Chapter 13 - THE SISTER WHO DIED TWICE
Margaret’s sister was named Eleanor.
Officially, Eleanor died twenty-eight years earlier in a boating accident.
There was no body.
She had been declared legally dead after seven years.
Mariana stared at the old photograph.
Eleanor looked like Margaret.
Same eyes.
Same posture.
“Why have I never heard of her?”
Andrew asked.
Margaret answered.
“Because she tried to destroy your father.”
Brenda said, “That phrase is becoming suspiciously common in this family.”
Margaret ignored her.
Eleanor had worked in accounting for Thomas Vance and Charles Sterling.
She discovered the investment fraud before Julian did.
She threatened to report it.
Then she disappeared.
Mariana felt the pattern.
People who learned the truth vanished, were discredited, or were accused first.
“Did Thomas kill her?”
Margaret looked horrified.
“No.”
“Did you know she survived?”
“No.”
Detective Brooks checked immigration, tax, and death records.
A woman matching Eleanor’s fingerprints had been arrested under another name in Montreal eighteen years earlier.
She had lived.
And she had returned to Massachusetts four months ago.
At the same time Julian sold his Florida house.
Andrew said, “They’re working together.”
Mariana replied, “Maybe.”
Brenda sighed.
“You really are never going to accuse anyone quickly again.”
“No.”
“Probably healthy.”
Julian contacted them again.
This time, he agreed to meet.
Public parking garage.
Police nearby.
He arrived alone.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Carrying Thomas’s wolf-handled cane.
Andrew stared.
“You opened the box.”
“Yes.”
“Are the certificates yours?”
“Some.”
“Where are they?”
“Somewhere Charles can’t burn them.”
Brenda stepped forward.
“My father didn’t burn them.”
Julian looked at her.
“Your father helped Thomas steal them.”
“Then prove it.”
“I will.”
Mariana asked, “Eleanor?”
Julian’s face changed.
“She contacted me.”
“When?”
“Five months ago.”
“Did she take the necklace?”
“I believe so.”
“Why frame me?”
“She didn’t.”
Mariana frowned.
“The emerald was in my safe.”
“Eleanor didn’t put it there.”
“Who did?”
Julian looked at Brenda.
Brenda laughed.
“No.”
Julian handed Mariana a photograph.
Brenda entering Vance Manor six hours before the gala.
Wearing casual clothes.
Carrying a small green velvet case.
Andrew stared.
Brenda’s face became unreadable.
Mariana asked, “What was in the case?”
Brenda did not answer.
“Brenda.”
She looked at Mariana.
May you like
Then said:
“The emerald.”
