Chapter 11 - MARGARET'S VERSION
Everyone turned toward Margaret.
She did not run.
She did not cry.
She sat down.
“Charles is confused.”
Brenda exploded.
“Don’t.”
Margaret looked at her.
“Your father has a head injury.”
“He named you.”
“Yes.”
Margaret remained composed.
“That is evidence. It is not proof.”
Mariana recognized the tactic.
Intelligent.
Precise.
Brenda had learned from people like her.
Charles tried to speak.
“Margaret… account…”
Margaret looked at Detective Brooks.
“Get him medical attention before interrogating him.”
Brooks agreed.
At the hospital, Charles stabilized.
He explained that Margaret had created Eastbridge years earlier.
Margaret denied it.
Charles produced no documents.
Then Mariana remembered the old shareholder structure.
Margaret had access to dormant family entities.
Andrew confronted her.
“Did you create Eastbridge?”
Margaret looked at her son.
“Yes.”
Silence.
“Why?”
“To recover money your father hid.”
“The bearer certificates?”
“Yes.”
“Why steal from the company?”
“I didn’t.”
“The payments went to Eastbridge.”
“Because Julian took control of it.”
Brenda laughed.
“Convenient.”
Margaret looked at her.
“You want me guilty because it makes your father less guilty.”
Brenda stepped forward.
“And you want Julian guilty because it keeps Thomas respectable.”
Margaret’s face hardened.
Mariana interrupted.
“Both of you stop arguing motives as evidence.”
They looked at her.
She continued.
“Margaret created Eastbridge. Julian may have hijacked it. Charles knew. Thomas hid money. Brenda searched my room. Andrew hid company debt. I hid ownership. Everyone has enough secrets to make a convincing villain.”
Detective Brooks nodded.
“So find the fact nobody can explain.”
Mariana thought about the necklace.
“Why return it?”
Everyone looked at her.
“If Julian stole the necklace to get the key, why put the necklace back in my safe?”
Andrew said, “To frame you.”
“He already framed me with the emerald.”
Brenda understood.
“The second frame was unnecessary.”
“Yes.”
Mariana looked at Margaret.
“Unless someone needed us to believe the necklace theft and the bank-box theft were the same crime.”
Margaret’s face changed.
Mariana continued.
“What if they weren’t?”
Detective Brooks asked, “You think two people were operating?”
“Yes.”
“One stole the necklace.”
“And someone else emptied Box 317.”
Andrew looked at the records.
“Who?”
Mariana answered.
“The person who knew the key would disappear tonight.”
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
A man’s voice.
“Mariana.”
“Julian?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
“Not where they think.”
“Did you steal the necklace?”
“No.”
“Did you empty Box 317?”
“Yes.”
Everyone stared.
Mariana asked, “Why?”
“Because Thomas stole those certificates from me.”
“Where are they?”
“Safe.”
“Who took the necklace?”
Julian paused.
May you like
Then said:
“Andrew.”
