared at her.
"What?"
Mara stood abruptly.
"I was confused."
Flora felt dread flood through her.
"No, you weren't."
Mara backed toward the door.
"I did not see Portia."
Ramirez stood.
"Sit down."
"I want to change my statement."
"Why?"
Mara's eyes filled with tears.
"Because I was wrong."
Alonzo looked at the phone in her hand.
"What was in that message?"
Mara shook her head.
"Nothing."
"Someone threatened you."
"No."
"Show us the phone."
"No."
Ramirez stepped closer.
"Mara, if someone is threatening you, we can help."
Mara's mouth trembled.
"You cannot."
Then she opened the pantry door and ran.
A guard stopped her in the hall.
Ramirez followed and ordered him not to let her leave the property.
Flora watched Mara disappear around the corner.
"They got to her in less than thirty seconds."
Alonzo stared after her.
"Which means they are still watching us."
The head of security approached at a run.
"Mr. Vale."
Alonzo turned.
"What now?"
"Tomas is missing."
Tomas Reed was the senior bodyguard who had searched the broken vase fragments with Flora.
He was also the guard who had taken Portia's handbag.
"Missing how?"
"He stopped answering his radio twenty minutes ago."
"Where was he last seen?"
The guard looked toward the rear windows.
"Walking toward the garden house."
Flora felt a chill move through her.
Mara's message had come seconds after she mentioned the garden house.
Someone else already knew they were going there.
Alonzo requested that every staff exit be sealed until Evelyn was located or police cleared the employee.
Portia objected immediately.
She called it humiliating.
Flora found the word revealing.
Portia had not called Maisie's slap humiliating.
She had not called the forged evidence humiliating.
She had not called the missing cameras humiliating.
She used the word only when control touched her personally.
Cedric seemed to hear it too.
He looked at Portia for a long time.
"You taught all of us to fear embarrassment more than wrongdoing," he said.
Portia stared back at him.
"And you were an excellent student."
May you like
Cedric had no answer.
